Welcome to Marwen (2018)

I don't remember if it was the actual trailer or just some screencaps, but I remember as if it was yesterday seeing Steve Carell playing with those creepy dolls and thinking, "how does someone like Robert Zemeckis end up making something like that?". That was the exact moment I decided to pass Welcome to Marwen. Then it was featured on one of Cinematic Corner's Rambling Friday and it sounded so bad I had to check it out. 

The film tells the true story of Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell) who was brutally assaulted by a group of white supremacists for admitting he wore women's heels. Having lost his ability to draw, Hogancamp created in his backyard a miniature World War II village called Marwen, which is filled with dolls corresponding to people he knows in real life, mostly strong women who have helped him in his recovery, as a coping mechanism and to create a more satisfying past for himself. 

In other words, it's the story of a man who can't deal with reality and therefore plays with dolls. Quite ridiculous and yet true, the story could have been interesting if properly executed which of course isn't the case here and the story is as interesting as watching paint dry. The way it is structured doesn't help either as there are essentially two plots — one about Hogancamp dealing with PTSD, the other about the people from Marwen — that feel disjointed, like they don't connect although they are connected to each other.

The main character isn't that likeable either. He comes off as a pathetic creep who does and says the most inappropriate things. This is a guy who collects — and wears — women's heels because it's like collecting the essence of women. What the actual fuck does that even mean? A foot fetish I could understand, but this? This brings creepiness to a whole new level. Also, for someone suffering from PTSD, he makes pretty violent reenactments. Not to mention how he treats women, he literally objectifies them, and they are okay with it. Steve Carell performance gets along with the script very well as it's dreadful — rather than a real human, Hogancamp feels like a Carell caricature.

Universal Pictures

The rest of the characters are just as terribly written as the lead and the rest of the cast is just as terrible as Carell as it's either over-the-top nice — some of the acting is so nice it's annoying — or comically evil — only it's not funny. At least some of them didn't put their real face in this.

Some of the stop motion animations look very nice, but that's pretty much it with the positive aspects. Welcome to Marwen does succeed at something though. It tells a story about pain and does a hell of a good job at being incredibly painful to watch. And it also made me burst out laughing when one of the characters said, "Hi, Mark", but only because I'm obsessed with The Room.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

I don't remember why I was drawn to Little Miss Sunshine when I first watched —it was probably on some list featuring dark comedies—, all I know is that I ended up loving this quirky road trip indie movie, and I loved it every single other time I watched it over the years. It's quite embarrassing that I've never written about it, so here it is. 

Just in case you are not familiar with this —I'm judging you if you are not though—, the story follows the Hoovers, a dysfunctional family composed of Richard (Greg Kinnear), his wife, Sheryl (Toni Collette), his father, Edwin (Alan Arkin), his brother-in-law, Frank (Steve Carell), his step-son, Dwayne (Paul Dano), and his daughter, Olive (Abigail Breslin). When Olive qualifies for the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, the family goes on a road trip on their old Volkswagen bus to take her to the contest. 

As it happens with road trip movies, Little Miss Sunshine does not have a plot, only plenty of clichés of the genre and a series of bizarre and unlikely situations and worst case scenarios. It does, however, take some surprising and amusing twists and turn and ultimately it ends up being a quite powerful story of a family who, despite all, love each other, stick together and would do anything for each other.

The story certainly wouldn't be as effective, engaging and entertaining if it wasn't for the characters though, which is by far the aspect of Little Miss Sunshine I love the most. First, there's no main character, no one is more important than the other, and, while they share the same goal, each out of them has his/her own arc. Second, they all have a distinctive personality and quirks that make them unique and memorable —Richard is a neurotic motivational speaker who hates losers; Sheryl is a chain-smoking wife who tries to make everybody happy but she is fed up with her husband's optimistic crap; Edwin is the foul-mouthed, heroin-snorting grandfather; Frank is the depressed gay uncle who has just attempted to commit suicide because his lover left him for his rival professor; Dwayne is a moody teenager who has taken a vow of silence until he gets into the Airforce; and Olive is a little girl who is exactly the opposite of what beauty pageant encourage young girls/women to be. No matter how stereotyped they are, these characters are interesting, believable and you care about them.

