The Avengers

Rating: ****

The Avengers, by virtue of being the first movie of summer, gets to set the tone for the season, and that tone is a fun, thrilling spectacle that balances big action and heart. It develops strong characters with complex relationships, while still being able to level New York under the thumb of an alien invasion. Under the stewardship of Joss Whedon, The Avengers, a movie that really was too big to fail, does the highly improbable for modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking: it makes your ticket price seem like money well spent.

Following up on Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers brings together characters from all those films into a single adventure. When Thor’s vengeful brother Loki suddenly appears in an installation run by the world peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D., stealing the Cosmic Cube (from Captain America) and kidnapping Dr Selvig and Hawkeye (from Thor) as his worker bees, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury puts the Avengers Initiative into effect. Assembling Captain America, Bruce Banner, Iron Man, Black Widow and eventually Thor, The Avengers set out to stop Loki before he can unleash an alien army to take over the Earth.

So, where to begin? How about the writer/director Joss Whedon, and may I say how astounded I am about how much of his typical Whedon-ness manages to make it into the finished film. How does one define ‘Whedon-ness?” Well, there’s the scene during the alien invasion when Black Widow reminisces about Budapest to which Hawkeye retorts that the two of them remember Budapest very differently. There’s the scene on the helicarrier where Stark refers to Loki’s slaves as “flying monkeys” to which Captain America excitedly realizes that he gets that reference. And then there a couple of prime Hulk scenes that are honestly too good to spoil.

Speaking of whom, this is another area that Whedon excels: his characterization of the Hulk and his alterego Bruce Banner. The recasting of Mark Ruffalo for the part was an added treat because Ruffalo, as a person, is so unassuming and seems so harmless that when he Hulks out, there really is something to fear. Ruffalo getting to be the first actor to play both Banner and Hulk through the miracle of motion capture adds to that effect because you can see both characters reflected in each other. But Whedon gets credit for this Hulk too because I think the script gets that psychology better than any writer on a Hulk movie previous.

The rest of the cast does well, although I think Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye get the short end of the stick, because, sadly, in a cast this big, there just isn’t the same amount of room for everyone. The one character, besides the Hulk, that gets the benefit of the Whedon treatment is Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow. In Whedon’s hands, Widow rightly joins the filmmaker’s pantheon of butt-kicking females, and Johansson gets to show some vulnerability as well as some cleverness considering Widow is one of two Avengers without powers. Chris Evans continues to be commanding as Captain America, and subtly plays well Cap’s man out of time struggles while still being a authoritative presence. Whedon also does well restraining the unbridled enthusiasm of Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, and focusing it. Downey also plays well off Ruffalo as the team’s two resident brainiacs.

But the true miracle of The Avengers is pacing. There were so many masters that Whedon had to answer to, so many highlights he had to hit, it’s a wonder that the movie didn’t look more like a highlight reel rather something with a coherent narrative. There’s a lot of action, but there’s also a lot of character moments, a lot of time spent on seeing how these heroes interact outside the immediacy of the next crisis. And in another typical Whedon touch, one supporting character is killed before the end of the second act, providing both a dramatic impetus for the team, and a justifiable reason why they go with their given nom de plume.

On the downside, The Avengers is geek chic of the highest order, so when you come, you have to come in a playful mood because there’s no room for curmudgeons in the theatre. Alan Silvestri’s score is perfectly unmemorable, which is a real shame because I think if there’s one element holding this back from being perfect popcorn fare it’s the forgettable music. Sure Raiders of the Lost Ark was great, but what connected you to all those great memories of the film as you left the theatre? It was the John Williams theme. Perhaps J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, featuring a score by Michael Giacchino, may be a more recent example of a musical score that makes just that little bit of extra difference.

But ultimately I feel that any criticism of The Avengers might fall under the category of nit-picking, and certainly the box office returns thus far prove that if ever there was a movie that fit the definition of critic proof, this would be it. But the thing of it is that The Avengers deserves the accolades and the adulation, and appropriately, just as the superhero genre seemed to be a game of diminishing returns, The Avengers comes in and saves the day. Ultimately, when it came to building hype for this movie, there was no assembly required.

