Pacific Rim Review

Our Heroes are going to cancel the apocalypse in Pacific Rim

Photo Credit: Warner Brothers Studios

Pacific Rim

A-

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

There are few films that can really bring out the child in me. A blockbuster film must require a sharp balance of the visual pop and emotional pull to drive me back to these emotions. For the first time since JJ Abrams’ original Star Trek film just over 5 years ago it has happened again with Pacific Rim. Pacific Rim is just 2 hours and 10 minutes of blockbuster filmmaking at its most impactful as it features a ton of action offset with just the right amount of decently written human character. The best thing I can say about Pacific Rim is that it defied my expectations. This is not a dumb film instead co-writer and director Guillermo Del Toro never forgets the human within all the carnage. While at times it may be flawed it always brought a since of excitement, tension, and giddiness that not a single other blockbuster was able to provide this year.

The premise is pretty simple, there are giant alien monsters that begin coming in through rifts under the sea and begin attacking humans and decimating cities. The human’s way of handling these giant alien monsters is building giant robot monsters of our own that have to be piloted by two humans through the sharing of thoughts. After five years and bigger aliens the program is sent underwater and in its place they begin to build giant walls (that as can be predicted don’t work so well). After losing his brother in a robot vs alien battle five years earlier Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) is called back to pilot his old machine for the now underground defense force led by commander Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba who is always amazing). Becket must team up with a rookie fighter with little grip on her emotions Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) as well as the two central researchers (Charlie Day and Burn Gorman) to find a way to stop the monsters once and for all.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the plot in general is how much time Del Toro has for the humans. Usually in giant robot movies the humans get lost in the shuffle, often delegated to being the ones who scream and panic in the danger while the robots fight around them. In Pacific Rim the Humans aren’t bystanders they are a part of the action and thus bring their emotions and dynamics into the battle. Del Toro makes an effort to makes sure that the human element is never lost in the chaos and for the most part it’s effective. By the end of the film I found myself caring about the situations the characters found themselves in and even almost began cheering and booing along with the situations.

Pacific Rim isn’t without its flaws the biggest being some pacing issues. The subplot with the researchers, while at times decent comic relief, seems a little out of place tonally as well as pacing wise with the rest of the film. The film is best when it’s focusing on the main action with the robots itself and while the end payoff makes the researchers necessary much less time could have been spent returning back to the subplot as it brings the film down just a touch.

Another problem is that sometimes Charlie Hunnam seems like he’s overacting just a touch. He often feels like he is trying to have charisma instead of having it. It doesn’t damage the film too much but a little more subtlety or general quieting would have been nice. The performance highlight in Pacific Rim and one of the main shining parts of the film is Idris Elba who gets to chew mass amounts of scenery here. Elba steels every scene he’s in and he provides many of the film’s finest moments. The rest of the supporting cast is solid and gets the job done without unfortunately standing out too much. They work well together though and in the end that’s what counts

Visually this film is absolutely beautiful to watch. The battles between the robots and the monsters are truly awe inspiring. Del Toro decides to shoot the action with a steady hand, allowing the action and the audience to breath. It also helps that the action is completely coherent in every way because of this allowing for some truly amazing sequences. The Hong Kong sequence in the middle of this film is one of the best action scenes I’ve seen in a while with a great gradual build and a fantastic since of tension. The 3D works well for the most part although some scenes are a little dark when the glasses are on. The score isn’t special but it works well enough to accentuate the on screen action.

While it may be flawed, Pacific Rim manages to deliver a near perfect blockbuster film mix. It has great, easy to follow action mixed with the best human story in a blockbuster this year. Best of all though the film made me feel like a child again as I was transfixed by the images being presented to me the entire film. Flawed yet in a way perfectly balanced Pacific Rim is easily the best blockbuster to hit theaters this summer.

Mad Men Rewatch 2013: Season 1 Ep.2 “Ladies Room” What a Woman Wants

Roger, Mona, Betty, and Don having dinner in "Ladies Room"

Photo Credit: AMC TV 

It’s rewatch time!! For the first time ever this summer we will be watching an old season of a television show over the course of several weeks. Installments will be posted Sundays and Wednesdays with the posts spoiling only the episode that is being talked about. This summer the rewatch is on the first season of Mathew Weiner’s 1960’s period piece Mad Men, one of the great first seasons of television.

