A wonderfully engaging “what if” suspense film. Made with the typical elegance of writer/director/producer Shyamalan, this is a surprisingly cerebral movie to kick out in the middle of the summer movie season.

Writing: Shyamalan is most notorious for his twist endings, which I think is actually a side effect of his real intentions in making films. He probably got a bit trapped into coming through with them once it became something of a trademark. I would assume that the initial driving force of his scripts is the question “what if?” In a number of cases where one asks that question, a natural outcome is a story-shifting twist ending. This movie comes at it from another angle. This angle is more obvious in some ways, and actually more subtle in others. Make no mistake, the central preconceptions of the film are audacious, but surprisingly uninterested in the supernatural. Peppered throughout the lofty idea of the primary plot is a string of oddly eccentric characters and ideas. I found them to be fascinating ideas and characters, but I know full well that the audience was extremely divided on this one. Be it the main plot or the little details, I was fascinated to listen to some of the conversations as the (nearly full) audience left the theater. This is one of those movies that divides opinion to polar opposite viewpoints. Not entirely surprising was the breakdown in demographics of the arguments. For the most part, the moronic, ADD-addled modern teen could do little more than mock everything about the film, and the more mature of folks were reading interesting angles into it. Though I will point out that there was one group of 5-6 teens (I’d guess to be around 15-16, a mix of male and female) a couple rows in front of me that had the most intelligent of comments and discussion as they sat through the credits (I always sit through credits). I was very impressed to hear their discussions. So it’s true that not every 15-16 year old is a slasher-loving neophyte. Personally, I was happy to go along with the “what if” notion of the plot, and actually find it a rather amusing idea. It must have been one heck of a pitch to the studios to get made, particularly after the box-office stumble of Shyamalan’s previous film, Lady In The Water (which I moderately liked, but consider his weakest movie). The easiest comparison to make for this film is probably to say it could easily be an episode of The Twilight Zone. I’m sure this movie will have a great many naysayers, critics and audience alike, but I’ll be happy to be one of its fans.

Production: There are a great many sequences in this film that are absolutely gorgeous. In the modern hand-held-obsessed, fast edit film world, it’s fantastic to see somebody with Shyamalan’s sense of composure and rhythm still working his magic. He’s often compared to Hitchcock (and is a self-admitted fanatic). Frankly, of his films to date, I’d think of The Happening as the most likely to have been directed by Hitchcock himself if here were making films in this era. A fair amount has been made of this being Shyamalan’s first R-rated movie. As he himself admits, it really needed to be R-rated. It earns that rating through pretty much violence alone. The casualness of the acts of violence need to be explicit to make their impact work for the story and suspense, and I totally agree. I’m always impressed by the rarity that is an R-rated movie with little-to-no language. This is just such a film. If memory serves, there’s only one small scene with a few mild language uses. For that feat alone, I commend him. As far as the rest of the production goes, I have nothing but praise. The cinematography is beautiful. Production design and location scouting are great. Editing is silk-smooth and great at building the suspense. An all-around fantastic production.

Cast: Mark Wahlberg may not be the greatest actor ever, but I usually enjoy his performances. He comes through just fine as the charming, likable, every-man protagonist for this story. Zooey Deschanel is one of my favorite actresses, and this features another great performance from her. In fact, it’s an interestingly restrained performance, but one with a great, subtle depth. Wahlberg and Deschanel fire on oddly engaging on-screen chemistry. It really works well (for me, anyway). This isn’t much of an ensemble cast, as Wahlberg & Deschanel are the key players. Young Ashlyn Sanchez is the only other cast member that probably comes close to the same amount of screen time, and she does a nice job. John Leguizamo does a nice job as well. Also featured are brief appearances by the great Alan Ruck (VERY brief appearance) and Spencer Breslin (who I didn’t realize was the actor playing the role cause, wow, did he suddenly get older).

Music: If there’s any justice in this world, the director/composer team of M. Night Shyamalan and James Newton Howard will never be split up. These two are so completely in tune with each other that it would be a crime to separate them. As always, Howard comes through with a spectacularly gorgeous score. Like many of his previous scores for Shyamalan’s films, this one features the piano quite predominantly (and uses a nice thematic approach to scoring the ethereal villain of the story). It also features some very nice cello work, credited to soloist Maya Beiser. Overall, a beautiful score. Not the greatest one he’s done for Shyamalan (which would be The Village, followed by Signs), but it’s still a great score.