Fox Searchlighting Pictures

The actors all do a fantastic job, but there still are a few standouts. While Alan Arkin is the one who won an Oscar for his sharp, sarcastic, hilarious performance as the grandpa, and Abigail Breslin got a deserved nomination as she gives a charming, full-of-heart performance and brings quite a spark to the film, Steve Carell and Paul Dano are those, in my opinion, who deserved the awards. Although unknown at the time the Little Miss Sunshine was filmed —at some point, the filmmakers weren't even sure about him because of this—, Carell proves he is more than a comedian with a serious, subtle performance as the brilliant professor; Dano, who has to rely on his body language and facial expressions only for most of the film's running time, carries the role of the troubled teenager effortlessly and delivers some of the film's most emotional and touching moments.

Ultimately, Little Miss Sunshine is a charming, dark, funny and touching film, with great jokes, memorable moments —Olive performing at the beauty pageant sure will stick with you—, and a commentary on the futility of beauty pageants.

Vice (2018)

While I thought The Big Short was an okay film, I was not a fan of Adam McKay's direction. To be honest, it didn't work for me at all. Despite that, I still decided to give Vice a shot because of Christian Bale's critically acclaimed performance and Sam Rockwell. 

The film tells the story of Dick Cheney (Christian Bale), an unassuming bureaucratic who silently made his way through the United States' political hierarchy and ended up having more power than anyone in his position as Vice President to George W. Bush. 

Despite the fact that I've never heard of Dick Cheney before —hold your horses, I'm not from the States and I was a just a kid during the Bush administration—, I found Vice to be one of the dullest, most uninteresting and uncompelling films of 2018 as the plot, which follows both the life and the career of Cheney, is convoluted, contrived, messy, the pace is atrociously slow, the non-linear storyline eventually gets frustrating —and adds absolutely nothing to the film— and the narration by Jesse Plemmons, which constantly breaks the fourth wall, tries to be witty but ends up being annoying as it explains everything rather than showing it and essentially treats the audience like idiots. Not to mention how annoying is the "flow" of the story being constantly interrupted by irrelevant videoes.

The characters too are a mess. Supposedly one of the most powerful men in Washington, Dick Cheney comes off as a dull, uninteresting man. Every single other person in this film is made to look like an idiot; they are cartoonish and unrealistic; they lack characterization, complexity, depth. They are just names. Cheney's wife, Lynne, is probably the only exception as she is slightly interesting.

Surprisingly —or maybe not, maybe he's just one of the greatest actors of his generation— Christian Bale gives a terrific performance as Cheney. Not only he went through yet another body transformation for this role, but his voice, his mannerisms, his physicality, he just looked like the real Cheney. Amy Adams isn't given much to do as Cheney's wife but she still manages to give a good performance, the only savable other than Bale's. As for the rest of the cast, Sam Rockwell is wasted to do a George W. Bush impersonation and he's almost unwatchable, and Steve Carell is difficult to be taken seriously.

Annapurna Pictures

There still is an issue about Vice that I need to address. The editing is absolutely terrible, easily one of the worst of the year —why am I not surprised this is up for a Best Editing Oscar?— as it feels like there are pieces of a linear story played at random. The film just doesn't have a direction, it just feels like watching two hours and ten minutes of unrelated, random clips, and it's beyond infuriating.

Beautiful Boy (2018)

I'm not the biggest Timothée Chalamet fan out there —actually, I can't stomach the guy— but I decided to give Beautiful Boy a chance anyway because people seem to have such contrasting opinions about his performance. 

Based on the memoir by David Sheff, the story follows David Sheff (Steve Carell), a father who is desperately trying to help his drug-addicted son, Nic (Timothée Chalamet). As Nic goes through a period David can't quite understand, he slowly comes to terms with the fact that maybe he can't help him. 

