2012

2012 (Columbia Pictures)
Directed by Roland Emmerich

It’s funny how the most ridiculous of things can become the norm in Hollywood, but it happens day after day and for a long time now, we have accepted it all with open arms. Just think of those times you see a preview for a movie that looks so incredibly stupid and yet, someway or somehow, you wind up watching it anyway. Next thing you know, we all do this, over and over again, eventually vaulting us into some acceptable notion that these films have a certain standard to follow, when in reality, they don’t. How could they? The stories aren’t even close to being realistic and the things people are able to say and do would never happen, but for some reason, we just can’t get enough of these kind of films. Whether it’s some ‘over the top’ action/adventure or thriller/horror flick, people flock to the theater and the box office numbers prove this, here and abroad. And it’s in this spirit a film like 2012 gets released with the hope it too will become successful, despite all its obvious shortcomings that turn out to be a little larger than predicted once you scratch the surface.

When I say this film is based loosely off the 2012 Mayan phenomenon argued by many conspiracy theorists, I mean loose, as in barely hanging on. It all begins in India 2010 where a local scientist discovers that neutrinos (elementary particles that travel at the speed of light), generated from a gigantic solar flare are acting as heat combustors’, causing the Earth's core temperature to increase faster than normal. He immediately calls his friend, Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who travels to see this extreme data in person. After confirming the seriousness of the threat, he immediately informs White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser of the discovery, advising this was the beginning to the end of the world, thus forcing the U.S. and other countries around the world to plan and come up with a project to sustain life by whatever means possible.

The idea was to build huge arks to house roughly 400,000 carefully chosen people, to help restart life as they once knew it. A novel, yet warped notion that quickly gets compromised when the Earth’s crust begins to break apart earlier than planned, thus forcing all end of the world plans into hyper-mode, which can’t be good for anyone. That is, unless you’re Jackson Curits, a mildly successful writer who stumbles upon conspiracy theorists Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson) in the woods of Yellowstone Park, while on a camping trip with his kids. Charlie informs him of this government ship program in China and the next thing you know, Jackson gathers up the rest of him family and before you knew it, he was on a plane narrowly flying away from LA which was literary falling into the Pacific Ocean. So, while millions were falling victim to tsunami’s and apocalyptic earthquakes, Charlie and co. were making their way toward the Himalayas, in hopes of staying alive when no one else would resulting in a exaggerated conclusion that felt more like a letdown than anything else.

For a film that doesn’t necessarily require a good cast, there sure were a lot of known faces. Leading them all, of course, was John Cusack, who always seems to be crawling out from under a rock to get into a new film. And 2012 almost looks like a move of desperation for the actor, especially when the cast is far from the most important part of the feature; but he made the most of his role in that “Cusack way” we all have become accustomed to. But, in the end, it didn’t really mater a whole lot, given everything else that was going on around him; so whether it was Cusack, Danny Glover, Oliver Platt or anyone else from this overachieving cast, you just never were allowed to care too much about their individual character(s). Maybe that’s the fault of the director or maybe that’s just the way it goes with this type of film, but if it is, Chiwetel Ejiofor never got the memo, because each and every scene he was in, he stole, making his performance the best out of the entire group.

When it comes to films like 2012, you just never know what you’re going to get as far as “cheese.” Come on, you have to admit; when you see any so-called “end of the world” flick, a certain caveat has to be placed on it. If not, who knows what kind of feeling you will get after watching something with as many innuendos and unrealistic features as 2012. For years we have seen these types of stories come and go without too much thought, but given the talent behind this film, a certain expectation has been set, not by fans, by the director himself. Roland Emmerich has been here before, with INDEPENDENCE DAY and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, and having been fairly successful with both, I for one expected a certain quality with 2012. And although that certain quality and entertaining value was there, you could tell not as much attention was given to this film, like his previous from this pseudo-genre. The running time alone will give you that hint, at a hefty 158 minutes, which is absolutely way too long for this type of film. An easy 50 minutes could have and should have been cut out of this thing from the top and from there, maybe they could have figured out a better way to mold the story together, which was broken and battered from start to finish. Even the special effects, the true “star” of the film, weren’t that spectacular as it got a little old after the first few sequence’s, and when that fails in a story like this, I just can’t see how the film doesn’t.

It’s hard to know exactly what the producers wanted to get out of a film like 2012, but knowing the budget was over $260 million, it’s hard to comprehend why this film shouldn’t have been better. Fact is it will make its money and probably earn a good profit, but will it be enough when it’s all said and done? I just wonder if the clock is starting to run out on these types of stories and if so, will we start to see some more inventive stories with tapered down special effects instead? Questions to ponder, I guess, as you pass right by this film to watch something else.

