Lore

Sometimes I find myself wondering how many more Holocaust movies can be made at this point? I mean wasn’t Robin Williams in Jakob the Liar the death of these films? He kills everything else he’s in! But then I hear stories about idiot 8^th graders who are Neo Nazis and I realize that we need constant reminders of the past so that history doesn’t repeat itself. I think any moron that calls themselves a Neo Nazi or a skinhead should be forced to be a part of a real life Death Race (the Jason Statham movie)where they have to race against one another in armed cars and fight to the death. And on top of that, I think South Park should make Terrance and Philip characters modeled after Nazis. Don't get me wrong, making fun of Canadians is always awesome but these clowns are more deserving. 

Well thanks to director and credited screenplay writer Cate Shortland, we are given another interesting view on World War 2 through the eyes of a Nazi family. This story takes place in war torn Germany, which has just been occupied by the Allied Forces. All of the Jews are freed at this point and every Nazi is in hiding or on the run.  This would include our focus in the film Lore, who is played by the young, talented, and uncomfortably attractive Saskia Rosendahl, and her family which includes her younger twin brothers, younger sister, and newborn baby Peter. She immediately lets you know where the entire family stands by giving you a shot of a Swastika on a cuff link followed by their SS officer father barging in the door warning everyone that they need to be on the move immediately. Their mother thinks that they are cowards for running but reluctantly agrees to head to their safe place in the woods. 

Once they get there, Lore and her siblings' lives are turned upside down as their father is killed, their mother is taken away to a Nazi camp, and they are left on their own. But before their mother is taken away she gives them instructions to head across the country to their grandmother’s to stay. The only issue is that it is obvious that these kids are Hitler youth with their perfect blond hair and blue eyes, so they get little to no help from people along the way. That is until a young man who appears to be Jewish comes along. At first he provides security from a distance but then eventually works his way into the group as he provides food and guidance for the young kids who are making this difficult trek.

It sounds pretty straight forward but the mood that Shortland creates with her camera angles, cinematography, and story makes this movie anything but normal. You are basically uncomfortable for the entire movie. First, it’s hard to feel sorry for Nazis of any age but then you remember how young these kids are and you see some of the horrible things they are exposed to during their journey. Apparently when German soldiers found out they were on the brink of defeat, they decided to rape everything in sight. But you also see Lore struggling with what she’s been taught about the Jewish people and the new information she is receiving about the how they were treated. If you weren’t an SS officer, then you were like the majority of the people in Germany who had no idea about the torture, starving, and killing that was going on in the camps. To them Hitler was a hero, a father figure,a deity and someone who was saving their country. But here Lore found herself accepting help from someone she hated.

The weirdness however doesn’t end there. This is also a coming of age story as Lore finds herself discovering things about herself sexually. Keep in mind that this girl cant be more than 14-15 years old but she finds herself attracted to the Jewish boy that is helping them. Every interaction is intense as you don’t know if they are going to rip each other’s clothes off or literally kill each other. You see her growing sexually with the way Shortland creatively films scene after scene of Lore’s subtle glances at this mysterious guide of theirs. And honestly, the cinematography plays the role of dialogue at numerous times during this movie, much in the way that Terrance Malick uses it in his abstract films. The only problem with that is it makes the movie drag at times. 

I actually really liked this movie but I am not sure it is one I would ever watch again because not only do you see the physical toll this journey takes on the kids and the horrific things they have to go through but you find yourself wondering how blindly you support something without gaining all of the facts first. So just like Lore, you are questioning your beliefs, your views on the world, and some of it’s history. I rate this movie as really FRESH but suggest that you rent it and watch it over two sittings. 

 

Olympus Has Fallen

A black man with the French last name of Fuqua? The cynic in me wants to shout out“Get real! Your real last name is Franklin!” But that would just be hating on him because I know that dude got a ton of women based off the fact that he played college basketball at West Virginia AND he’s part French, so he got every flavor of groupie that he could possibly want. It helped too that his parents gave him a little street cred with the ghetto first name of Antoine. 

But the real reason why you should know who Antoine Fuqua is, is because he is a pretty solid and consistent action director. His movies are never great (with the exception of Training Day but that was mainly Denzel) but they are always entertaining and violent as hell. Look at his resume’, and if you haven’t seen some of these, do yourself a favor and get on it : the grossly underrated Brooklyn’s Finest, Tears of the Sun, Training Day, and The Replacement Killers just to name the highlights. His movies never get a lot of hype or the proper marketing behind them but it doesn’t matter because he’s found his niche in Hollywood. Make action movies on the cheap and get a big enough star to draw in a decent opening weekend number so that the studio can make a profit. Who says the Frenchies are dumb and spineless? Well this movie is no different although I must say that the preview made it look so awful that even I contemplated passing on it; but like all true action fans I am happy that I didn’t.

