Dispatches from the Man-Cave

More action-comedy than horror flick, Zombieland is packed with B-movie cool, great set-pieces, laugh out loud knee-slapping sequences, and is probably more fun than all of the thrill rides that appear in the film’s finale combined.

Jesse Eisenberg’s pre-apocalypse shut-in Columbus, and Woody Harrelson’s irresistible madman Tallahassee make for an unlikely comic couple, but the chemistry is winning, and whenever Tallahassee’s pwning zombies the movie hits its high points.The characters are rounded out by Wichita and Little Rock (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) and one of the greatest celebrity cameos ever. As these four take to the road in search of various things (love, youth, respite, TWINKIES!) we can’t help but be pulled along by the film’s energy and plain enjoyment at playing with the zombie genre.

Zombieland established itself as a zombie comedy that can stand up with the best of them, like Shaun of the Dead, because of its keen sense of humor, willingness to play within the genre instead of merely mock it, and its ability to deliver chills and thrills with the best of them.

These days Chaplin is known to very few, heck, it’s hard to find people who have an affinity for the three stooges and Laurel and Hardy as it is, what more Chaplin, master of the silent film comedy. And yet, taking a look at City Lights one observes a mastery and craftsmanship that go beyond the trademark mustache and waddle.

From the first few minutes the movie will have you laughing; Chaplin’s antics set the benchmark for physical comedy and sight gags, and these jokes hold up well today. I honestly could not stop laughing. Nor did I want to stop. It just flowed, there is a joy in this film, and it’s one of the great strengths that it has, it is fun to watch, and it aims at evoking enjoyment.

This isn’t to say that it’s not without its dark or sad moments. Indeed the story is filled with tragedy, always just below the surface. And this tragedy makes the happiness in it, the grand moments, all the greater. Along with the great comedy pieces there is an earnest, affecting love story.

City Lights has some heavy scenes, and some truly poignant moments, but it never takes itself too seriously as it rolls out one great gag, joke, or situation, after another. and through it all one can derive an experience of pure enjoyment.

Falling into the sci-fi time paradox mindf-ck mode is Timecrimes, a low-budget time travel flick that doesn’t need DeLoreans (though I maintain that DeLoreans are awesome), cool phone booths, or other eye candy and special effects to keep us hooked.

A guy is sitting in his back yard when he sees a woman undressing in the woods just past his yard. He goes out to see what’s going on (and who wouldn’t do that right?) and finds the woman’s body lying naked. Then a dude with a bandaged face stabs him and chases him through the forest. He winds up in a science facility where the man operating a machine tells him to get in so he can hide from bandage-face dude. He gets out of the machine seconds later and the man operating the machine doesn’t recognize him. The guy walks out of the facility and sees himself sitting in his back yard with a pair of binoculars looking out into the woods. And that’s the set up.

As is par for the course in time paradox flicks, the plot is more of a spiral than a linear movement, and we encounter maddening revelations as the movie progresses.

Without any great effects, this movie operates on the power of story and acting, and it’s a testament to how good sci-fi can be created with great ideas and without massive budgets (yes I’m looking at you James Cameron). This movie has more than its fair share of action and hold-your-breath exciting moments, as well as those aforementioned mind-blowing revelations.

Yet another film that is brilliant but failed to hit Philippine cinemas, Timecrimes is a must watch for the sci-fi fan and a great brain teaser for anyone up for a good hour and a half of moviegoing.

I imagine that if there were fanboys who were as rabid about loyalty to source material about Sherlock Holmes as there are about LOTR of Harry Potter, then they would be up in arms screaming sacrilege and decrying how this movie would make Sir Arthur Conan Doyle turn in his grave. But as it stands, there is no such group, and trickster Guy Ritchie has pulled a heist of his own by fashioning the classic character for a Guy Ritchie movie. And Holmes is perfect for this kind of treatment.

Ritchie’s always worked best when portraying the London underworld, and the Victorian setting only enhances this. Downey’s Holmes is a man tortured by his own mind and the need to solve puzzles. And oh are they set up in abundance here. Ritchie’s take on Holmes is a series of twists and turns, leading and revealing. Those familiar with the director’s gimmicks will note that it is here that they become most effective. One of my own favorite things about the film is the way that Holmes plans out his attacks and explains each of the blows before executing them.

At its heart, Sherlock Holmes is more about big action set-pieces than actual detective work. The detective work is definitely there, and through Ritchie’s stylistics and the great acting even exposition becomes exciting. But this movie is fast-paced, moving towards action and explosions, the revelations merely occasions for more action. This is by no means a complaint. This is a Sherlock Holmes engineered for a contemporary audience. We want it fast, big, spectacular.

Where the film succeeds, and where so many others fail, is despite its concessions to Hollywood and the demand of the popcorn audience, it still delivers a well-written, engaging story that doesn’t pander to its audience. Like the best of Doyle’s work, it asks us to keep guessing and to marvel at the mad detective’s methods. Downey, as usual, is captivating, and Jude Law plays Watson not just as a sidekick but as more of a foil, the thing that balances Holmes out. McAdams is her typically desirable self, and each shot makes us wish that the camera would linger a little longer on her. There aren’t many scenes for characterization, but the interactions bring out enough, in between the big action sequences.

The movie runs two hours, but you hardly feel it, and more importantly it feels like so much happens, and so much of it memorable. What better thing can I say about a movie than I look forward to watching it again.

My friend was telling me that he was in the office and he and his officemates had just watched the Iron Man 2 trailer. Seeing War Machine’s arsenal he exclaimed, “That’s friggin’ awesome dude! They have War Machine in it.”

To which his officemates replied, “Huh? Anong War Machine? Si Iron Man 2 yan!”