Whip It

One of my favorite recent directorial debuts. This movie makes me happy.

Inception

Originally uploaded by there'snotime

For me, there are few things like the experience of a good movie in the theatre, it’s one of the reasons it’s my desire to make films for audiences. A great film is hard enough to do, but if you as a filmmaker can make a great film and suck the audience into its world to the point that the theatre comes under the films control – well there’s nothing like experiencing that. To this day I still remember what it was like when I first watched Jurassic Park and felt that dinosaurs were real, sat in Seabiscuit and realized audience members around me were cheering for a horse onscreen, and I know that the collective gasp and gleeful astoundment that came with the credits of Inception will stay with me as well.

I can’t tell you much about the actual plot of Inception, both because it’s so beautifully complicated I wouldn’t know how to begin, and because the film deserves to be watched for the first time with the freshest eyes you can, so that you too can be completely caught in the wonder. By saying the film is beautifully complicated does not mean it does not make sense, this is a film that is the complex, exquisite brainchild of master craftsman Christopher Nolan.

I do not throw the word auteur around much as I believe film is a collaborative process and auteur limits the results to one man’s contribution, but upon seeing this film I believe Christopher Nolan deserves the title of auteur. Inception could not be made without him completely involved in every aspect of the film – it reeks of an auteur’s hand.

With every film Christopher Nolan seems to be getting better. Even though the man makes giant films that make money hand over fist, I would in no way call him a commercial director, and I mean that as a compliment. Nolan makes films that achieve worldwide attention, steal the top stop at the box office, and gain critical recognition, yet they are by no means simple. Christopher Nolan has mastered the art of being able to tell a worthy, intricate tale in a compelling and entertaining way, getting the best performances possible out of his actors, and trusting the audience to come into his world instead of making his films fit into theirs. This is a balsy approach in a filmmaking era where tentpole films are generally more flash than substance and the audience leaves happy, but rarely thinking about what they actually watched for anything more than the adrenaline that it pumped through them. This is the reason it’s my desperate dream to have Christopher Nolan as a directing mentor – there could be no better hands to sit under and study.

Inception is worthy of all the critical praise it has received and I hope that it continues to surmass more critical and audience praise as it continues down it’s theatrical journey. I for one and excited to see what the visuals will look like on the IMAX screen, as they are already astoundingly visual on the standard screen. I can’t wait to go down the rabbit hole again and begin dreaming with Christopher Nolan one more time.

Director & Writer: Christopher Nolan
Cobb: Leonardo DiCaprio
Arthur: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Ariadne: Ellen Page
Eames: Tom Hardy
Saito: Ken Wantanabe
Yusuf: DiLeep Rao
Robert Fischer Jr.: Cillian Murphy
Browning: Tom Berenger
Mal: Marion Cotillad
Maurice Fischer: Pete Postlethwaite
Miles: Michael Caine
Mash: Lukas Haas

Cobb: You're asking me for Inception. I hope you do understand the gravity of that request.

Whip It

Roller Cool
Originally uploaded by jimkirks

Bliss Cavender is living in her mother’s shadow; a senior in high school and clearly not the beauty pageant type she obediently shuffles from pageant to pageant because her mother insists she can learn from it. However, on a trip to Austin Bliss discovers the world of roller derby and decides to try out; before she knows it Bliss is a Hurl Scout and has to lie to her team about her age and telling her parents she is spending her extra time at a SAT class. On the track Bliss and the Hurl Scouts are finally making a name for themselves and getting closer to taking down the Holy Rollers.

I can’t quite tell you how much I loved this movie, the best way I can sum it up is that when the credits rolled I was utterly proud to be a girl. From Bliss to Maggie Mayhem every type of modern woman is represented in Whip It and I think the reason this story is told so well is because it is made by a woman.

Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut with Whip It and I hope she gets a chance for an encore. While Whip It has some flaws in the editing of the action sequences (which are hard even in a seasoned director’s hands), Barrymore proves she truly is the Hollywood sponge that you would think she is. This is a woman whose heritage is movies, from her family to her earliest jobs she had the masters of cinema surrounding her and she paid attention. What is so incredible about Whip It is that the performances are perfectly executed and captured; this is not an Oscar-bait kind of movie but from Daniel Stern to Alia Shawkat, every performance in the film is spot-on and delivered by actors that trusted their director and a director that knew how to get them to the core of their character.