Let me first say that the plot is unbelievably ridiculous and totally implausible. But once you accept this fact and just sit back and enjoy this movie for what it is, an almost shot for shot modern day version of Die Hard 1, then you will find yourself shouting at the screen and cheering with glee when bad guys bite the dust in horrible ways. For the record this happened in my theater as well as a buddy of mine's. Gerard Butler stars as Mike Banning, the head secret service guy for the President’s (Aaron Eckhart) detail. Well after an accident that couldn't be avoided occurs one Christmas Eve night, he is reassigned to desk duty; that is until the North Koreans come to the rescue. In a daring and video game like attack on Washington D.C. using a C-130 (I have no idea what that is, basically a flying gunship) that takes out F-15’s and random citizens on the street, angry military trained mercenaries, and suicide bombers, the Koreans are able to take control of the White House. And with the aid of former secret service agent Dylan McDermott they are able to gain access to the presidential bunker where they attempt to get the nuclear codes necessary to turn our own bombs against us. Along with that they use the leverage they have with having the president as a hostage to pressure the government heads to pull out of South Korea so they can invade and take over. 

There’s no way Gerard Butler can sit on the sideline and allow this happen. So as soon as the attack begins he instantly springs into action and fights his way into the White House. But along the way, the Koreans successfully kill ever secret service agent that was on the premises, leaving Butler as the only eyes and ears for the now acting president Morgan Freeman who tries to handle this situation from the war room with the other military and department heads.  Once he realizes that Butler is his only shot at resolving this nightmare, he releases the ruthless mad dog on these menacing foreigners. “I’m gonna f’n kill ya, I’m gonna f’n cook ya, and I’m gonna f’n eat ya!’ 

I would’ve quoted the “Now I have a machine gun. Ho Ho Ho” line from Die Hard but Butler’s weapon of choice for the most part was the knife. And he constantly knives people to death with a stab to the brain as if they were zombies. In a new low point for the desensitization to violence, he has one interrogation scene in particular that has you clapping and laughing as if someone just a got a pie in the face. Morgan Freeman and Angela Bassett work together to fill the role of black cop that encourages him through the hostage situation and Rick Yune does an adequate job of basically playing the Korean version of Hans. I like this movie because while the plot is ridiculous, they never treat it as a joke or make it too hammy, although it does comes close at certain times. They treat it like a true throw back to the late 80’s and early 90’s action movies. What do you mean a supercomputer wont play a chess match with a high school boy to see if the world dies? Of course that can happen. 

I rate this movie as FRESH because of the violent action and because it’s Americans kicking mean foreigners’ asses! I actually had a friend try and tell me that he thought that the movie was stupid which led to my reply “Don’t you like Die Hard? Don’t you Merica?” And yes I purposely left off the A in America for added emphasis. I then promptly called what's left of Homeland Security to turn him in but sadly only Hacksaw Jim Duggan answered the phone so my friend is still roaming the streets free. 

Dead Man Down

I think that winning an Oscar or even being nominated for one does more damage than it does good for your career because all of a sudden you are no longer getting the roles that got you this acclaim. Look at Terrence Howard; granted he was never in great films but he was always playing a role that was in his wheel house. He always played the slightly off black guy who seemed to be a little too intense for every situation he was put in and this worked perfectly for his roles in Crash and Hustle and Flow. After this though, he is all of a sudden playing the inspirational swim coach in Pride or looking uncomfortable as a billionaire playboy’s best friend in Ironman. Now he’s all but forgotten with straight to video movies or television appearances. 

Well if not for horrible marketing he could’ve started making his comeback in Dead Man Down. The preview made it look like another straight to video flick that survived that death sentence only because Noomi Rapace was in it. But it actually turned out to be a decent thriller with quite a few surprising twists you weren’t expecting.  I’ll only give away one pseudo spoiler so you’ll actually go see it so don’t be too worried. But basically the story involves Terrence Howard as a local NYC gangster who is being tormented by random threats on his life by someone who has a personal vendetta against him and his crew. So one by one his crew ends up dead with a clue attached to them slowly revealing the identity of the person responsible for doing this. Colin Farrell plays one of his main guys that he can trust but you’re not quite sure that he is all in with what the crew is doing. Well one day after weeks of gazing at each other from across the way for weeks, his neighbor Rapace asks him out. Rapace was in a horrible car accident and after having reconstructive surgery on her face, she is still pretty but the scars that were left behind led to the neighborhood giving her the nickname, monster. 