Some thoughts on Mad Men’s Second episode just as soon as I casually throw a Television out the window….

“We should be asking ourselves what do women want.”

-Don

What do women want? That is the question that Don Draper asks over and over again throughout the second hour of Mad Men “Ladies Room.” After the first hour of Mad Men focused mostly on establishing the tone and the main characters of the show the second hour takes a bit of a left turn and focuses on the women of the show and how the men understand, or don’t understand them (on a side note I was wrong about Trudy making her first appearance in this episode as Pete is gone the whole hour up at the Niagra Falls (who’s Pete created tagline is victim to a nicely timed joke)). Overall “Ladies Room” is a much better episode than the pilot and a much better overall representation of what Mad Men was, and still is, on a week to week basis.

The primary woman presented in “Ladies Room” is Don’s wife Betty. After the kind of bad surprise introduction last week Mathew Weiner and crew do a wonderful job of establishing Betty as both a character and an image (more on the image part in a second). As a character Betty works surprisingly well here (both on an initial level and on the level that I don’t end up liking Betty a lot in a few seasons but that’s a discussion for another time). January Jones plays Betty well here as a loyal housewife with childlike naive and vulnerable nature. Betty gossips with a local neighbor and ultimately doesn’t pay attention to much else outside of her own little self contained life with her husband, kids, and neighborhood friends.

The complication with Betty is that she is a little bit of a nervous wreck sometimes. Her hands begin to shake and she freezes up in panic which allows for a mild car accident midway through the episode. This is where Don’s perception of Betty begins to creep into the episode and where my (and probably a few readers) hindsight into the character from watching the entire series so far begins to play in. I think the sequences of Don trying to wrap his head around Betty throughout the episode play well regardless of the hindsight but I think there is more of an understanding gained about the exact complexity of the relationship with more understanding of Don (which I’ll talk about in full after the main review as a bit of an aside for veterans of the series). Either way it seems obvious enough thematically to work well here.

Throughout the episode Don doesn’t understand how to deal with the idea of Betty’s nervousness. It seems in the episode that Don relates the nervous shakes to the happiness instead of the common understanding of a psychological disorder (and yes it’s because it’s the sixties). Don tries to wrap his head around exactly why Betty isn’t happy and looks for ways to pamper her with different ways out of fear that it’s regarding their relationship (because you know Don likes sleeping around as we see again in this episode) but as he sees that Betty begins worrying too much about the kids as well he gives in and resorts to Psychiatry (which again gets lambasted by the men throughout the episode). Then at the end of the episode it begins to become clear that Don still doesn’t get Betty as he begins to spy on her via the phone call with the Psychiatrist at the end of the episode.

The other aspect of the episode revolving around Don (in ultimately a Don light episode) is Don’s mysterious past. It’s hinted at ever so briefly in the pilot (so brief that I didn’t really mention it in Sunday’s recap of the pilot) that Don has a bit of an opaque past but here it is in full force. Don brushes off any questions from Roger at dinner regarding his childhood (even as simple as “did you have a nanny?”) and when asked by Betty he simply says “It’s like politics, religion, or sex, why talk about it?” The scenes are subtle and small enough that they begin to mount the mystery of Don Draper without overtly calling it out. Throughout the season this element is left to simmer and it begins to quite nicely here.

The other big character focus of “Ladies Room” is Peggy and her dysfunctional relationship with all the guys in the office. Yes it seems that every guy Peggy befriends in the office (this week with the playful friendship that she begins to develop with Paul Kinsey) wants to have sex with her, and when she turns them down they mistakenly think that she’s doing it with Draper, the one guy in the office who as we found out in the pilot doesn’t want that kind of relationship with his secretary. The sequences with Kinsey also gave us another explanation of the office this time in more of a business since. This tour worked better as it introduced the audience to the workplace without throwing the sixties in the audience’s face. It also worked as it seemed throughout that Elizabeth Moss and Michael Gladis have good chemistry that allowed the early scenes to have an old childhood friendship vibe to it. It just makes the scene where Kinsey and Peggy kiss even the more devastating for Peggy as just when she thinks that she has a common ally, it turns out he’s just one of the predators lurking around the office.

