LIFE OF PI

Well we're at the end of Ang Lee Month. We've gone from reviewing his first Oscar winning film for Best Director which was about two Gay Cowboys in "Brokeback Mountain". To his first Oscar nominated film for Best Director in a Kung Fu film with a very complex main character in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". To his first director debut film about an Immigrant from China adjusting to life in America in "Pushing Hands". To an unsuccessful Superhero movie about The Hulk which wasn't Joel Schumacher Batman bad but it was still not a good Superhero flick. Now (As usual) I'm ending the month with his most recent film where he earned his 2nd Oscar for Best Director for his live action/computer animated adventure drama film...

A writer meets shipwreck survivor Pi who's an Indian Immigrant and he wants to write a novel based on his story. Pi gets shipped wrecked on his way to America along with his family as they also tend to sell their Zoo animals in America. Pi escapes on a life boat and is now stranded in the middle of the ocean. However, one of the Zoo animals escapes from the wreckage too and makes it's way on the life boat as well. This is not just any Zoo animal, it's a Tiger and now Pi must also learn how to deal with it. Pi however, does have hope and has a feeling that God is with him.

The premise to the story is fantastic. I love that we learn a little about our character before he gets stranded in the middle of the ocean, I love that he not only has to survive being stranded at sea but also has to survive from being eaten by a Tiger and must try to live with it then kill it. Our main character Pi is a really great character. His childhood is interesting, he's very enjoyable, his methods of survival are clever and his relationship with the Tiger is great. This is one character you hope and prey that he will get out of this OK(Even though you already know that he's alive). The performances of Irrfan Khan as Pi as an adult and Suraj Sharma as Pi at the age of 16 really give a powerful performance that show their emotion and struggles authentically. As for our supporting characters their good maybe not the best actors, maybe not as memorable as Pi or the Tiger but they still come off as good characters. By the way does anyone find it weird that the Tiger and a Hyena show no signs of them being under the tarp of the boat the whole time and that our character just crawls on top of the tarp a few times before both of the animals are revealed?  

What really makes the film work is the cinematography and CGI. Alright, alright, I will be honest about the CGI. At first I found it lazy that Ang Lee is using computer animated animals then real live trained animals and looking at them especially the Tiger, they look more like computer animated cartoon characters then actual animals. With that said, as I let the film play on, I realized Ang Lee had a purpose for using CGI then just being a lazy excuse to save money. The CGI (Like "Avatar" for example) is what creates this world and feel of God. Scenes like the night scene with the jellyfish in the water as the light, the floating Island with all those meerkats, the surreal dream sequence, and even the opening to the film looks very magical like a fantasy world and while having a realistic survival story it wanted to also have a fantasy dreamlike look and it works. Yes the animals still look cartoonish but I guess it's still part of the fantasy aspect of the film and to be fair they do look realistic half the time and the actor does make you believe he's with them so it works. The cinematography makes you feel like you're trapped out there with our main character and along with the CGI there's a lot of good imagery. The score to film also pulls you into the films atmosphere and it's indeed an enchanting score.

Overall this is probably Ang Lee's "Citizen Kane". Great acting from our main character, awesome story, visually incredible and very magical. Personally I probably would have enjoyed the film more if I saw it in IMAX theaters in 3-D and if that opportunity ever comes again, I'll take it.

RATING 5/5

IN NIGHT AND ICE (1912)

 

Titanic, one of the most tragic disasters to ever happen in history! Most of us all know about this event in the film directed by James Cameron but little do people know, there were tons of other film adaptions made based on this tragic event. Some were good, some were bad and others are so inaccurate and insulting that it makes you wonder what the person who made the film was thinking. Well here's my first review on a Titanic film and this review is on one of the earliest film versions of the event made in Germany in 1912 and has been lost for decades called...

IN NIGHT AND ICE
 

There's really nothing to say about the plot, it's just a film documenting the events of the Titanic, however, it does a poor job doing it. I know some of you are thinking, "Tyler, it was made in era where films were new" and even though you're right, it's still a weak take on this tragic event. How the film documents the Titanic is very poor. It doesn't show how the different classes were treated, doesn't show much areas of the ship or how people lived. Maybe the description is in the German subtitles but even if it did talk about it, the film doesn't show it and if it did in a way, it only gave us a small or tiny piece of the cake!



Now the Sinking of the Titanic. Well I don't know what to say about the effect. Some say they sunk a real boat, others say it was a modeled ship and a few suggest it could be both. Does it look realistic, I guess in a sense even though we don't see it go down but at the same time the result isn't effective. What really ticks me off is the film is very inaccurate to the ship going down. When they see the Ice Berg (or should I say small puny Ice Bergs) they see it through Binoculars which they didn't have for the people in the crows nest. The Captain witnesses the collusion when in reality he was in his cabin. The collision became effective towards passengers when in reality not many people nor did the Captain feel it. Oh and the Boilers explode during the collusion and of course they didn't, nor did the boiler room get flooded so quickly as depicted in Cameron's film but Cameron's film (Despite factual errors regarding the ship itself) was more true to the event and depicted life on the ship better than this film did. The people behind the film should have looked it up a little bit more.

It fails at showing the tragedy and life aboard the Titanic and this film should probably STAY LOST!