• YIPPIE! Looks like the WGA strike is at an end. The final ducks have to put in the row, but looks like that light at the end of the tunnel is about to be within reach. Here’s hoping it goes smoothly to get them all back in play on Wednesday. Now, to see what the results of all this fallout with finally be. The Oscar ceremony will be cutting it darn close. Let’s hope they can get things in order quick enough to get the ceremony under control.
• This presenter’s “Immigration Gumballs” speech is spot-on.
• The Microsoft takeover of Yahoo may end up being rejected. It’ll be interesting to watch this play out.
• Check out this awesome Vanity Fair piece, recreating Hitchcock with modern actors.
• A hilarious tally of kills (and other facts) about the Rambo films. I’ve got my review of the new film pending. I liked it, despite the simplicity. But yeah, it’s a VIOLENT film (I’m actually surprised the total kill count is only as high as 236). It’s interesting that the first and last film are the two that are more grounded in realism, and they are on the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of the amounts of violence.
• Speaking of hilarious, here’s a 1985 Cherry Coke commercial. It’s, like, totally awesome.
• A great write-up on the historical computer failure known as Coleco’s ADAM. I own a couple ADAM computers, and used them as a kid to do reports and such during elementary school. I have a nostalgic fondness for the system, but the design flaws it had were anything but subtle. The printer was flaw number one. It was also flaws number two through ten. The fact that it was the only possible power supply for the system meant that even if you were never going to use it, you had to keep it in the mix. And it was unwieldy and big. It was also INSANELY noisy, even for a daisy wheel printer. Let’s just say that the printer was a joke of an excuse for every single function it served - and it sadly server more functions that it should have. The tape drives were also the other primary weakness, as the article pointed out. Still, I remember that system with fondness. The ColecoVision game system is a different story. I completely loved that system, and not just for nostalgia reasons. It’s still one of my all-time favorite game systems. The ColecoVision rocked.
• I’m your KITT… Cool news that Val Kilmer is now going to be the voice of KITT. The reason for the recast may be stupid, but I’m all in favor of it.
• I finally got around to picking up the CD for James Newton Howard’s score to I Am Legend. I remember liking it when I saw the film, but clearly I wasn’t paying too close attention. I’m really loving this score on CD. What a gorgeous main theme he laid in to the score. Reminds me a bit of his beautiful theme work from King Kong, with an almost hymn-like texture to it. Howard’s scoring over the years has been widely varied, and I very often under appreciate him as a composer.
• I’ve also been catching up on the last couple episodes of House. Not counting cable shows like Battlestar Galactica, which work on a different season schedule and such, House has been the best this season of the returning shows. This has been the best season of the show to date, which is quite an accomplishment for being the fourth season of a medical procedural. Granted, this isn’t the most typical medical procedural. House made some marks in the record books with the episode that aired following the Super Bowl (which was a fantastic episode, btw). Pushing Daisies, of course, easily qualifies as the best new show of the season. But unfortunately, it ran out of new episodes thanks to the WGA strike.
• Cool, Amanda Seyfried (Lilly Kane from Veronica Mars) has joined on to Jennifer’s Body. I already wanna see the movie since the team of Diablo Cody & Jason Reitman are writing and producing.
• Here’s a cool compilation of jets making high speed fly-bye runs.
• Another volume of Greg The Bunny is coming on DVD.
• Holland is prepared to float
• Hey, I just noticed that the list of quotes I’ve added to bit-by-bit over the years has hit the 300 entries mark (it’s where the random quotes on the top of this site are pulled from). Neato.
• Ah, just Smurf it all…

You know, I’d really like to give this movie a 10 out of 10, but it’s not QUITE there for me. Stranger still, I’m not sure why.

Writing: Frankly, I’m quite curious as to how historically accurate this script is. As twisted and insane as the proceedings in the movie are, the real insanity is how believable it actually is. Frankly, it’s a bit scary that this movie can feel as real as it does. Sure, it’s got Aaron Sorkin’s typical approach of taking reality in politics and putting a slick, entertaining shine on it. It’s got his typically witty dialog and the frequently lovable scoundrels somehow coming off as both authentic and caricatured.

Production: While this movie is certainly a period film, it doesn’t go out of its way to flaunt the period in your face. While it feels authentically 1980’s, it also doesn’t feel like some part of history that wouldn’t function in today’s era. Much like Charlie’s answer to why congress says one thing and does another (”tradition, mostly”), this movie feels real enough for how little things actually change in politics. Could this story work at this point in time? Surely. While the reality of that goes towards the writing, the way they make the film work as a modern cautionary tale is also very much thanks to the simple production.

Cast: There’s no doubt that the true key to this movie is the acting. This is a bit of an unusual role for Tom Hanks, playing quite a bit again the norm. Sure, he’s charismatic and charming, but he’s also a very flawed, vice-ridden character. His honest surprise at being named to the ethics committee pretty much sums it up. And while Hanks wouldn’t seem an obvious choice for the material at first glance, you kinda need his sense of integrity and good-boy charm to make the unlikely hero work despite his flaws. Julia Roberts is neither great nor bad. Apparently, she looks quite a bit like the real-life person, so I guess that’s reason enough to cast her. She works well enough, but compared to her co-stars, it’s just an average performance. Which brings me to the REAL star of this movie: Philip Seymour Hoffman. I’m a big fan of Hoffman, and this is him at his best. He’s gotten oodles of raves for his performance in Before The Devil Knows Your Dead, which are deserved, but this is a better performance than that. He manages to pull off one of the most likable performances of an aggressive, unrefined, tactless characters. His and Hanks’ characters are an unlikely but perfect team. Frankly, it’s the team of the two of them that makes the entire story actually believable. I don’t think it would have worked without the symbiotic nature of their partnership, both as characters and actors. Their performances just feed off each other so naturally. But make no mistake, Hoffman is the biggest star of this film. Other supporting performances are also great. Amy Smart is wonderful as the attractive-but-wise right-hand to Wilson’s political operation. Then there are the “Angels,” as in Charlie’s. Wilson’s office is hilariously staffed by gorgeous young assistants, who like Amy Adams’ character are smarter than they appear. A couple great bits of casting in these roles, such as Rachel Nichols and Shiri Appleby. Then you’ve got bit part performers who are also quite a bit of fun, like Ned Beatty. Oh, and one musn’t forget Emily Blunt’s performance…