C-

AMELIA

AMELIA (Fox Searchlight)
Directed by Mira Nair

With the news that the coveted Best Picture category from the Academy Awards has grown from five films to ten, I have wondered how early a film might be considered for the race. In the past, rarely a film released prior to November 1st would even be looked at, much less recognized, but all that gets thrown out the window now, right? One would think so, but until next year when those nominations roll out, we won't know for sure. So, in the mean time, we can speculate and although there hasn’t been a whole lot of 'great' in the past couple months, you just never know, which is why a film like AMELIA has a chance to be nominated. History tells us biopic’s or biographical films tend to be looked at differently and often rewarded come the time when it matters; so despite any negativity hovering over this film, weeks after its release, it does has a legitimate chance to be nominated in a few categories and maybe even Best Picture if there’s not a whole lot else to pick from. That’s just the reality of the situation, as I see it; because frankly I’ve seen a lot better and a lot worse be nominated, placing this film somewhere in the middle of having at least a shot, which is probably all the producers want at the end of the day.

AMELIA, as anticipated, is based loosely off the real-life heroine Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank), who defied odds and became one of the most respected women in history by becoming the first to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. While setting numerous other flying records, she became an icon to women by also publishing several acclaimed novels and teaching other women to go after their dreams. But, flying was her passion and for a long time, was all that mattered to her. It wasn’t until she met and married George Putnam (Richard Gere), her publicist, that her life started to change as it wasn’t cheap to be a pilot. For Earhart, flying was more than just getting up in the air for a quick spin. She was free when she flew and would do anything to keep that feeling alive. And with the help of George, she did just that writing about her adventures and using her fame to her advantage, being a spokesperson for many products back then and one of the first to do so in a manner that supported her passion. In doing so, however, she was looked at differently and as someone who was given fame without effort, thus forcing her into an internal battle to prove to the entire world she deserved to be where she was. It was then she set the record for flying over the Atlantic and eventually set in motion the plan to fly around the world. So, after a botched takeoff attempt from Hawaii, Swank and her expert navigator, Frank Noonan (Christopher Eccleston) were off on the adventure of a lifetime; one that would proves to be quite successful until the last leg across the transpacific, where a tricky refueling was scheduled at the tiny Howland Island. It was then everything changed, for this great adventure was about to come to a crashing end, as Earhart and Noonan would never arrive at that island, losing radio contact and ultimately vanishing without a trace, leaving a long trail of theories on what really happened that day.

Most biopic’s or some version thereof have no problem garnering up chatter when it comes to acclaim and awards, as history has told us that; but the actor or actress still has to go out and do it, which sometimes isn’t as easy as it might seem. A couple years ago when Jamie Foxx took the country by storm with this portrayal in RAY, no one was better, as the effort put forth by Foxx was easily rewarded. Same could be said for Sean Penn for his part in MILK last year, but this isn’t always the case. Many times these roles go unnoticed and often do not get rewarded, much less nominated for various speculative reasons. Obviously one reason could be it was a lousy portrayal, but often times, a great performance can get overlooked simply due to lack of visibility or a notable surrounding cast. However in AMELIA, there’s plenty of acting credentials to go around, so when Hilary Swank gets snubbed from her role as the famed pilot come January next year, we will know it was because of the lack of visibility. The one thing I do know is Richard Gere did anything but bring her down, adding his own noteworthy performance, one in which that might find its way onto the ballot as sometimes it’s easier for the Academy to reward the supporter, than the lead. But make no mistake about it, both Gere and Swank were good here and although I could find some holes in their performances at times, it didn’t deter from the enjoyment of watching them each on the big screen, as you couldn’t help but be drawn into their characters.

When it comes to films like AMELIA, it’s hard not to place it into the Oscar pool, as it just has that look and feel, but maybe that’s the problem. Too often we will take a film like this and force some unreachable accolades on it, when in reality, it’s just meant to tell a good story, like many other films. AMELIA does that easily, but to me, it did more in showing you don’t always have to create good out of a bad story, meaning the fate of Amelia Earhart was known long before any of us sat down to watch the film, so to go overboard with unwarranted slights of how the story ended would be outright ludicrous. I was glad the writers chose to do what they did with the ending, as there’s no need to get into any theories or notion that something may or may not have happened to the famed aviatrix. And director Mira Nair respected that, proving there is a host of ways to still honor the legend, no matter how they left this world. And to me, that’s what this film was, a tribute to Amelia Earhart and how she revolutionized aviation in her own little way. So while there could have been more background detail into how she came to love to fly so much, I can’t complain too much for a story that was fairly smooth throughout, offering little to no bumps along the way. If anything, it didn’t wow you enough, but maybe it wasn’t supposed to as we already knew how this tragic story ended.

For a film that may or may not have legs come Oscar time, AMELIA sure had a lot of heart, which counts for something when you start to list out the good and bad from 2009. So, while there might not be as much praise for this film as I would have thought initially, it’s still worth watching for the history lesson and cast, which was better than most when it was all said and done.

B+