“Ladies Room” in all is a very good episode that begins to show more and more the complexities of the lives of the people of whom the show revolves around. It’s a good diversion from the largely plot establishing pilot and seems more like an actual episode of Mad Men. The subtlety begins to creep in (although there still are some overtly sixties in your face stuff here and there) and the show settles into a character focused rhythm that will come to define the series throughout both this season and the series entire run.

Some other musings;

• Bert Cooper!!! Yes big boss Cooper (well along with Roger) makes an appearance bare feet and all (which could be taken as a metaphor for something reveled much farther down the line but I won’t spoil that because well we’re still in the first season and well it’s probably not the case). It’s always great to see that Bert is around as Robert Morse is always really quirky and fun to watch.

• On the big boss note it’s funny to think that John Slattery has special guest star status here as I’m so used to him being a regular in the credits.

• Isn’t it a great sequence where Midge just throws the TV casually out the window? It’s a great moment of random yet kind of expected comedy.

• Notice that the fire escape is mentioned here when Midge locks herself out of the house. Don has to go through the fire escape to get into the house thus symbolizing that Midge is his escape from his domesticated life. Subtle but noticeable bit of symbolism there from Mr. Weiner.

• Another thing that is a little distracting is that it’s still really old Bobby Draper. He doesn’t get much to do throughout this season and thus gets recast a few times and throws me off a little here. Poor Bobby Draper…

Coming Up on Sunday: “The Marriage of Figaro” where Pete returns and Birthday parties happen!

That’s just me though. Leave a comment to tell me what you think.

Ok now on to a brief point for veterans only so Spoilers for everyone who hasn’t watched the rest of Mad Men now! SPOILERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED:

• Ok so those of us who have watched farther into the series know that Don doesn’t know how to handle Betty or their relationship because Don can’t handle complexity his relationships at all. As a woman would say in season 4 he only likes the beginnings of things. Thus the cheating on Betty and eventually Meghan down the line once she wore off her simplicity. It’s why Don’s so offended by the television (which to a first time viewer could be confusing) being in Midge’s house. It’s probably Don’s biggest relationship downfall and it’s shown quite nicely when in the most recent season he tries to keep power over his relationship with Sylvia.

• Ok the Bert thing. Yes I know this probably isn’t the case but could the first shot of Cooper’s bear feet represent the fact that he is free of women because he has no testicles? (which of course we find out in a great comedy moment in probably the show’s finest hour season 4’s “The Suitcase”) I laughed aloud as the possibility crept into my mind.

Despicable Me 2 Review

Two Minions laughing and having fun in Despicable Me 2

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

Despicable Me 2

B

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Despicable Me 2 represents the best and the worst of the animated film. On the negative side it’s an unnecessary sequel, one produced because the previous film made a ton of money. Thus the film often has an empty emotional feeling to it and thus misses an emotional centre. On the positive side it’s a ton of fun. 

Despicable Me 2 manages to pack a ton of entertainment and despite its flaws manages to be a very fun, if not a little empty hour and a half of animated filmmaking.

The film picks up the story of now former super villain Gru (Steve Carell) turned legit business man in order to properly take care of his three adopted daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Kate Fisher). After a serum that transforms ordinary people and animals into dangerous killing machines has been stolen Gru is recruited to stop the villain by the anti villain league along with his newly recruited partner agent Lucy Wild (Kristen Wiig). Together they must go undercover in a shopping mall in order to find which one of the shop owners has taken the serum.

The set up is simple and nonintrusive which works both for and against the film quality wise. The simplicity of the set up on one hand provides lots of room for funny individual, at times divergent, antics to ensue within the barren structure of the film. This leads to some very funny moments (often involving the always funny minions) and just a lot of fun. Most of the jokes are intelligent enough to land with adults (including the best joke of the film, an extended joke at the end of the film which adults will get but most young children won’t) and at the same time are broad enough to land with younger children. The film has fun with the barren plot as it is able to have fun and diverge along the way.

