Cities in Fright

R.I.P.D.: adapted from the Peter M. Lenkov comic book by Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi, and David Dobkin; directed by Robert Schwentke; starring Jeff Bridges (Roy), Ryan Reynolds (Nick), Kevin Bacon (Hayes), Mary Louise Parker (Proctor), and Stephanie Szostak (Julia) (2013): One of 2013's biggest box-office busts, R.I.P.D. isn't awful -- indeed, I've seen a lot of hits that were worst. That doesn't mean it's good, however.

The Rest in Peace Department (R.I.P.D., get it? ha ha!) enlists dead police officers to apprehend escaped dead criminals, or 'Deados' as they're colloquially known. Newly dead Ryan Reynolds partners with 19th-century Western lawman Jeff Bridges to protect the streets of Boston. Nefarious doings are afoot, related to Reynolds' death during a drug bust.

The movie's premise echoes previous entries in the dead-cop subgenre that include the TV shows Reaper, Brimstone, and G. Vs. E. (all of which are a lot better than this movie, by the way). But it's most closely modelled on Men in Black, with a third act right out of Ghostbusters.

There are some clever flourishes throughout -- weird little bits and strange production design. Jeff Bridges is the most interesting thing in the movie, as he so often is. The peculiar speech pattern of his lawman seems so specific and odd that it seems like a private joke. I have the feeling he had to keep himself interested amidst all the green-screen work and rote police shenanigans. Lightly recommended.

Godzilla: written by Max Borenstein and Dave Callaham, based on the Toho Studios character; directed by Gareth Edwards; starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Ford Brody), Ken Watanabe (Dr. Serizawa), Bryan Cranston (Joe Brody) and Elizabeth Olsen (Elle Brody) (2014): The newest version of Godzilla begins in murky menace and ends in metropolitan mayhem. I enjoyed it a lot, despite the Spielbergian family stuff that every blockbuster now seems required to carry around. Does every hero have a family he wants to get home to? Must he? Must she? Must they?

The first 40 minutes play like a horror movie. Indeed, they play a lot like director Gareth Edwards' only previous directorial effort, Monsters, which was that rarest of rare birds, an Indy giant-monster movie, and a pretty good one. Edwards did all the visual effects for that one at home on his computer over the course of a couple of years. Here, he's got a much bigger budget to work with, and much bigger commercial expectations to satisfy. Hence the Hollywood 101 family quest.

The acting is mostly fine, with nice turns from Kickass Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the narrative focalizer (ha ha!) and Ken Watanabe as a New-Agey Japanese scientist who apparently has a Ph.D. in Monster Studies. The monster work gives us the currently de rigeur gray behemoth look. I prefer my Godzilla bright-green, thank you.

But anyway, much monster mayhem ensues. The movie balances scenes of civic destruction with a few set-pieces filled with dread and the Sublime. The best of these set-pieces, a high-altitude paratrooper drop into the middle of a monster-devastated San Francisco, manages a feeling of cyclopean, Lovecraftian Sublime horror that one sees very rarely in movies of any era. It's a show-stopper. Recommended.

In Search of Lost Time with Leonard Nimoy

American Grindhouse: written by Elijah Drenner and Calum Waddell; directed by Elijah Drenner; narrated by Robert Forster (2010): Breezy, informative documentary about American exploitation films from the beginnings of film as a medium to the early 1980's. Grindhouses were cheap, theatres that often showed movies 24 hours a day. In the decades when American movie companies were allowed to own theatre chains, grindhouses were unaffiliated and willing to show the risque material that wouldn't appear in mainstream movies.

At 80 minutes, American Grindhouse is too short to effectively cover 80 years of movies. What is covered, though, from the graphic childbirth movie The Story of Life to the beginnings of modern pornography, is fascinating. Boy, though, does this movie have a bit too much commentary from director John Landis and not enough from film historians. Still, a good introduction to The Repressed of American movies. Also, I love the movie in which Jesus fights American Neo-Nazis. Recommended.

Men in Black 3: based on the Malibu Comic by Lowell Cunningham, written by Etan Coen; directed by Barry Sonnenfeld; starring Will Smith (Agent J), Tommy Lee Jones/Josh Brolin (Agent K), Jemaine Clement (Boris the Animal), Emma Thompson/Alice Eve (Agent Q) and Michael Stuhlbarg (Griffin) (2012): The third MIB movie is much, much better than the meandering second one. It borrows a chunk of its plot from an original series Star Trek episode ("Assignment: Earth", if you're wondering) and the rest of its plot from every time-travel concept ever.

Will Smith's Agent J has to travel back to 1969 after an alien thug (Boris the Animal) alters time so as to both kill Tommy Lee Jones's Agent K in the past and enable an apocalyptic alien invasion in the present day. Various shenanigans ensue. Boris bears some resemblance to DC Comics alien thug Lobo, while a benevolent alien called Griffin recalls Superman pest Mr. Mxyzptlk. So it goes.

Josh Brolin does a nice Tommy Lee Jones impersonation as the Agent K of 1969, while Alice Eve looks nothing like Emma Thompson, her supposed future self. Michael Stuhlbarg's alien Griffin really seems like a part meant for a young Robin Williams. Or youngish. Lightly recommended.