The 20th Century's Last Great Film - "Natural Born Killers"

"The whole world's coming to an end, Mal."  Mickey Knox, played by Woody Harrelson, says this at the beginning of "Natural Born Killers" a movie released 20 years ago today.  The millennium was coming to a close and the world was a crazy place full of OJ Simpson and Tonya Harding.  At the time no truer words were spoken.

I saw it twice in the theater as a young 19 year old, and watched it again last night with wide eyes and a grin.  I still marvel at it's audacity and brilliance.  Audiences had never seen such hardcore bombast, and we haven't seen anything like it since.  It's pure cinema - a frenetic visual trip with a not-so subtle message.  We (Americans, Humans, Living Things) are all natural born killers.  With or without our culture, media, or government - we are hard-wired aggressors.  It's a brutal message, wrapped in a big budget Hollywood movie - a two hour entertainment that excites, confuses, repulses, and thrills.  It's the perfect movie for a young and impressionable filmmaker.

Much has been written and debated about the themes of violence in our society.  To me, "Natural Born Killers" is a kinetic feast, stylish and iconic, referential and fresh.  It's a brilliantly executed film that pushes the boundaries of what an audience can tolerate.  It's the apex of 20th Century filmmaking because it assimilates all that came before and delivers a unique, mesmerizing story.  It is the ultimate blend of style and substance.

Based on a story by Quentin Tarantino, "Natural Born Killers" is director Oliver Stone's most audacious picture.  It follows "JFK," "The Doors," and "Born on the Fourth of July" as he continues to explore the expression of Americana on film.  Like "JFK" he employs many tricks, such as multiple film stocks, non-linear storytelling, and the random odd flash of incoherence.  "Natural Born Killers" was filmed in color, black and white, and animation.  It uses vibrant 35mm photography, and grainy 8mm shots.  It utilizes video cameras from a TV sitcom, and vintage stock photography from 1950s monster movies.  It's all active and energetic, weaving a story together about life at end of the decade.

When it was released on August 26th, 1994, reality TV was in it's infancy.  The 24/7 news cycle was still young, and the internet was just about to connect us all.  TV was the big bad enemy, and the line between movies and TV was never clearer than at this moment.  No one would ever expect "Natural Born Killers" to play on TV, yet shows are now full of both big ideas and gratuitous violence.  Watching this movie makes you realize the power of the big screen.  Nothing on TV - even the best and most praised shows - looks this cool.

This movie does what the original innovators of the art form intended 100 years previously - it shows pictures that MOVE!  Again, I use the word kinetic.  And that's what's so striking about watching this movie today.  It understands the medium - in a world where very few films do.  Most movies today rely on CGI spectacle to create a bigger, louder, explosion.  But they don't really move with any visual flow - and they certainly don't tie it back to the narrative.

"Natural Born Killers" does all that and more.  It jumps from film stocks and colors while commenting on reality and perception and subconscious thoughts.  It uses all the tools to tell its story and provide deeper meaning. 

Like all important art, and other excellent films, "NBK" draws on it's references, acknowledges them, and creates a new, rich experience.  In this instance, Oliver Stone is clearly influenced by the films of Stanley Kubrick.  "A Clockwork Orange" is all over "Natural Born Killers" in terms of shots, style, and even characters.  The structure is very similar with before and after prison halves.  Even "Full Metal Jacket" comes to mind with it's two distinct halves.  Finally, "Apocalypse Now" comes up repeatedly as Woody Harrelson channels Marlon Brando with his cult rhetoric at the heart of darkness.

Led by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, "NBK" is filled with great performances that also includes Robert Downey Jr. and Tommy Lee Jones.  The multi-format cinematography is shot by Robert Richardson, the three-time Oscar winner who is both Martin Scorsese's and Quentin Tarantino's DP of choice. The rock and roll angst-filled soundtrack was produced by Trent Reznor.

20 years later, "Natural Born Killers" is an important film that was way ahead of it's time.  American society is still filled with guns and violence and wars and a runaway media that lacks journalistic integrity.  In many ways, 1994 was just the beginning.  And "Natural Born Killers" is exactly what Leonard Cohen sings about during the end credits:  "I've seen the future, and it's murder."

From Coldplay to The Arcade Fire: "Boyhood"

Much has been written and much has been praised about Richard Linklater's epic new film "Boyhood."  Epic is an understatement - the movie took twelve years to film, using the same actors for a few days each year.  No other narrative feature has ever done this - cinematically chronicling the coming of age of children, and the metaphysical growth of parents.  It was a tremendous risk, and amazingly it worked.  Still, the question arises if it's just a gimmick, or actually a good movie?

