Review: The Disaster Artist (2017)

* * * 1/2
Director: James Franco
Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco

Here's to the ones who dream
Foolish as they may seem
Here's to the hearts that ache
Here's to the mess we make

What The Disaster Artist accomplishes seems almost impossible. It could easily have been a very mean spirited movie in which a bunch of very rich, very successful people ruthlessly mocked the efforts of a bunch of not rich and unsuccessful people. Instead it's a film that manages to mine a grandiose personality for humor while still acknowledging that it's a very courageous thing to pursue an artistic ambition and open yourself up to the kind of ridicule that, in fact, met the film at the center of this "making of" story. The Disaster Artist is a film made with affection and it's one of the best, funniest comedies I've seen all year.

Review: This Is the End (2013)

* * *
Director: Seth Rogan & Evan Goldberg
Starring: Seth Rogan, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride

Each of the principal actors of This Is the End have made their share of bad movies, but for every bad movie they've made since, they can at least point to this one in order to regain a little bit of good will. An apocalypse comedy in which everyone plays an exaggerated (I would hope) version of himself, This Is the End plays upon the public personas of its stars and supporting players to great effect, playing into and against what we think we know about the stars based on their movies and public appearances, all while telling a surprisingly potent story about the difficulty of sustaining a friendship as circumstances change and physical distance gives way to psychological distance. Mostly, though, it's just really funny - though it probably could have gotten by with at least one fewer rape joke.

Review: True Story

* *
Director: Rupert Goold
Starring: Jonah Hill, James Franco

True Story opens with the evocative image of a teddy bear being dropped into a suitcase, landing next to the body of a little girl folded up inside. The callousness of the act, of the fact that not only is the girl in the suitcase but that the bear is thrown in, rather than placed, with her, the force of its fall displacing her hair so that strands of it go flying up and over the edge of the suitcase, is stunning. It's a powerful image that the remainder of True Story, a true story based on the memoir of the same name by Michael Finkel, can't live up to. Of course, that might not have been the case if the film had managed to make the actual victims of a truly horrific and, yet sadly commonplace, crime the emotional center of the story, rather than the disgraced writer whose identity was very briefly borrowed by the killer.

Netflix Recommends... The Interview (2014)

*
Director: Seth Rogan & Evan Goldberg
Starring: Seth Rogan, James Franco

I can't really blame Netflix for this one, as I was genuinely curious about how bad The Interview could be and probably would have seen it at some point eventually anyway (though, as an aside, I continue to be baffled by the fact that Netflix can "recommend" a movie to a user while also predicting that the user will dislike it). Having now seen it, I can say that rarely has a film caused so much fuss without deserving any of it. A comedy devoid of laughs and a political satire lacking in bite, The Interview would already be long forgotten were it not for the fact that for a brief moment it looked like it might spark World War III; instead if will live in infamy, albeit probably less for the international tensions it created than for the leaking of emails about Angelina Jolie.

Netflix Recommends... Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

* * *
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Starring: James Franco, Andy Serkis

This recommendation from Netflix is a bit of a cheat. Usually for this feature I go into a movie relatively blind, usually picking something that I wouldn't otherwise have sought out. This time, and because the pickings were a bit slim, I went with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a film that I've seen bits and pieces of but, for whatever reason, one which I'd never sat down and watched in its entirety before. As a result I’m super late to the planet of the apes party and at the risk of being ridiculously redundant: this reboot is pretty good. Reboots and “origin stories” have so flooded the market place in the last few years (and will continue to do so for years to come) that the very words are enough to make one’s eyes twitch, but a film like this one, which approaches the series’ premise from a different angle instead of just repackaging everything old to make it look new again, actually brings something of value to a series which had previously seemed to have run its course.

Review: Spring Breakers (2013)

* * * 1/2
Director: Harmony Korine
Starring: Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgens, James Franco, Selena Gomez, Rachel Korine

Full disclosure: I'm actually still undecided about whether Spring Breakers is trash or brilliant. On one hand, the sheer number of naked breasts on display throughout leads me to believe that this is an exploitation film. On the other hand, there's enough evidence that the story is a critique of white privilege and cultural tourism that I find it difficult not to take it seriously. In the end, Spring Breakers may be the rare film that manages to successfully have it both ways, denouncing the very things it wallows in and profits from. If nothing else, Spring Breakers should be credited with the best montage set to a Britney Spears song ever committed to film.

Review: 127 Hours (2010)

* * * *
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: James Franco

Yeesh, that was rough. Full disclosure: I averted my eyes during the scene. I'm sure there are plenty of people braver than I, but I just couldn't look. 127 Hours is more than just that one scene, however, and director Danny Boyle and star James Franco deserve all the praise that I'm sure they'll get as the year-end awards start being handed out.