And do stay to the very end of the credits for the second bonus scene. You will not be disappointed.

Hot Docs - The Young Man Was (Part 1: United Red Army)

 

Rating: **1/2

I don’t know if director Naeem Mohaiemen is a genius, but he’s blazed a trail for a completely new style of documentary filmmaking: the minimalist footage documentary. You see, The Young Man Was (Part 1: United Red Army) is more the type of documentary you read than watch. Much of the film is text against a black screen transcribing the communications from a hostage crisis 35-years-ago, the rest is a limited amount of archival footage, and clips of a bizarre 6-part British spy show from the 60s.

The subject is the 1977 hijacking of flight JAL 472 by the Japanese Red Army. The drama unfolded over 80 hours, and while many were captivated to the then unprecedented 24-hour media coverage, one boy, Mohaiemen himself, tuned into his TV hoping to watch The Zoo Gang, a TV series about World War II spies reuniting to get revenge for one of their own who was killed.

The politics of this hijacking, if you don’t remember first hand the era, might require you a couple of minutes of internet research or more to get up to speed. That’s one of the problems with the film, not context; who were the Japanese Red Army? Where did they come from? Where did they go? Why is this affair important to broader history? On the other hand, I don’t think this is supposed to be a history lesson, which is fine. There’s a bizarre kind of real time aspect to the film. You’re trying to understand what’s happening and you’re going on very little information, as if watching a current event unfolding on TV, which I liked.

Mohaiemen’s chosen format is compelling, although probably not to everyone’s taste. What I think it does capture well is the kind of absurdist nature of this crisis, various conversations and the limited-English of both the hijackers and hostage negotiators is almost hilarious in places given the seriousness of the situation. I applaud Mohaiemen for stretching the bounds of what a documentary can do and how it does it, but at the same time it kind of stretches one’s patience in places too. Ultimately, you will either go with it or you won’t, and for the most part I went with it.

Hot Docs - Ping Pong with The Record Breaker

Both Films: ****

In terms of sport, ping pong hardly ranks amongst the Top 20 of physically challenging activities. But… Maybe that’s because you’re not a senior citizen over the age of 80. For octogenarians around the world, ping pong is not just a hobby, but a lifestyle. It sharpens the mind and the reflexes, and sometimes it provides an escape. Or it provides hope. It can mean so much to people, and just generally be life affirming. And that’s the spirit that Hugh Hartford captures in his documentary simply titled Ping Pong.

The film follows about eight different ping pong players from around the world as they descend on China for the world championships of table tennis. There’s Terry, who supposedly has a week to live and seems to keep living through the magic of ping pong; German Inga lives in a home because she has dementia, but she’s as sharp as anyone half her age at the table; and Dorothy, from Australia, is officially over the century mark age-wise, but she can still take on all contenders, even abandoning her wheelchair when its game time.

There’s about 703 years of life experience between all the various players, so there’s a lot of great insight aside from just being kind of life affirming. It reminded me of Young at Heart, a doc that was released a few years ago about a group of seniors in a choir singing rock hits. It’s more than just a “aren’t old people funny” kind of thing, but you really appreciate the positive effects of ping pong on them, and how, in some cases, the sport has literally saved their lives.

The actual competition portion of Ping Pong goes by too fast, and I think that could have easily been stretched out a bit longer, and as consequence of that, I think some of the characters get more screen time than others. The build-up is very, very solid, but the competition and the denouement of the stories kind of go by without really leaving an emotional effect. But what’s surprising is that it doesn’t matter that much, because the film is funny and effecting with what it does, and it proves affirmatively that there’s life after 80.

Ping Pong is well matched with The Record Breaker, a short film about Ashrita Furman, a Queens man that holds the record for the most records in the Guinness Book of World Records. I think there’s an argument that can be made for the quality of records like walking up a mountain on stilts or cutting apples with a samurai sword, but what is unavoidable is Furman’s zest for life, and his proactive promotion of an active lifestyle. Because Furman is so giddy about being The Record Breaker, and because he’s such a complex and interesting character, this film is definitely a winner.