"Boyhood" follows Mason from age 6 to age 18, from elementary school to college, from one parent's bad advice to another.  We see him move from town to town, as his divorced mother (Patricia Arquette) remarries, divorces, and remarries again.  Every so often his boyhood-ish father (Ethan Hawke) shows up in the same shirt and vintage Pontiac to whisk him away and offer half-assed wisdom.  Mason makes friends, meets girls, and discovers a passion for photography.  He watches events pass, such as the Battle of Fallujah or the election of Barack Obama.  He even sees Roger Clemens pitch.

Mason grows, starts driving, works a crappy job, and gets dumped.  Most of the events in his life are quiet, everyday moments.  And that's the beauty of "Boyhood" - the movie takes it's time and shows life.  One boy's world from one time and place.  It's a joy to watch Mason grow, and it's a brilliant stroke of luck that writer-director Richard Linklater found the young actor Ellar Coltrane.  He turns out to be an inspired choice, from cute young kid to compelling young man.

Even though I knew what was coming I was still amazed.  Kids grow up so fast, right?  Yet here it was front and center in a movie.  In one scene Mason is a scrappy child with a high voice, and in the next he's shot up several inches and his voice has deepened.  Pretty soon he's got a scruffy chin and girlfriend problems.

The soundtrack is a highlight, as each transition in Mason's life includes authentic period music.  The movie opens with Coldplay's "Yellow" (released in 2000), and ends with The Arcade Fire's "Deep Blue" (released in 2010).  Both are melancholy songs about time and change and remembrance. 

"Boyhood" is not a documentary.  It's a narrative work of fiction.  Yet it is missing the drama.  Mason lives a relatively trouble-free life, never forced to shed too many tears.  In trying to be realistic, Mr. Linklater makes the story too middle-of-the-road.  At one point, Mason's father takes him bowling and Mason complains about not being able to use the bumpers.  Dad warns him that life is tough and doesn't come with bumpers.  It alludes to a moment that never happens.  Mason's problems are more simplistic than just first-world dilemmas - they seem almost privileged.  Actual boyhood is full of scraped knees and head-on collisions.  Failures and frustrations.  It's what makes children ready for manhood.  If Mason experienced this, we as the audience don't get to see it.

And that brings me to another thing missing from "Boyhood" - more boyhood.  Pretend magic through an innocent's eyes.  And mischief.  Rule pushing, curiosity, and rebellion.  I didn't see much of that in the movie either.  Aside from a great scene where Mason asks his father about the existence of elves, Mason doesn't imagine or even play much.  Most of his reactions are responses to things happening to adults.  Without being too sentimental, I would have liked to have seen more of the boy's unique childhood imagination.

The movie (or the editing) seems to underline the passage of time.  Rather than drawing you into the story, this has the opposite effect by focusing attention on the filmmaking.  This is where the twelve year shooting plan becomes a gimmick.  Scenes are deliberately set at specific moments that show where in the past we are.  This includes a Harry Potter book release party, various references to presidential elections, and a cute Britney Spears imitation. 

Near the end, Mason asks his dad what the point of it all is.  His father laughs and rattles off a few thoughts, but he knows as much and as little as Mason.  As we all do.  It's the essence of boyhood.  

"Boyhood" is a very good, yet flawed movie that is definitely worth seeing.  It's a film that will make you think and remember, and quite possibly change your life.  Or maybe it's just a movie and it will be over in an instant.

A Most Missed Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman's Last Movie

When Philip Seymour Hoffman died on February 2nd, he left behind a legacy full of classic screen characters.  Unknown at the time was that his final completed movie would reveal one of the most quintessential portrayals of his career.  In "A Most Wanted Man" (in theaters now), the late Mr. Hoffman plays Gunther Bachmann, a thoughtful, drinking, chain-smoking, shadowy German.  It's a brilliant performance, in an excellent spy-thriller that is one of the Summer's best movies.

The story takes place in Hamburg, Germany, where the post-9/11 landscape has made every Muslim a suspect in the global war on terror.  Herr Bachmann has his sights set on wealthy Islamic fundraiser Dr. Abdullah, but he quickly targets a new suspect - Issa Karpov - the movie's most wanted man.  Issa Karpov is a half-Chechen, half-Russian Muslim, who arrives in Hamburg with no ID, except an authentic letter claiming inheritance to several million Euro.