Franco stars as Aron Ralston, a hiker who famously had to amputate his own arm after being trapped in a Utah canyon in 2003. His trip starts well enough, as the film opens with him rushing out of the city - filling up a bottle of water but having been unable to find his swiss army knife - to get to Blue John Canyon and then spending most of his first day with a couple of other hikers (Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn). Shortly after parting ways with them and returning to the solitary adventuring that he so clearly loves, Aron's ordeal begins. Trapped, injured, and all alone in the middle of nowhere, his situation seems totally hopeless.

Ralston spends five days in the canyon making various attempts to extricate himself and spending a lot of time reflecting on how he has come to this point. No one knows where he is because he's been unable to share his life - even the minute details - with anyone else. He comes to regret this, both because it makes his situation more dire, and because he comes to realize all the things he's already missed and all the things he may miss out on in the future if he doesn't get out of the canyon. His experience ultimately transforms him both physically and spiritually, inspiring him to connect on a deeper level with those around him.

The story of man against nature is as old as storytelling itself but it rarely fails to be compelling. I think that's partly because its ultimate message - that human beings need one another - is something that the audience has already partly acknowledged before the story even gets started. Storytelling is an inherently communal activity as it requires both a teller and an audience, so stories like this one, which actively reaffirms the bonds that hold society together, are easily accessible. It also helps that, as played by Franco, Ralston is such an engaging character. For most of the film it's just him - Franco playing off of himself - and that's not something that every actor could make work, but he does it in spades. He displays a lot of different facets to the character and manages to make it clear that even though he's done a stupid thing, he's not a stupid person. It's an absolutely phenomenal performance.

Franco's performance goes a long way towards making sure that Ralston is a very active character despite his predicament, but credit is also due to Boyle. He approaches the insular nature of the story as a challenge rather than a limitation and succeeds at giving it an incredible sense of movement and energy. I think this might actually be my favourite of his films - hopefully next time I watch it I'll be able to watch all of it.

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Review: Pineapple Express (2008)

* * *
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Seth Rogan, James Franco

Duuuuuuude. Pineapple Express is part stoner comedy, part buddy action movie and is better than most entries in either genre. Granted that’s not saying a whole lot, but an accomplishment is an accomplishment. David Gordon Green’s film isn’t going to change your life, but it is thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end.

Seth Rogan stars as Dale Denton, a process server who can’t seem to go five minutes without being at least a little bit buzzed. He’s dating a girl who is still in high school and who is way too mature for him. To be honest, he’s kind of a loser but he has that sarcastic Seth Rogan charm which makes him somewhat endearing. Dale’s dealer is Saul, who is played engagingly by James Franco and falls just under Jeff Lebowski on the scale of awesome stoners. Saul has a new product which he sells to Dale called Pineapple Express, a particularly potent mixture which he is selling exclusively. When Dale later witnesses a murder and drops a roach in the process of his very inept getaway, he and Saul realize that it’s only a matter of time before the dots are connected back to them.

Dale and Saul go on the run, pursued by Matheson and Budlofsky (Craig Robinson & Kevin Corrigan), two thugs, and Carol (Rosie Perez), a cop who is in cahoots with the drug kingpin Ted (Gary Cole). They have various small adventures – including spending a night in the woods, getting into a knockdown, drag out fight with middleman drug dealer Red (Danny McBride, who would steal the show if Rogan and Franco weren’t such strong performers), and going to dinner at Dale’s girlfriend’s house, where her parents are less than impressed by Dale despite the fact that he is trying to save their lives. Eventually Dale and Saul have a fight, precipitated by Saul’s realization that while he considers Dale to be a good friend, Dale doesn’t think of him in the same way; and they go their separate ways only for Saul to end up in the hands Ted and his goons, leaving Dale to to come up with a half-baked scheme to rescue him.

Pineapple Express has a number of winning moments, many of them courtesy of Franco and McBride. The battle royal between Dale, Saul and Red, complete with a “time out,” is particularly entertaining, as is Dale and Saul’s getaway in a police car with Saul getting his leg stuck in the windshield and Carol accidentally shooting a bystander and screaming “Sorry” before taking off again. The film has good rhythm, building nicely from one set-up to the next with pauses in between so that Dale and Saul can, ahem, refuel. The various elements of the story feel well-balanced, making it easier to overlook some of the less logical turnings of the plot (though to be fair, in a movie about stoners I guess you can’t expect sound logic to play a terrifically active role).