Music: James Newton Howard does a kinda folksy eastern styled score that works well. It’s like a more casual version of what Danny Elfman did for The Kingdom, taking eastern influences and laying guitar over them for emotionality. Not the greatest score of the year (or even James Newton Howard’s greatest), but it works well.

Make no mistake, this is a flawed and uneven movie. That said, much of it is excellent.

Writing: The plotting of the story is all over the place in terms of quality and logic. Frankly, if the last act of the film could have been anywhere near as good as the first act or two, this would have been a stellar success. The nihilistic, isolated and desperate nature of the first half of the film works fantastically. It’s when this story tries to resolve itself where things completely fall down. If they could have tossed the need for a (nearly) happy ending, or even a resolution of any kind, it would have worked so much better. Add to that some poorly defined character traits and some very flawed physical staging in the later part of the movie and you’ve got a script that needed another pass or two by some first rate script doctors.

Production: Having said all that, the film is still very engaging and entertaining. Much of it is thanks to some mostly fantastic visual effects and cinematography work. The VFX of the devastated and lonely New York City are jawdropping and stunning. Absolutely fantastic visual effects work. Which is a shame because the creature effects and animation leave a whole lot to be desired. Not only do they feel completely fake, but they’re VERY generic of the zombie genre. These zombie-like creatures that the human have become are almost completely ineffective on screen. Recent movies like 30 Days Of Night have done far, far better a job through far more simplistic means. Cinematography by Andrew Lesnie is fantastic throughout. He brings the sense of grandeur and style displayed with the Babe films and Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong. This might not be quite as stunning in cinematographic terms as his work on King Kong, but it’s still darned impressive.

Cast: This is pretty much a one man (and one dog) show. There are a few supporting performances, but for the vast majority of the film this is the Will Smith show. Thankfully, it’s one of his best performances. No matter the scene, he’s giving it his all. And from dramatic to comedic, it all works. Even when logic is gone and story falls short, Smith’s performance is still going strong. It’s the most consistently impressive thing about the film.

Music: Unlike the plotting, James Newton Howard hits his best moments during the final part of the film. He’s got a gorgeous, delicate requiem of sorts that works amazingly well. I can’t wait until the CD release just for that one theme/cue. He’s got a talent for the gorgeous melody with lush orchestration, and he sure pulls one off for this film. The rest of the score is pretty sparse, but effective. Definitely some fine work.

A fantastic character thriller filled with excellent performances and a great script.

Writing: This is one of those marvelous morality tales where pretty much everyone exists at one level of gray or another. When described as a miracle worker, the character of Michael Clayton quickly shuns the accolade and instead describes himself as a janitor. And in most ways, he’s not just being modest. While he may be very good at his job, it really does come down to being little more than that in the grand scheme of things. Nobody thinks of him unless they need him, and after the fact they’d probably rather forget about anything having to do with him. As such, he’s a very ambiguous character, eeking his way through his meandering life, unsure of almost everything. And as much as he may seem to have his act together, he’s hanging on by little more than all those he helps. If they only knew. The journey of the character(s) is fascinating.

Production: Favoring the simple over the flashy (which is in character with the story), the production exists in the world of high stakes class action lawsuits and Fortune 500 power grabbers, but doesn’t stoop to glorifying their world or making it overly flashy. It’s a dog-eat-dog atmosphere, and the crew brings it to life with a great combination of cinematography, set design, location scouting and comfortable editing.

Cast: Here is another strong suit of the film. Clooney is 100% on the money with his performance. It’s tweaked to perfection, nailing all the details with subtlety. He portrays all the frustration of being a fish trapped in a current without overplaying any kind of anxiety or melodrama. It wouldn’t surprise me if Clooney manages to get himself a nomination for the role, and I’d be happy to see it happen. Tilda Swinton is intriguing as the up-and-coming corporate spin-controller, who’s in over her head and compounds her problems with one worse choice on top of each bad choice, slowly losing control. Sydney Pollack is an obvious casting move as the semi-soulless boss, and is also the correct choice. Then there’s Tom Wilkinson who is always able to walk that fine line of slick power and unglued mania, and does so with ease in this film. Another acting bonus is Merritt Wever in a supporting role. She was great as PA Suzanne in Studio 60, and pulls off the character of naive intelligence very well.

Music: James Newton Howard downplays the score but makes it work very well. He avoids anything particularly flashy or even thematic and goes more for atmosphere, texture and ambiance. Not a score to rave about, but definitely a solid, deserving effort.