On the other hand the film simply doesn’t have much of an emotional center. The film suffers from the fact that the first films main emotional tug, the three little girls, are put on the backburner a bit with a plot that never takes off emotionally. Thus the film feels a little empty at time, allowing for fun jokes but leaving out the strong emotions. The filmmakers do try to place an emotional subplot in the film but it’s very light and feels like a second thought. The film’s main focus is being a fun, enjoyable distraction and while that for the most part is a good thing there are times where some sort of emotional grab would have been welcome.

The voice talent here is all solid as usual. Steve Carell get’s to sport and outrageous accent again and for the most part sells Gru as the center of the film. The big new addition in the film, Kristen Wiig also does solid work as the perky yet clumsy Lucy who does provide a decent love interest. The voices of the three little girls are great as usual and the rest of the supporting cast gets the job done with a good since of efficiency. Special props go to the voices of the minions as they really do sell most of the fun throughout this film.

The animation is pretty well executed for the most part as well. The cartoony/comic book like vibe of the characters stands out for the most part and makes the animation have its own distinct ideas and flair to it. I didn’t see it in 3D but for the most part (having been able to notice the 3D spots while watching in the second dimension) I could find the ways that 3D would have been used and for the most part I was glad I watched the film in much more vibrant and colorful 2D. The score here is excellent for the most part with its solid mix of modern popular music and original, almost parody, caper music.

Overall Despicable Me 2 is a very fun diversion. The film is always fun and mostly funny throughout its short running time. Yet there is a nagging need for an emotional piece of the puzzle which doesn’t quite connect here. The film never has a deeper emotional pull that draws the viewer in to root for these characters on more than just a fun diversion style level. Ultimately it leaves Despicable Me 2 as a fun yet empty film which is honestly more than could have initially been expected from an unnecessary animated film sequel.

Mad Men Rewatch 2013: Season 1 Ep. 1 “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” Welcome to the olden days

Don and Roger on Mad Men

It’s rewatch time!! For the first time ever this summer we will be watching an old season of a television show over the course of several weeks. Installments will be posted Sundays and Wednesdays with the posts spoiling only the episode that is being talked about. This summer the rewatch is on the first season of Mathew Weiner’s 1960’s period piece Mad Men, one of the great first seasons of television.

Thoughts on Mad Men’s pilot “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” as soon as I denounce Psychology as a great cocktail party trick…

“Advertising is based on one thing, happiness. And you know what happiness is? The smell of a new car, it’s freedom from fear, it’s a billboard on the side of the road that screams assurance that what you’re doing is ok… You are ok.”

-Don

“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” the first episode of Mathew Weiner’s Mad Men is perhaps the worst of the entire series (all though there are a few duds here and there they are few and far between. The episode, while providing a broad stroke of what the series would end up being, isn’t representative of most of the thematic and ideological subtleties that would begin to be present as soon as an episode later. The show’s first episode is energetic and fun (it’s effective as a pilot in the fashion that it does get you in to the word in a fun way) but is most of the time ultimately a little broad and obvious with its themes in ways that the series wouldn’t be further down the line.

All that being said “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” isn’t a bad episode of television, in fact far from it. The pilot does many things very right with its characters and the world it sets up. The first perfect character moment comes right at the onset of the episode with the introduction of Don Draper. The opening shot, the pull towards the back of Don Draper’s head (otherwise known as the Don Draper shot that will be used over and over again throughout the series) with Don Cherry’s great “Band of Gold” blaring in the background truly brings the viewer right into the episode. Don Draper wise, for the most part, is the best part of the episode. Jon Hamm is Don Draper from that first rear facing frame and his fantastic now six season long performance would begin from the opening conversation of the episode (of course involving one of the sixties mainstays, smoking).

The moment where Jon Hamm’s performance truly shines is in the first Don Draper ad pitch of the series, and the climax of the episode where Don Draper pitches the “It’s Toasted” add to the Lucky Strike execs as a last ditch effort to keep them in the building (and he gives a nice world view statement seen in the quote above). We’ll see many pitches as this season goes on but the initial one is special as it shows the viewer for the first time what Don Draper, and Jon Hamm himself can do. It’s a great moment to an otherwise mediocre meeting sequence.