Though none of the characters is more fleshed out than they absolutely have to be for the plot to work, Rogan and Franco manage to give the film some emotional depth, especially Franco. Saul is a goofy character, but Franco gives him heart, making us care when he realizes just how little he means to Dale. I can definitely see how he managed to score a Golden Globe nomination for this role, though I would have preferred to see him nominated for his excellent work in Milk. Though I can’t imagine going out of my way to see this film again, it’s a solid, entertaining effort nonetheless.

Review: Milk (2008)

* * * *
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile Hirsh

As wonderful as Gus Van Sant’s film is, it’s sad to think that its subject is still so very relevant. Harvey Milk was assassinated 30 years ago, but gay rights remains a battleground issue and ignorance and hatemongering are still tools powerful enough to disenfranchise an entire segment of the population in a society founded on the principal of equality. Though Milk’s untimely end was tragic, the film itself is triumphant, a celebration of the power that people have to make a difference. With its message of hope and unity, Milk is the right movie at the right time.

The film begins with Milk (Sean Penn) dictating a message in the event of his assassination. Throughout the story Van Sant will cut back to this scene, using it to tie the segments of the film together. In the story proper we first meet Milk in New York, where he celebrates his 40th birthday by picking up Scott Smith (James Franco) in the subway. Together Milk and Smith move to San Francisco, where they live a hippie lifestyle and open a camera store. Faced with the threat of discrimination from other shop owners in addition to the police and local government, Milk takes his first steps into the realm of activism, first organizing the gay community to boycott shops that aren’t gay friendly and later rallying the community to support striking teamsters, who would in turn agree to hire more gay drivers.

Milk runs for office on a number of occasions and comes a little bit closer to victory with every campaign. His political life, however, takes a heavy toll on his personal life, and his relationship with Smith becomes a casualty of his ambition. Since Smith was one of the driving forces behind the earlier campaigns, a replacement must be found and Milk shocks his crew by choosing Anne Kronenberg (Alison Pill). The scene is brief, but it does something important: it acknowledges the rift between men and women within the gay community (“My girlfriends say you guys don’t like women. Just asking, is there a place for us in all this, or are you scared of girls?” Kronenberg asks) and emphasizes Milk’s desire to unite and speak not just for gay men, but for all people who aren’t represented in government. This time Milk wins, gaining a seat on the Board of Supervisors. Also elected to the board is Dan White (Josh Brolin), who at first appears to be a potential ally but grows increasingly hostile to Milk, whose political star shines while White’s quickly fizzles out.

The relationship between Milk and White is complicated, to say the least. Even as he’s trying to form a political alliance with Milk, White tries to make it clear that he’s a “family values” kind of guy - though Milk thinks that perhaps he doth protest too much. The defining factor, though, seems to be less homophobia than simple jealousy. Milk gets things done, accomplishing things which make his constituents happy and elevating him to heroic status, while White finds himself in the political wilderness, without allies and entirely ineffective. Brolin is excellent as he shows White’s growing desperation; it’s a subtle performance in which many things are suggested rather than spelled out. However, much like White exists in Milk's shadow, Brolin's performance is dwarfed by the stellar turn by Penn. Penn is someone I think of as a capital “A” actor, someone whose off-screen persona suggests a high level of seriousness and intensity, a dourness that often carries over to their characters. Here, however, Penn renders a performance that is absolutely joyful. When was the last time you could say that? I have to think back to 1999’s Sweet and Lowdown to even come close to the kind of elation which he radiates in this film. Penn doesn’t simply make you empathize with Milk, he makes you understand why others look to and follow him.

A lot of biopics fall into the trap of relating the story in the manner of a laundry list of events that must be touched on, and while Milk isn’t entirely able to sidestep this element, it does manage to keep the story moving without halting over a series of “this happened and then this happened” moments. Van Sant knows the story that he wants to tell and he relates it smoothly, intercutting between dramatization and news and documentary footage, and managing to avoid becoming soggily sentimental about his subject. The Milk presented here is heroic, yes, but not perfect and not without his flaws, and the film is unafraid to point those flaws out, usually through Smith who remains an important part of Milk's life even after they've broken up.

In light of all the anti-gay legislation which passed in the United States in November, it’s hard to watch the section of the film which deals with the defeat of Proposition 6 without it feeling a little bittersweet. At the same time, however, I do feel encouraged that things are changing for the better. I remember when I saw Brokeback Mountain and there were groans of distaste at even the slightest moment of intimacy between the two men. I saw this film – which is a little more explicit than Brokeback - in a full theatre and nothing of the kind happened. In fact, the only time the audience expressed distate was every time Anita Bryant openned her hateful mouth. It’s a small thing, but progress is progress.