RATING 1/5

ANG LEE'S HULK

The Incredible Hulk, one of Marvels best known characters! As a small kid, I never got into the Hulk like most of my friends were. I bought the action figures but never really played with them, I was more into the Batman action figures. The films and TV shows (Even today), I just pass on them. The only thing I really watched of The Hulk was the show starring Bill Bixby but I only saw a few episodes but still I find them good and worth reviewing in the future. I guess the reason why I wasn't into the Hulk was because I wasn't a Superhero fan to begin with as a kid. After seeing "The Avengers" however, I think it's time to really look at them and find out if I was really missing out on good heroes as a kid. However, I don't think reviewing Ang Lee's version of The Hulk is a good start, since it's not popular, never received a sequel and is barley remembered. However, is the film a good start for newcomers to see The Hulk and is probably a forgotten underrated Gem? Let's find out, here is my review on Ang Lee's version of...

 

Bruce Banner(Eric Bana) is a scientist who barley remembers his tragic past that took place in his childhood. During an accident in the lab, Bruce becomes a giant green monster called The Hulk that only happens whenever he gets angry. His Father (Nick Nolte) is now out of a mental hospital for causing an explosion at the lab and for accidentally killing his wife when he was actually going to try to kill his son and his plan now is to take his sons power. Meanwhile, Bruce has a love interest named Betty(Jennifer Connelly) however, her Father (Sam Elliot) is a military general and plans take out Bruce before he causes more chaos as The Hulk.Instead of being a superhero type of story, it's actually a tragedy that's dark and depressing, it basically your typical Jeykll and Hyde story. It's one of the many reasons why comic book fans didn't like the film, personally I like the route that Ang Lee is taking this story. There are also many complaints that the films origins aren't too true to the comics origins, personally that doesn't bother me either because when it comes to comic book heroes it's likely that the origins will be changed around not just in films but also in comics as well. To me, as long as you have the accident in the lab that's pretty accurate enough. While liking the premise and style, I do find the story very confusing and a little to boring.


Eric Bana as our main character Bruce Banner. While liking his angry moments and trying to keep his anger inside of him, I find him and his character very boring and the only part of him that interests me is the other half of him and when you're main character's real self isn't interesting and you're more attached to his alter ego that becomes a huge problem. Characters like Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker or even Dr.Jekyll come off as interesting because we can sympathies with them, we can feel their emotions and also find some very likable qualities in them while also getting a kick out of their alter ego whether their ego is doing our character good or bad. With Bruce Banner (In this film) sure he has his angry moments, sure he has a few painful moments, sure he has struggling moments but his character doesn't have anything interesting about him. He's not a big loser, he's not someone who's trying to go through extreme measures to achieve something, he's just a scientist with a tragic past that he barley remembers and doesn't have much of a personality except when he's angry which doesn't happen until after the accident nor was his temper developed in the film before the accident. I only prefer Ang Lee's version of Bruce Banner angry because when he's not I want to fall asleep.

 It's not just our main character Bruce who's boring and bland, it's also the supporting characters as well. Jennifer Connelly as Bruce's love interest is more boring than our main character. At least Eric Bana has some good emotional scenes despite playing a character who's completely bland. Jennifer Connelly's character and performance bores me to death and is the blandest character in the film which is a shame because I loved her in "Once Upon A Time In America". Instead of the film having one villain we have three and all three are not great, memorable or well performed. Sam Elliot as Betty's Father who's trying to take out The Hulk, he doesn't interest me and nor did I find him a threat, I just saw him more as an annoying asshole who's asking to get crushed. John Lucas as Major Glenn Talbot who wants a sample from The Hulk, forgettable too and is another asshole who's waiting to get his ass handed to him by The Hulk. Nick Nolte as Bruce's Father, well he does get maybe a good scene or two (especially in the confrontation between him and his son) but for the most part he's just a bore. He does get a power to absorb things, however, we only see that part of him for only a few minutes kind of like Venom in "Spider-Man 3" and also like Venom in "Spider-Man 3" I don't think will be hearing from him again, that is if Ang Lee ever does do a follow up to this film.

 

While having boring characters and a confusing storyline, the effects in this movie are fairly decent. I love that the film treats itself like a live action comic book coming to life by having comic book edits, montages and transition scenes. They're all done well and give the film a good atmosphere. Speaking of atmosphere, so does the score to this film by Danny Elfman. The CGI is ok. It's not great or all that realistic, but its fairly decent. As for the action scenes their very promising for comic book fans and yes they are all actioned packed. The Hulk fighting against an army lead by Betty's Father, The Fight against the Hulk taking out a pack of Mutated Dogs that are around his size, and the fight between him and his Father with absorbing powers are for the most part well done action scenes. Oh and be on the look out for a cameo of both Stan Lee(Writer of Marvel Comics) and Lou Ferrigno(Who played the Hulk on the Bill Bixby show) together.

For newcomers who haven't seen or read The Hulk comics or haven't watched any films or shows with The Hulk as our main hero, you might want to pass on this film. I can understand why the film wasn't a big hit because it's confusing, boring, forgettable and only relies on the special effects and action to save the film. Everything I mentioned in that last paragraph is pretty much what makes the film almost worth watching, but it's still overall a very boring Superhero film and boring isn't what a Superhero or action hero film for that matter should ever be.

RATING 1/5