Martin's Musings

Paul Thomas Anderson is a master filmmaker.

There’s just no other way to say it without making that lame, obvious pun.

His latest work, The Master, follows in the tradition of There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, and Boogie Nights as another ambitious, sprawling film that simultaneously feels epic and intimate, and wholly original.

It’s a captivating film that will establish Anderson as the best American filmmaker working today, and will likely win him all the awards that eluded him four years ago (how Blood lost the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars to No Country for Old Men, I still don’t know).

Simply stated, The Master is the best film I’ve seen so far this year (beating out The Dark Knight Rises by a smidge).

Is that enough hyperbole right off the top? Yeah, I think so too. So let’s move on.

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If you thought Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair at the Republican National Convention was bizarre, then just wait until you see him in Trouble with the Curve.

In the opening moments of the film, the actor stands in the bathroom, looks down, and talks to his penis. “Don’t laugh,” he tells his poorly functioning organ. “I outlived you, you little bastard.”

Really? Yes, really.

This is the guy who played Dirty Harry, who won Oscars for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, and who used to be one of the most respected actor-filmmakers in the business.

What happened?

He got old, that’s what happened, and he didn’t age well. Now, Eastwood is stuck in grizzled old-guy mode. His last big-screen role, in Gran Torino, reduced him to a one-note caricature. Trouble with the Curve digs him even deeper into that hole.

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Good movies have the power to transport us, whether they’re taking us to a completely made-up world or showing us somewhere we typically don’t go.

The new movie End of Watch does the latter: It takes us on a cinematic ride-along with two cops as they patrol South Central Los Angeles.

The film’s gimmick is that Officer Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) is documenting what it’s like to be a cop. So he carries around a camcorder and has small cams that he attaches to his and his partner’s uniforms, plus the other cameras placed within the squad car and elsewhere.

Yes, that has a tendency to create a very shaky picture at times, such as in the opening car chase, which is exciting, but also a bit disorienting. When it works, though — which is more often than not — the vérité style makes the film’s dialogue sound unscripted, the action feel more real, and the chemistry between Taylor and Officer Mike Zavala (Michael Peña) more natural.

And that’s partly what distinguishes End of Watch from other buddy-cop movies. Continue reading →

There was a time when movie villains came from Eastern European countries or the Middle East.

While those do still exist, nowadays, a greater number seem to come from Wall Street, and the financial world.

That’s right: If you haven’t noticed (and how could you have missed it?) Hollywood’s favorite punching bag right now is the 1%. Whether the film is Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Dark Knight Rises, or countless other recent examples, we just love watching the affluent among us get what’s coming to them.

So it is in Arbitrage, the latest film to show the downfall of a rich, white guy who took advantage of people on his rise to the top. Continue reading →

The film Robot & Frank never tells you exactly when it’s taking place, but in this near-future time, we’re at least one step closer to The Jetsons than we are now.

That is to say, it’s a time when robots are human substitutes that can cook, clean, and even work in the garden.

Look out, Rosie!

In the film, the titular Frank (Frank Langella) is given a robot companion by his children because Frank is in the early stages of dementia and he needs someone — or rather, something — to look after him.

Frank, a retired jewel thief, is at first resistant to this new caretaker (“That thing is going to murder me in my sleep,” he says). But eventually the two become friends.

Even better, Frank realizes he has a new ally who can’t distinguish between legal and illegal activities. So he plans two final scores — one to win the affections of a librarian (the ubiquitous Susan Sarandon), and the other to get back at the head of the library’s redevelopment effort — and trains the robot to play a role. Continue reading →