The Kingdomination

The Kingdom, A

That's right, loyal reader(s?), finally an A-grade movie. Just the pick me up to keep wading through the generic garbage that pollutes the theaters on a daily basis.

I really really wanted this movie to be bad. Between Booty Call's Jamie Fox and horse-faced Jennifer Garner, I was in the mood to be disgusted. Color me wrong (I think it's a shade of puce). What I got was a crime drama set around the terrorist turmoil of the middle east. It was fast-paced and lighthearted at times, and the cast was right for that type of dialog.

The cinematography = fantastic. It was everything Miami Vice wanted to be, but just couldn't pull off. I hope it hurt Mann watching Peter Berg pull off a good shaky-cam action flick.

With so much anti-war sentiment going on, I was surprised to see how unpolitical they decided to go with the story. It simply stated things as they were and moved forward with a very probable storyline. Contrast that with just the previews for Lions for Lambs and you'll see the kind of heavy handed scriptwriting I'm talking about. Is it wrong that I lay in bed at night sighing happily at the prospects of the writers strike?

Other interesting note: based in Saudi Arabia, but shot in the UAE. I'm sure they were thrilled to throw SA over the rack and portray them as a terrorist state. Nice.

Catch this one in the theaters - it won't transfer well to the teeny screen.

We Own the Night (but not an Oscar)

We Own the Night, D+

Note: picture uploading is not working at the moment. I'll get one up when blogger gets it's act together.

I suppose it's still early in the Oscar begging season, but if this is indicative of what we have to look forward to, I'm not excited. Granted, I'm generally not excited about pointless films with moving (...me toward the exit) performances, but I'm honestly trying this year to watch them and asses the field.

James Gray, also a tea brand, is your typical writer/director, as in he needs to pick one or the other and focus on it. For Jimmy G, I'd definitely point him in the direction of the typewriter. Although I could blame poor casting, I think the real issue is that Gray could be replaced on set with a poster that read "Act Angry" that was just waved at the actors before each scene shot. I've never seen such limited range purposely put onto film. Everybody knows how to act angry. It's what you tell actors NOT to do when they need to be "emotional."

My other issues with the movie could probably be blamed on Joaquin Baca-Asay, the DP, but if the director walks up and accepts an award for a film, he takes the fall as well. Plus Baca-Asay DP'd Thumbsuckers and Super Troopers. To the point: far too many stylized shots mixed in with a very standard shooting style. The one that really stood out was the cool looking shot of Man-jaw Mendes walking down a hallway smoking a cigarette. It was excellent in the trailer, but was completely out of place where they decided to cram it. Another pointless Hollywood moment, one of many in the film.

I'm also going to question Gray's sanity as a writer with is bizarre choice to set We Own the Night in 1988. Who sits down and writes a period piece based 20 years ago? I might have been more okay with it, but there's nothing significant about that year that would be a compelling reason for a crime/drug drama. They only indicators were typical 80s Buicks, and a few big hair women. Beyond that, it didn't matter and you didn't notice it was anything besides now. I guess that's an achievement. Nah.

Overall, a very slow, predictable story. I enjoyed the absolute bleakness of it all, but the performances were weak, and the cinematography average. Better luck next time!