September 29, 2004

With almost nothing to write about right now, I guess I ought to go ahead an comment on Sky Captain & The World Of Tomorrow…

Zzzzzz…

Sky Captain is one of those sad, unique situations where you really can sense the passion and conviction of the filmmakers, yet the film fails utterly nonetheless. I don't doubt Kerry Conran's intent, only his execution. This film doesn't actually look new. It is just a new technology delivering an old looking image. Isn't it ironic that critics who make a point of not bowing to technology are doing so here when that technology suits their fancy.

Apparently, it is enough for some people for a film to be different. I would call it the tyranny of the new. I am more than willing to honor the discovery of a new technology or a new style in filmmaking. Huzzah! But the film still has to stand up on its narrative haunches for me to salute.

Simply put, there was not one moment in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow in which I felt a threat to the characters, to Earth or to goodness. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, a giant stone created real tension as Indiana ran from it. It wasn't high technology. But it was human.

It's like Ricky Roma said in Glengarry Glen Ross, "The great fucks you may have had. What do you remember about 'em? It's probably not the orgasm. It's some broad's forearm on your neck. Something her eyes did. There was this sound she made. Or it's me in the uh... I'm tellin' you... I'm in bed the next day, she brought me café au lait. Gives me a cigarette…"

That is true of movies too. It is not the giant effect. It is the humanity within it, whether our identification with that moment or the reflection of the human condition. It's not the power of Batman, it's his vulnerability, which only the audience can see. Superman needs Kryptonite. And why did the new Godzilla fail when it was soooo technically superior to the classic Godzilla? Personality. The old Godzilla had one and the new one was just an angry, inexpressive animal.

Giant robots wiping out a city are uninteresting unless they are about to crush your grandmother and someone comes and saves her at the last minute. And that is when those robots have to seem real, so disbelief can be suspended for a glorious moment.

Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow are fine in this movie. And in the third act, you actually get the feeling of the Tracy-Hepburn relationship that Conran was chasing. But for two acts, you get nothing but human stick figures against the green screen.

If you want to see technology that you haven't seen before… technology that will really move things forward, watch the unwatchable Hotel by Mike Figgis and see the future of the digital camera unfold. For God's sake, watch the Star Wars films, whether you like them or not.

To me, the technology of Sky Captain would be impressive if the film cost $25 million…. even if I still didn't care about the characters. But mostly, I would rather see this old fashioned look done in an old fashioned way. This is the challenge for Peter Jackson on King Kong… not getting so caught up in the CG that we don't buy into the fact that the monkey is really that big. Better to use a big, fake giant hand than to disbelieve the CG.

There are worse ways to spend $10.50 than buying a Sky Captain ticket. But in the end, the technology overwhelmed the humanity. And for me, that is a no sale.

READER OF THE DAY: MYSTERY JACK writes: "We haven't seen the original version of "Shall We Dance?". But I think you want to say "remakes that are not better than the original one, are not Oscar worthy". And I think you are right.

But it was a very entertaining movie and the acting, the script were good in my opinion. The audience applauded with enthusiasm. I haven't seen that happen in a long time."

E-Me. I applaud the TV spots… but not the movie. But I am enjoying watching the original film again on Tivo, as it has been playing on cable this week. If you can see it, you should. And I don't think a remake has to supersede the original to be Oscar worthy... it just has to be Oscar worthy.