Extract (2009, Mike Judge)

All Movie Guide Summary:

Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig, Clifton Collins, and J.K. Simmons star in writer/director Mike Judge's comedy about a flower-extract plant owner contending with an ever-growing avalanche of personal and professional disasters. An employee at the factory has just suffered an unfortunate accident on the assembly line, but little does the put-upon owner realize that things are about to get much worse. As the injured employee threatens to sue and it begins to look like his company will be bought out, the frazzled owner attempts to catch the culprit responsible for stealing wallets from the coat room and begins to suspect that his wife is sleeping with the gigolo he hired to seduce her.

I finally caught up with Judge's latest. This was a "most-anticipated movie" for me last year, though interest slid once reviews were less-than-overwhelming. Though not as consistently funny as "Office Space" and "Idiocracy", "Extract" does ride on that Judge patented low-key charm that is extremely rare in movies and television.
That charm and the inter-personal relationship comedy is what worked for me. All the stuff involving the wife, the gigolo, Ben Affleck, the workplace, was funny, interesting, and somewhat well played (REALLY well played by Affleck, and Dustin Milligan's dumb gigolo is classic Judge); though all the stuff involving Kunis, lawsuits, etc. just seemed like "plot" that needed to be there. I think that even Judge acknowledges this as being somewhat clunky and obvious, by casting himself as a factory employee who has to dispense exposition, at one point in the story, in order to cause some dramatic conflict.
But that plot clunkiness doesn't take away from the shambling low-key charm that this comedy has. Hollywood isn't making these type of movies that often anymore. It really reminded me of some comedy I'd catch on in the afternoon on HBO when I came home from middle school. It's mainly about characters, not a high concept; and most of the humor is derived by these characters and their traits (Judge mastered this with "King Of The Hill"). While not blown away by this film, I'm looking forward to seeing this come up on cable, to see how it holds up and/or rises in esteem. Judge's films always seem to play better, the more often you see them.
I really hope that Judge continues in this vein, and is allowed by Hollywood to continue making his type of comedies. His movies are notorious for not doing any kind of box office (I don't think "Extract" was any different: $10 million domestic), but I really think he's got another stunner or two in him.

The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights (2009, Emmett Malloy)

The Stripes had never played a full tour of Canada. Following the release of their last album, "Icky Thump", the band decided to give Canada the full treatment before embarking on the typical US/Europe/Etc. touring cycle. This documentary follows them through this Candaian tour, where they played every province and territory, and ultimately proved to be the only tour they did behind that album.
This film focuses on live performances and balances between the traditional rock concert formats the Stripes played at night, and daytime performances where the Stripes played non-traditional venues like bowling allies, city buses, rec centers, etc. This juxtaposition helps show what makes the Stripes such a exciting and experimental band; they're ready and willing to play anywhere, anytime, to anyone.
Malloy does a fine job at capturing the band live on stage. The black and white photography goes a long way towards mythologizing this band. Matched with the many varieties of music The Stripes play, the B&W photography helps portray them as a band not-of-a-particular-time.
Malloy (and the Whites) keep us at an emotional distance though. By focusing mainly on the live performance, we never see the inner workings of the band, their personal life, their thoughts on anything but the music. It is just the band, the tour, and the music.
And that is what makes the final scene stand out: Jack plays a song on piano with Meg sitting beside him. As the song goes on and Jack sings; Meg sways, looks at Jack, sings along, and starts to break down into tears. This scene seems out of place because we have no context for Meg's emotions (she is portrayed in the film, and admits to being, the "quiet one" who likes it that way) outside of her role as a drummer in this band. The film makes no mention, that shortly after the film, Meg White canceled the rest of the Stripes tour dates due to anxiety issues. If there was more to the Stripes' tour; was it not captured by Malloy and his cameras? Did certain aspects end up on the cutting room floor at the request of the band? And, if yes, why was this last scene left in?
Regardless, this film captures this incredible band at an exciting stage in their career, trying something really different, in order to change a tour into an exciting adventure. The live performances are always thrilling, no matter the venue. And it is something to see the Stripes walk up on a stage, gear up, and play a "one note concert", thank the crowd, and leave. Awesome.

Up In The Air (2009, Jason Reitman)

I've been working my way through the Oscar nominees and finally got to Up In The Air, namely because it came out this past week on DVD/Blu-Ray. It is a very good film with some great performances. This is the kind of movie that is rarely made these days; the mid-level drama-with-jokes. It had elements of classic comedy scenarios; the romance, the business comedy, the misanthrope-who-needs-to-change comedy, set against the backdrop of the current jobless crisis. More filmmakers should be using current events as the backdrops for comedies. The reason this film had the most Oscar-nominated actors this year was because it had clearly defined characters that were each given character moments that helped drive the story, and weren't just shoehorned in for fireworks. Another reason films like this don't get made often; the ending. Bittersweet. Some things don't work out. And the things that do work out for Bingham; they are bittersweet. And that's what made this film rise in its quality to me: the ending.

The Hurt Locker (2009, Kathryn Bigelow)

Yeah. What a loser. I finally caught up with The Hurt Locker. A week after the Oscar. Blah blah blah. What can I say? I'm poor right now. And I tried real hard to watch it the night before the Oscars. No luck. But now I can say I saw the Best Picture of the year.
I loved it. The bomb-diffusing scenes, though almost repetitious, were very suspenseful. That repetition is intentional in the storytelling though, showing how these soldiers are faced with this drama day after day after day after day.
Jeremy Renner is really solid and deserves the attention he's receiving. This role reminds me of Colin Farrell's breakthrough role in Tigerland. The opening shot of the film is a POV shot of a bomb-diffusing robot and that perfectly describes Renner's character.
I noticed that the soldiers all end up inheriting/taking things from the dead around them. From the dead soldiers they take their juiceboxes, artillery, Renner's character takes the dead soldier's job, they take a bomb out of a dead child. I'm still working out what I think this means. If anyone has any ideas, comment away.
The ending was very solid as well. The shots back at home cleaning the gutters, at the grocery store shopping for cereal, the excitement wasn't there for the soldier. I was pissed that 60 Minutes' Bigelow Profile spoiled the ending/suspense for me while I was watching the piece. But when watching the movie, I forgot all about the ending while engaged in the suspenseful bomb diffusion set pieces. They are that well put together.