Perhaps I have a soft spot for Barrymore but my single favorite character was Smashley Simpson. It is hard for a long time actor to take the reins as a director and act in their own movie; some overextend themselves and give themselves to big a part. I am glad to say Barrymore didn’t do this. She gave herself a supporting role with Smashley Simpson, the tempestuous team captain of the Hurl Scouts. Smashley is the most memorable character in Whip It, she has the best lines, the most memorable moments and might be my favorite Barrymore character.

Whip It is a movie that won’t have a lot of longevity in terms of box office, but it will grow a following quite steadily, especially on DVD. This is a film with heart, wit, and whimsy. The film is a cult film in the making and makes me want to try my own had at the world of roller derby.

Director: Drew Barrymore
Writer: Shauna Cross
Bliss Cavender: Ellen Page
Pash: Alia Shawkat
Brooke Cavender: Marcia Gay Harden
Shania Cavender: Eulala Scheel
Earl Cavender: Daniel Stern
Johnny Rocket: Jimmy Fallon
Maggie Mayhem: Kristen Wiig
Bloody Holly: Zoe Bell
Smashley Simpson: Drew Barrymore
Razor: Andrew Wilson
Iron Maven: Juliette Lewis

Razor: Yeah, let's celebrate mediocrity! That's fantastic.

Juno

Juno
Originally uploaded by caaarol

I am not afraid of Juno causing a rise in teen pregnancy; don’t think that I am starting with this statement out of left field. There have been plenty of critics of the film that have said dumb things like Juno being the impetus to teens having more sex. To me this statement proves that these people have not seen the film. Juno is a film about teen pregnancy; but more than anything it is about a teen that knows she made a mistake and decides to take responsibility afterwards by not aborting the baby or keeping it to raise, but making sure to give it a family that she knows will proved it a life she cannot achieve for the baby.

Perhaps my favorite part of Juno is not just the acerbic wit of the lead character (named after Zeus’ wife not the city) but the supporting characters around her: Leah the best friend, Mac her father, Bren her stepmother and Bleeker the father. Each of these characters is realistic in the way they respond to Juno’s plight and offer the support and love that I would hope any of my friends would get if they were in Juno’s situation.

When Juno comes running straight from the abortion clinic to Leah’s house and announces that she’s going to “stay pregnant” Leah quickly moves from freaking out about how this will change Juno’s life to suggesting to Juno how to find a quality adoptive couple for the baby. Throughout the rest of the film she is by Juno’s side through thick and thin when Juno tells her parents about her situation to the actual delivery itself.

Just as important are Bren and Mac Juno’s parents. When Juno tells them that she is pregnant they don’t tell though visibly upset, instead they step in to help Juno take her pregnancy seriously; Mac stays by Juno’s side through the adoption process right until after the delivery when he consoles her by saying someday she’ll have a baby when she’s ready to have one. After finding out Juno is pregnant Bren immediately jumps in to the mother role to her stepdaughter by taking her to the doctor, protecting her from the condescension of the ultra-sound tech and even screaming at the doctors to give Juno “the damn spinal tap” when she is in labor.

Then there is Bleeker, the father of Juno’s baby and the last person anyone expected to be able to get a girl pregnant. Bleeker is a relatively calm character who tries to stay by Juno’s side even when she pushes him away. To Bleeker Juno is still the only girl in the world and he doesn’t understand why she can’t see that. However, slow and steady wins the race and by the end of Juno’s journey she has realized that Bleeker is the best thing that could have happened to her.

Finally, we have Juno herself. While this character is an irresponsible teenage girl she proves more than capable of “dealing with things way beyond [her] maturity level”. She moves with absolute resolution from deciding to abort the pregnancy to staying pregnant and giving up the baby for adoption. Her wit and sarcasm are her greatest weapons that arm her to deal with the skeptics around her, and she seeks out not just a better life for the baby, but to find out her ultimate goal – who she truly is.

Juno is a quirky film that balances a peculiar sense of humor with a dramatic subject, but it is the heart of the movie that makes it truly shine. If Jason Reitman was able to make a “joyful movie about lung cancer” in Thank You for Smoking, then with Diablo Cody’s script he makes a warm-hearted film about teen pregnancy.

Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Diablo Cody
Juno: Ellen page
Bleeker: Michael Cera
Vanessa: Jennifer Garner
Mark: Jason Bateman
Bren: Allison Janney
Mac: J.K. Simmons
Leah: Olivia Thirlby

Vanessa Loring: Your parents are probably wondering where you are.
Juno MacGuff: Nah... I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?