It was back to Hollywood Thursday night for a screening of new Coens brother flick Hail, Caesar! A premiere for new action flick, Vigilante Diaries, starring Michael Jai White, Jason Mewes and Michael Madsen was being set up and we munched on delicious nachos, fries and sammiches at the cafe. Star studded affair Caesar! centers on President of Physical Production and fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin, who is crazy, hilarious, weird and slightly menacing in interviews) who balances big budget prestige pictures, out of line actors, job offers, a kidnapping plot with a secret society, trying to change an actor's image and legality of adopting your own child. George Clooney plays booze and lady hound actor Baird Whitlock who is drugged and snatched from the set and taken to a beautiful seaside palatial estate where he becomes chummy with his snatchers. The film employs stars galore in bit parts from a funny and well used Ralph Fiennes as a pretentious director, Alden Ehrenreich as a likable western star being dropped into a classy drama, Scarlett Johansson talks tough and smokes as a screen queen needing an image boost, Channing Tatum sings and dances while Tilda Swinton plays rival twin gossip writers. Genre fans' interest piqued when action icon Dolph Lundgren was lined up to play a Submarine Commander while Highlander stars Christopher Lambert and Clancy Brown were also among the cast. Sadly Lundgren's role was completely cut out but hopefully his two days on set working with the Coens, cinematographer Roger Deakins and young gun Channing Tatum was a positive experience and he had fun at the premiere.
Like their previous comedic efforts I've seen like The Big Lebowski or O Brother, Where Art Thou?Caesar! is amusing if not laugh out loud funny. Like their previous films, the subtle sense of humor requires multiple viewings and time to percolate and I'm sure will be quoted years down the road. The Arclight's Cinerama Dome has a fancy new laser projector and the picture was incredibly clear. As in, people be looking old, clear. IMDB says Deakins shot the movie on film but it looked very digital and a bit fake outside the studio scenes with everything looking I'm guessing intentionally staged and created versus on location with depth and a touch of grain or grit. I was surprised at how little advertised "stars" appeared in the film as most have a quick scene or two if they're lucky. This is really Brolin, then Clooney and Ehrenreich's movie. It was nice to see Lambert on the big screen and he did the patented "heh heh heh" Christopher Lambert laugh. Hopefully Dolph's scenes end up on the Blu-Ray. Until next time, throw in a mirthless chuckle.
Ah Memorial Day, where we pay our respects to those who serve this great country and many of us get to kick back an extra day. It wasn't one for the cinema history books though as Disney's latest epic based on an attraction, Tomorrowland, opened with a 4-Day gross of just over $40 million. That puts it at # 22 on the all time list of Memorial Day openings. Reviews and word of mouth have been mixed so the less than stellar opening makes it perfect fodder for unnecessary and unreasonable negativity. I for one enjoyed the flick for the most part, it has some terrific ideas, solid production values and an excellent cast. The themes of hope, positive thinking and learning aren't exactly a bad thing either. It does drag in a few spots and reminded me of movies like The Rocketeer, The Terminator and Conspiracy Theory at parts. Brad Bird, director of The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Rataouille and Mission: Impossible 4 helms a script by genre whipping boy Damon Lindelof (Lost, Prometheus), Jeffrey Chernov and himself.
Tomorrowland is basically the story of smart and spunky Casey (Britt Robertson) as she's recruited by the wide eyed and robotic mini T-1000 Athena (Raffey Cassidy) to help save the world. Athena works out of Tomorrowland, an alternate dimension type place where the best and brightest work to change the world. Years ago, a young smart kid named Frank Walker discovered that the world was at risk and subsequently exiled. He grows up to be George Clooney, playing a grouch. Athena believes Casey can build upon Walker's theories and possibly save the planet. Tomorrowland ruler Nix (Hugh Laurie) doesn't really want to hear about it though as he's given up on humanity and is safe in his little bubble. Alternate worlds, new technology, smiling robots, vaporizing ray guns, gadgets, jet packs, Eiffel Tower, rocket ships, Star Wars and Iron Giant product placement ensues.
While I try not to listen or read into pre-release hype, the word on Tomorrowland wasn't good. But like the much maligned Prometheus before it, while watching it, I kept wondering when it was going to get bad. Overall I enjoyed the film, there's some nice philosophy and ideas of exploration and a positive theme. Kind of like a less technical, more fantastic Interstellar. The humor works and there's a surprising amount of violence in the film with robots getting their heads ripped off, hit by trucks and whatnot. Humans get vaporized and there's a cartoony quality to all of the mayhem which seemed borderline inappropriate given it's PG rating. Performances were fine all around with Clooney's early scenes smacking of wise-ass Robert Downey, Jr. Some of the set pieces and imagery reminded me of other movies and a segment of Athena rescuing Casey is like a Kyle Reese/T-1000 from The Terminator update. I was surprised she didn't say, "Come with me if you want to live"! Plus that creepy kid from Looper (Pierce Gagon), Tim McGraw (I feel like he's getting roles Billy Bob Thorton should be) and Keegan-Michael Key (just saw him in Pitch Perfect 2, wonder if Peele is getting jelly) show up as well.
It does drag a bit and you wonder when Clooney is going to show up after the first act. But Bird is a an excellent director and stages action, drama, laughs and shocks with ease. There's some great dialog at the end with Nix discussing mankind being given all the facts that the world is dying but doing nothing to stop it and only being interested in money. There's also a hilarious question about how the world can be suffering from starvation and obesity epidemics at the same time. The world is strange, brah.