On the subject of that meeting sequence one of the worst things that Mad Men pilot does is that it hits the viewer in the face with its era. Matthew Weiner wants you to know that this is the sixties here much to the detriment of the whole episode. For example the three midlevel workers, whose names by the way are Ken Cosgrove, Harry Crain, and Paul Kinsey, (and who will become much more developed characters in seasons to come) are used constantly throughout the episode to establish the pigheadedness of the attitude towards women in the sixties. This is also evident in the brilliant yet on the nose scene where the head secretary Joan walks Don’s newest secretary Peggy through the office and while exemplifying (falsely in fact) all the things that she needs to do to impress her new boss. The sixties, in one way or another are being bombarded upon the audience (Nixon is referenced, typewriters, smoking ironies etc.) sometimes in favor of atmosphere other times hurting the sense of realism, a problem which will be fixed over the course of this season.

It’s disappointing that the sixties is so blatantly introduced verbally as the show itself captures the atmosphere of the sixties simply with its look. This pilot sets the bar for how beautiful the series will look throughout its run and much has to do with director Alan Taylor (Sopranos alum at the time) along with the many cinematographers, set and costume designers. The entire look feels like the era that it’s trying to convey as every shot feels as if a special attention is given to it. The look of the series has always been an important part of the atmosphere and overall tone of the show and its nailed right from the beginning of the pilot.

The other thing that works really well in the pilot despite its broadness is the main character set ups. Don Draper, as mentioned above, is the main character that is built here but Peggy and Pete also get a lot of development time. Peggy, who is essentially the second most prominent character in the series, gets a lot of fine set up time here with her adapting to the office. The initial confusion of how a secretary acts towards her boss (in this case she is told throughout the episode that she has to be sexual) develops the mentor relationship that Don has towards Peggy. We see Don having a soft spot for Peggy right from the start even as she mistakenly thinks that he wants sex as part of the job.

The other relationship with Peggy this week involves Pete. Yes one of the main plots of the episode was Pete’s bachelor’s party as he’s about to get married to the then not cast Trudy. The plot is a mixed bag with the actual bachelor’s part being much too broad (especially with Sal and his clear gayness that no one else seems to notice) but the importance with Pete in this episode involves the sudden drunken sex between Pete and Peggy. The relationship seems sudden even in with the slight lead up to it (Pete calling her Amish). For the most part Pete’s vulnerable minutes in the pilot (such as the one with Peggy) work better then Pete in the office (something that will be corrected in a few episodes). Overall the characters in general are what will define Mad Men and they are clearly the best part of the episode.

Before we leave the pilot it’s impossible to not talk about the last scene. Yes after watching Don sleeping around all episode we see that in fact he is married. Gasp! Yeah leaving the reviel of Betty until the episode and acting it up as a big surprise was probably the worst portion of the episode. It’s really obvious (even on first viewing I had it in my head) that Don is married and as an ending to an episode it doesn’t really work. Had smaller weight been placed upon the reveal itself and being placed into the importance of the character and her relationship with Don, even briefly, the sequence would have had much more weight.

“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” overall while nowhere close to the best of the series (or even this season) does provide decent set up to the series as a whole. The show will get more subtle and more powerful character wise the pilot does do a good job at establishing the groundwork for what is one of the great first seasons (and overall shows) of television.

Some other Musings:

• Sal (the art guy if you didn’t pick up on it) is written way to broadly here. Sure we get that he’s gay and no one else can notice it!

• I had a friend who began watching the series who at the beginning really didn’t like Joan (the redhead head secretary played by Christina Hendricks). She does come off a little unlikable here with her seeming manipulation of Peggy, but ultimately I read the scene as Joan trying to help Peggy in the only way she knows how to help. I like Joan as a character and I hope people begin to pick up on her charm as we move forward.

• Roger (silver haired main boss) has some one liners here! I forgot that he’s not a regular at the start of this show.

• Don being paranoid about Pete trying to replace him is the one problem with the Don arc in this episode that is soon fixed.

Wednesday: “Ladies Room” where we get an introduction to the rest of the ladies in the Mad Men world

Try your best not to spoil lots of the series down the road if you comment. I know it’s not a very spoilable series but even so I’d say keep it to the first season.

That’s just me though. I’m curious what did everyone else think?