THE MORTAL
INSTRUMENTS:
8 0 5 . 8 4 5 .1 6 7 3 | 1 3 3 E A S T D E L A G U E R R A S T R E E T | N O.1 8 2 | S A N TA B A R B A R A
AU G U S T 1 6 – 2 3 | 2 0 1 3 |
27
CITY OF BONES
by Jim Luksic
A longtime writer, editor and film critic, Jim has worked nationwide for several websites and publications – including the Dayton Daily News, Key West Citizen, Topeka Capital-Journal, Las Cruces Sun-News and Santa Ynez Valley Journal. California is his seventh state. When he isn’t watching movies or sports around the Central Coast and Los Angeles, you can find Jim writing and reading while he enjoys coffee and bacon, or Coke and pizza.
One Ticket to Paradise
M
att Damon stars in Elysium as an ex-convict stuck in a dead-end job, which probably describes half the current population of California. Only this tale is set on a hapless, futuristic Earth (the stated year is 2154) teeming with black smoke plumes, dilapidated buildings and homes – in general, a scorched landscape that recalls war-torn Beirut. The hero’s lifelong goal: secure a ticket to Elysium, a Utopian space station where the elite, richest humans thrive in perfect conditions. While oppressed by robotic guards, making it literally hell on Earth, he remains inspired by a childhood sweetheart (Alice Braga of I Am Legend) and a sense of urgency due to an industrial accident leading to a death sentence. Obstacles abound, the largest of which is the Promised Land’s defense secretary, embodied by Jodie Foster with steely determination and a fluctuating foreign accent that stretches anywhere from Paris to London. She hires a rogue Australian sniper who – when he isn’t shooting down shuttles of “illegal” aliens – sounds as if he’s auditioning for the voiceover narration on Outback Steakhouse commercials. Despite its sporadic landmines, this sci-fi venture boasts plenty of merits: the sharp contrast between the two worlds; the textbook-like conflicts that coherently establish themes of love, loss, greed and redemption; the disparate examples of disease, affliction, life and death. Most of the players are at the top of their game: Damon, William Fichtner, Diego Luna and – as the computer controller with tickets to ride – Wagner Moura, whose performance is the best thing in the movie. I could’ve done without platitudes that accompany flashbacks about the protagonist’s upbringing (“I know you are special”) and the climactic finale (“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”). Until recently, science fiction was my least favorite genre. But thanks to such filmmakers as Neill Blomkamp, perhaps my mind is expanding as my shell softens. It’s no coincidence. Elysium’s finest moments are glimpses of the orbital station, hanging like a majestic hubcap in the sky – redolent of the stalled spacecraft hovering above Blomkamp’s native Johannesburg in his impressive forbear District 9.
Worth Going Way Back The Way, Way Back, the year’s most satisfying film since The Place Beyond The Pines, is a highly enjoyable coming-of-age story that follows the path of a teenage boy (Liam James) during the course of a summer along the East Coast. The initial particulars, involving the introverted boy’s mother (Toni Collette) and her overbearing beau (Steve Carell), an alcoholic next-door neighbor (never-better Allison Janney), and a friendly couple give way to something deeper: The young hero finding his way in the world, thanks to a job at the local water park, and an unlikely girlfriend with a similar background. His cocky but well-meaning manager (Sam Rockwell) takes the teen under his wing, providing motivation with tough love: “Are you for real?” Complications ensue, in the form of possible love interests – for more than one character – and an affair between dysfunctional adults. Pundits and jaded snobs who suggest The Way, Way Back is merely cotton-candy dramedy about angst are fooling themselves. In the hands of co-directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (his debut), the story breathes life into a stale premise and shapes it into
something profound, engaging, realistic and quite touching. Pivotal scenes aren’t in short supply: watch a family game of Candy Land quickly go sour and turn everyone’s mood on a dime; smile knowingly as the protagonist makes cute with a curious young neighbor; learn the ins-and-outs of waterslide strategy; even a party for the disgruntled, marginal employee justifies and holds our attention. Performers are up to the task: Leading the way like nobody’s business are Rockwell (a revelation in Heist, but even better years later in Moon) and Janney, who has made a 3D:career add $3.00 to All Advertised Pricing wonderful out ofPremium conflicted Charge supporting roles (in Juno and American Beauty, among others). The filmmakers make few missteps while juggling a variety of circumstances and raw emotions – all (Metropolitan Theatres) fleshed out and fully realized in 100 minutes. No embellishment, no overextending, no overkill. It’s an intelligent, entertaining and moving piece of work to which audiences can relate.
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