As the German and American anti-terrorists get ready to pounce, Gunther Bachmann has the delicate task of convincing them (including a creepy Robin Wright) to wait and see where this leads. . . hopefully to the war's proverbial Big Fish.  The story maintains suspense, as you never know who the real villains are - if any.  Issa Karpov enlists a passionate lawyer played by Rachel McAdams to help get established, and then needs to convince Willem Dafoe's banker that Karpov's inheritance is legitimate.

All the while, Philip Seymour Hoffman holds things together.  "We should take care of all of us," he says, knowing what an espionage life can do.  He's a man with a past, that he wears physically.  Such a great skill of Mr. Hoffman's - the weight of the world seeming to take over his whole body.  He's subtle when he needs to be, and explosive at just the right moments.  When he introduces a coworker, he says, "She sails and spies.  Me?  I don't sail."  It's a brilliant, telling moment that few other actors could have phrased so well. 

Director Anton Corbijn's famous "Joshua Tree" photo

"A Most Wanted Man" is based on the book by John Le Carré, and the story shows the trained eye of a gifted storyteller with a talent for secrets and lies.  Director Anton Corbijn brings a cool, detached vision to the picture, which perfectly fits this grey new world.  As a legendary photographer, Corbijn's compositions are stunning, and this film is full of amazing images.  Here, Corbijn the filmmaker steps up brilliantly as the pacing is taut and exciting.  The ending is pure cinematic beauty - one of the best climaxes in recent memory.  And not just the perfect and inevitable way to end the movie; it's the most poetic end to a glorious film acting career.  RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Guardians of the Mumbo Jumbo

As an avid comic book collector in the '80s and '90s I remember and enjoyed the Guardians of the Galaxy.  I even own a Rocket Raccoon #1.  Yet I was still very surprised that Marvel chose this series as their next big budget extravaganza.  It's a bold move, and they deserve credit for launching a film with a tree and a raccoon as central characters.  The movie, however fun, is still an oddity with an unknown world, and incoherent plot, and a cast of random villains that never seem to matter much.

The story begins on Earth in 1988 as young Peter Quill is abducted by aliens and taken to a far-off galaxy.  Years later, the adult Peter (Chris Pratt) still listens to the same Sony Walkman with the same "Awesome Mix" - only now he's a space scavenger known as the self-anointed Star-Lord.  When he finds a mysterious orb, he becomes the target of the evil Ronan who desires the supreme power that the orb will bring.  An evasive fighter with a price on his head, Quill soon attracts a renegade bunch of space outlaws who want what he's got.  This includes Rocket, the genetically modified Raccoon who resembles Han Solo, and Groot, the strong silent tree who resembles Chewbacca.  Rocket and Groot are voiced respectively by Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, and their banter and humor is one of the movie's highpoints.

Quill is also chased by green-skinned Gamora (Zoe Saldana, of blue-skinned "Avatar" fame), who has betrayed the evil Ronan and now is also hunted across the stars.  Once these space avengers assemble, they set out on a complex mission to first sell the orb for it's extreme value, but then later to prevent Ronan from getting it in order to control the universe.  Or something similar as this convoluted plot becomes one of the movie's lowpoints.  

Unfortunately, "Guardians of the Galaxy" is saddled with ridiculous space dialogue about odd-named aliens from the planet something, who are fighting with some other species who may or may not be from the original "Star Trek."  It eventually all sounds the same, which is too bad because the movie does have a lot of originality.  I really don't know what the conflict is about, except that the orb creates some really cool explosions and the bad guys wear black.

The filmmakers would have been better off making the whole movie a comedy.  Rather than being SO influenced by the original "Star Wars" they should have learned more lessons from "Spaceballs."  When the characters lighten up, the movie works best.  When they get bogged down with serious saving the universe talk, the movie becomes an unbearable load of clichés ripped from the mouths of comic-con teenagers.  

Original Rocket Raccoon #1

Don't get me wrong, "Guardians of the Galaxy" is an enjoyable summer adventure due in part to the sheer oddness of its existence.  The cast coheres well, bringing a fun likeability to each misfit character.  As the voice of Rocket Raccoon, Bradley Cooper has never been better - no really:  he's the most complex character in the movie.  It's refreshing to see Marvel make a movie outside their comfort zone of Avengers.  Maybe next time out they can have a bit more fun, and tone down the gibberish.