Hot Docs - Finding North

 

Rating: ****

How can you be both hungry and obese? It’s a paradox that more and more people in the United States are beginning to understand, and a question that’s convincingly answered in Finding North, a provocative documentary about hunger within America’s own borders.

Finding North tackles a variety of desperate questions that come into conflict with each other. America is the richest country in the world, so why do nearly 50 million people not get enough to eat everyday? Food seems plentiful, so why is it so hard for people to get nutritious and healthy food options? Obesity is huge problem, but why is it a problem amongst the poor? How are you fat, if you don’t eat much? All challenging questions, and interestingly, they all come down to a couple of interconnected reasons.

Filmmakers Lori Silverbush and Kristi Jacobson interview health experts and advocates, as well as talking to people affected by food issues, like Barbie. Barbie is a single mother in Philadelphia who not only has to stretch her budget because she’s on food stamps, but she has to take a two hour round trip to the nearest grocery store that sells fresh fruits and veggies. Elsewhere, a local pastor deals with an explosion in the use of his church’s services, an accessible food bank and a free meal night, and a teacher tries to deal with a classroom of students where more than a few struggle with attention at school because they aren’t getting enough to eat at home.

Celebrities like actor Jeff Bridges and chef Tom Colicchio are also tackling the subject of “food insecurity,” the predicament that nearly 1 in 6 Americans find themselves in where they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Colicchio tries to demonstrate that the some $2 and change that the American school system spends per student on meals, does not offer enough nutritional bang for their buck. But while the diagnosis is clear, the issue seems hopelessly tied up in the current American political climate that says there’s no room for free loaders on the system, even if they need the help, and maybe need a little more.

Finding North reminded my of Davis Guggenheim’s great education doc Waiting for Superman, trying to shine a light on a complex and important issue that so easily gets shaped and cast aside based on broad assumptions. The film’s an incitement on America’s approach to a problem it once quite nearly eliminated, only to be revived through ignorance and the seeming uncaring of the people that can do something about it. But it’s also a tribute to those working so hard on the ground to try and change things for the better.

Hot Docs - We Are Wisconsin

Rating: ****

In November 2010, the American political movement known as The Tea Party suddenly became a political force the likes of which had not been scene since an Illinois attorney and politician became the first Republican President in 1860. With a seeming political mandate, many of these politicians, many of whom elected to state governorships, began promoting an economic agenda that attacked unions and the poor. But in Wisconsin, the process came to a screeching halt when teachers, police officers, health workers and students begin protesting at, occupying if you will, the state capital in Madison.

As fortune would have it, director Aime Williams was there to capture it all on video, and combining her own footage with news clips, You Tube videos, and an eventual second camera operator, she’s created We Are Wisconsin, a kind of war movie chronicling what happens when the people wake up to the fact that their democracy’s being taken out from right underneath them.

Yes, it’s true, this film will resonate with the “Fight the Power” crowd more than any passive observer, or apolitical cynic, but there is a visceral and immediate kind of power to Williams' film; a mixture of Michael Moore’s fight for the little guy gusto with the intimacy and outrage of the work of Michael Winterbottom. Williams also mixes after the fact observations and interviews with her first person footage, both of which paint a more simple and serene picture of the protests than was portrayed by the media at the time. And as the Occupy movement seems to be gearing up for a spring campaign, there’s a fair bit of foreshadowing here too.

But what was most interesting to me was that laying aside the fact of the issues, there’s almost an apolitical feeling to We Are Wisconsin. The majority of people recognized that what Governor Scott Walker was doing, eliminating collective bargaining amongst state employees and the way he was able to work around it in the end despite the outrage, galvanized the people in a way not scene since Vietnam. The small victories of these Wisconsinites are inspiring, as they prove that the old adage about not being able to fight city hall isn’t always the case.

Hot Docs - We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists

Rating: ****

Memes? D-Dos’ed? 4chan? Lol Cat? To the average ludite, a stroll through the world of We Are Legion might be a bit like taking a trip to Wonderland without knowing how to speak the language. One wrong turn and you’re eating cakes that make you shrink and taking advice from hookah-smoking caterpillars that nearly gets your head chopped off.