Well while on the date, you are expecting the usual “oh they fall for each other but he has to hide his gangster lifestyle from her” subplot until it comes time for him to drop her off. This is when she drops the bomb on him giving him the ultimatum of killing the drunk driver that caused her injury or she’ll turn him in to the cops for a murder he committed that she was able to record. Well naturally the question arises, why not just kill her and move on? Because Farrell is also not what he seems but again don’t think that the movie goes down the traditional path of recent thrillers where you can predict what happens in the previews. I will leave the rest for you to discover on your own so you can also be pleasantly surprised by this movie.

Now before I continue this movie is by no means great but it’s pretty darn entertaining. My main complaint is that western Europeans have it all figured out. They eat healthier, have hotter women, have speed trains to Amsterdam where you can legally take drugs, and they get Noomi Rapace naked on film. Come on US studios, how hard is it to convince this woman to drop her top for her loyal fans? Even with this glaring failure, there are enough twists that keep you guessing but not so many that it turns into the horrible Wild Things (lesbian scenes aside). And the tipping point is the final scene where all of a sudden the movie turns into Die Hard and Collin Farrell is shooting everyone up with automatic weapons and grenades.  I was practically cheering at the end.  I rate this movie as FRESH and suggest that you pop in.

 

SXSW Bands That Will Blow Up

“Man I really have to stop drinking Hennessey on a Sunday!” “…and man you know I can’t wait to hear Justin Timbo (Timerberlake) son! Cry Me A River? Come on son!” These are quotes from two different people and sadly the quote that you would normally associate with a black guy isn’t the one you would have guessed. But these are the conversations that you have around the time of the best festival in the world, SXSW. This is a time where people who don’t look like Lil Wayne drink Hennessey, those who normally eat healthy are now elbowing others to get to their free Nacho Cheese Dorito Locos Taco, and apparently wearing boxers in place of actual shorts is acceptable. Well somewhere in the middle of all of this there is actual music being played and here are a few of the bands that will blow up in the next year that I haven’t already previewed.

First up is Alt-J. They are four piece indie band from Leeds who have already been up for a ton of British Music Awards and came into SX with quite a bit of hype behind them. When  I initially heard the lead singers voice I was immediately turned off to this band as he sounds like a mix of a Chinese Chris Martin and the lead singer of pre Sex On Fire Kings of Leon. Musically they sound like a weird Mumford and Sons and sadly when you put these elements together you get the result that you would expect from such a wack marriage. I rate these guys as WEAK but I would suggest checking them out for yourself because I met quite a few people who told me they put on a really good show. I would just suggest downing a few sake bombs before doing so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsqIN8V6u1c

Next up is Fidlar.  I actually really wanted to check out this self described low fi garage/surf rock band from LA but they kept running up against other bands that I had more of a desire to see. I would describe them more a garage band with punk tendencies as all of their songs are about cheap beer, friends who smoke all of their weed, and awkward moments with girls. I have seen footage of their shows and everyone seems to be going nuts in the crowd, feeding off of the energy the band is displaying. They are a fun act and I give them a rating of kind of FRESH.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z1NDiEK3xw

Here is the last band to check out for today, Chvrches. After seeing them twice, the jury is still out on these guys. I want to like them but honestly they sound too much like Purity Ring just not quite as talented. Maybe it’s because they don’t look hipster enough; their A&R’s should make them wear mesh t shirts with studded Malcolm X hats. Their songs are catchy but when you’re watching them live you have the same thoughts you do when seeing Cut Copy…”man these guys are REALLY white!”. Who knows, after touring for a while and getting road tested, their live show might improve but for now I rate them as kind of WEAK!.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxxUEzOvU-Y

I know that 2 of 3 artists I said would blow up have gotten a WEAK rating from me but there seemed to be a buzz following each of the acts after their shows. Word of mouth spreads quickly and can lead to undeserved success. I think that people get excited from the hype machine and all of the free alcohol and it isn’t until after the hangover wears off that that they realized they downloaded a subpar album and really shouldn’t have done whip its with that homeless looking guy in the bathroom stall.