The main issue with Beautiful Boy is that it tells a story that has been told over and over again without bringing anything new to the table other than the story being told from the addict's father's perspective rather than the addict himself as the film's main focus is to highlight the despair and struggle of a parent while watching his child on the downward spiral of drugs. Too bad that the film fails to capture that. In addition, the story has a non-linear timeline with many pointless flashbacks that make you completely lose track of the story. And it doesn't make a lot of sense either as most of the story is told from the father's point of view. 

The characters are another issue as they are underdeveloped and lack characterization. It's very difficult if not impossible to develop any sort of emotional attachment to them, you just don't care about what happens to them. The bland, dull performances sure don't help; if anything, they make you question Carell and Chalamet's acting abilities as the first seems to be playing a depressed version of The Office's Michael Scott, and the latter looks like a male model filming an ad or something.

Photos not available because apparently I was violating copyright by using them. 

There's something about Beautiful Boy that is way worse than script and acting combined, it's Felix Van Groeningen's direction. I really don't know what he had in mind while making this film, but the tone he set just don't match the serious theme of the story. The scenes are very poorly put together —the editing is nearly as bad as Bohemian Rhapsody's— and the music rarely fits the scene —I mean, there's horror-like music in this film. The kind of music you expect when someone is about to get killed.

Foxcatcher (2014)

Genre

Biography | Drama | Sport

Director

Bennett Miller

Country

United States

Cast

Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, Sienna Miller, Anthony Michael Hall, Guy Boyd, Brett Rice, Samara Lee, Jackson Frazer, Jane Mowder, Daniel Hilt, Lee Perkins, David Bennett

Plot

The film tells the dark and fascinating story of the unlikely and ultimately tragic relationship between an eccentric multi-millionaire and two champion wrestlers.

Opinion

Finally released in Italy last Thursday, I went to see it last night. I don't like wrestling and I wasn't expecting much from this film, but it disappointed me in a good way. Foxcatcher is a story about defeat, that goes beyond the sport, and delves into the complexities of the protagonists' psychologies.

The acting is excellent. Channing Tatum proves that he is not just a pretty face, but he act and he is quite good. The way his character punished himself reminded me of "Of Mice and Men"'s Lennie. Forget about the sex comedies guy, because this Steve Carell is different and unrecognizable - great job on the make up - and he delivers an excellent performance, definitely his best so far. Mark Ruffalo gives a superb performance.

Quotes

John du Pont: You're going to do great things, Mark.

Mark Schultz: I'm gonna give you everything I have.

Rating

8.5/10

WATCH: New Trailer For DESPICABLE ME 2!

The best part of the original DESPICABLE ME was the minions in my minion opinion. So naturally when you have a resource you exploit it right? Right.

DESPICABLE ME 2 seems to be all about that with the apparent alien abduction of various minions going about their innocent (?) lives. Of course we will have a search and recover mission soon embarked upon right? Right!

Here's a brief description for the movie:
Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's worldwide blockbuster, Despicable Me, delighted audiences around the globe in 2010, grossing more than $540 million and becoming the 10th-biggest animated motion picture in U.S. history. In Summer 2013, get ready for more minion madness in Despicable Me 2. Chris Meledandri and his acclaimed filmmaking team create an all-new comedy animated adventure featuring the return of Gru (Steve Carell), the girls, the unpredictably hilarious minions... and a host of new and outrageously funny characters.

Director: Chris Renaud
Writer: Cinco Paul
Studio: Universal Pictures
Cast: Al Pacino, Jason Segel, Steve Carell

DESPICABLE ME is slated for release on July 3, 2013.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer... 

 

New DESPICABLE ME Featurette!

Got the new DESPICABLE ME featurette for you, courtesy of Universal and GRU-Tube :-)

In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden deep beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by an army of tireless, little yellow minions, we discover Gru (Steve Carell) planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon (Yes, the moon!) in Universals new 3-D CGI feature, Despicable Me.

Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.

One of the worlds greatest super-villains has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.

Sounds like fun for the family - although I must admit I have not been very excited about this project. Something is missing and I am not sure what just yet. So far the quality seems to be on par though. We'll see!

DESPICABLE ME opens July 9.