We Are Legion explores the impact and evolution of Anonymous. Labelled by some as cyber-terrorists, others as merry pranksters, and others still as the defensive wing of the internet, it naturally occurs that Anonymous is none of those things, and all of them. And then maybe a bit more. Director Brian Knappenberger follows what was once a loose coalition of net-savvy users sharing the weird and outrageous on a message board called 4chan, and traces it through its activist incarnation as the legions of the Anonymous take on Scientology, defend Wikileaks, and rise to still greater prominence even as its original members splinter.

I think Knappenberger does a couple of things very smart. While his admiration for Anonymous is apparent, he doesn’t present this as a smirky fan boy rendering of “look how clever these guys are and you’re not.” There is some very fair analysis in We Are Legion, and Knappenberger does more than fetish the Guy Fawkes mask (though I wonder if he was able to, or even considered, taking to V for Vendetta creators Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons). The other thing that Knappenberger does well is work within the parameters of Anonymous, which is the anonymity of several of its members. Scene after scene of talking heads hidden behind one type of mask or another as seen through a Skype connection could have made the doc technically jump the shark, but Knappenberger handles the mixed mediums well.

It’s a testament to just how well trusted Knappenberger was by the people of Anonymous that he was able to get these comments in the first place, but to reiterate, I don’t think We Are Legion is a glowing piece of propaganda for the group. Knappenberger tackles the good and the bad, the benefits and the demerits, and the potential good of Anonymous and previous actions that don’t reflect well on them moving forward. We Are Legion may not prompt you to remake yourself as a hacktivist, but it will give you a greater, more detailed appreciation of the culture.

Hot Docs - My Mate Manchester United with Trials, Tribulations & Sustainable Growth of a Cock

 

Manchester: ***1/2

Trials: **

What’s stranger, the sight of a grown, middle aged man weeping when being told that he’s going to meet his soccer hero, or the fact that the man’s name is legally Manchester United? Scratch that, it’s a draw. An answerless riddle like “If a tree falls in woods and no one’s around to hear it, does it make a sound?” The fact of the matter is that Manchester United is a real guy, who lives in Bulgaria, and takes his name from the world famous football club in the orange jersey that he adores so.

So what is the source of Manchester’s devotion to the team hundreds of miles away, based in Old Trafford? It could be any number of reasons. One could argue that it’s one man’s mid-life crisis, or a variation of arrested development that’s manifested in Manchester. Or maybe it’s that Manchester, like a lot of people of his generation, caught between the days behind the Iron Curtain and the current era where teenagers know nothing of communism, just needs something to believe in.

Manchester’s simple quest to shake hands with MU’s Bulgarian player Dimitar Berbatov is achieved after he and a friend collaborate on a heartfelt e-mail to Berbatov’s agent. Initially in the film, it felt like that scene was played as a kind of lark for Manchester, as if he had never before written fan mail to his team, but it’s quite the opposite. As much as a kind of comedic character Manchester is, you can’t help but be brought to tears with him when the same agent tells Manchester that not only will he get his chance to shake hands with his hero, but he’ll be flown to England to see MU play in person and get the whole English football experience.

Having his dream come true renews Manchester’s faith and spirit that there are some good things in this world, and they can sometimes come to you. And through him a bit of your own spirit is renewed. If a simple Bulgarian builder can make his dreams come true with a simple e-mail, maybe the rest of us are over-thinking it in trying to make ours come to fruition.

On the flip side was Trials, Tribulations & Sustainable Growth of a Cock, which is either overly sexual, or overtly environmental, or both. Like a nudist camp. No, this is about the evolution of chickens and a circle of life type thing. We see a nest of chicks hatch and grow into adult roosters and hens, until one of the roosters is chosen to… Well, why ruin the surprise? Needless to say it’ll have PETA manning all battle stations. If I give this short doc a low grade, it’s because I don’t see anything coming from it that could be construed as a message and seems cruel for the sake or cruel.

All I’ll say is that at least Hot Docs ran the positive, life-affirming one second.