Something's Missing

I still got some movies left to review from the 2011 Nantucket Film Festival (and that’s not necessarily a bad thing). “The Lie” is a (relatively) new movie from writer-director Joshua Leonard (who you might know from “The Blair Witch Project”) and co-stars Mark Webber (who you might also know from “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”) and Jess Weixler (who you will know from “Free Samples” which comes out later this year). It’s a story that we all know, a man tells a lie to get out of work for the day and his life dramatically changes as a result.

It is by no means a bad movie, but equally it is by no means a great one either. At times the film does seem a little slow, but that isn’t what holds it back. The acting is decent and a surprise cameo from Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) made my day. In fact, Leonard who participated in a Q&A afterwards really loves the project and it shows. Technically it is a good film, but the whole time it is just missing something that stops it from being great. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it is one of those movies that feel like if you could change one thing about it, it would be a festival and indie standout.

And speaking of the Q&A afterwards, Leonard did a great job and seemed to have a lot of fun with this movie, but I don’t know if it’s just Nantucket or film festivals as a whole, but the majority of those in attendance are the kind of people that want to be movie buffs and think they are, but are too thick and pretentious to ever be. Yes, I know how incredibly stupid and pretentious I sound, now, by saying that, but it’s true! Seriously, I apologize to Joshua Leonard for some of the questions he had to endure (including some that weren’t questions at all, just criticisms of the movie and what they would change about it). And I think I speak for Leonard and myself when I say, if they think they could make a better movie, go out and do it! But I don’t think they can.

The Name's Mater, Tow Mater

Pixar is back (as they are every summer now) with their sequel to the highly successful and critically lauded “Cars”. The whole gang is back with a few additions. Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy return as Lightning McQueen and Mater, respectively, and Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer and Eddie Izzard have been added to the impressive cast. Here’s the deal, Lightning McQueen is about to take the summer off racing and return to Radiator Springs when he’s challenged to a “World Grand Prix” by a flashy Italian racecar. Lightning and Mater (with a few other Radiator Springs residents in tow) jet off to Japan, Italy and England to take part in the race. While in Japan, however, Mater is mistaken for a world-class secret agent by Finn McMissile (voiced by Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (voiced by Emily Mortimer). Without giving too much away, it becomes more of a spy movie with races in the background and a buddy movie between Lightning and Mater.

One of my favorite parts of this movie is the ability to explore the Cars world much more than we did in the original. The artists at Pixar did a tremendous job of creating real world locations in their digital format. It is fun to see how all the Cars inventions work, whether it is the bathrooms, the restaurants, the hotels, the planes because honestly, I was wondering how they did so much without hands in the first one. (Also, speaking of the Pixar world, during the Paris scene, keep a lookout for a shout out to another Pixar movie.)

It’s being released in 3D and IMAX, but I’m not sure how much more that will add to the movie. It was good enough in plain old 2D, but I could see the 3D depth technique that Pixar has perfected adding to the numerous racing and chase sequences. Either way, it’s Pixar so of course it’s good, and it’s definitely worth a trip to the theater to see it.

I was lucky enough to catch "Cars 2" at a screening at the the Nantucket Film Festival with Ben Queen, the screenwriter, in attendance. In a Q&A afterwards he really demonstrated the love that went into this movie and the immense attention to detail on the project. Illuminating on the pixar process he said that they do not focus on writing a movie towards children or adults, that thought does not even cross their mind while making the movie. What they do is make the movie they want to see. And that's awesome.