The Inherent Vice Trailer. P.T. Anderson, Cohen Brothers and Reverse Psychology

For those of you more tuned into the world of cinema, you probably saw that Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming film Inherent Vice based on the novel by the same name debuted its first trailer this morning.  Now, as someone who is admittedly not the world's biggest P.T. Anderson fan, I have to say, I'm intrigued.

How does Mr. Anderson draw in someone that, for years, has criticized his movies as being overlong, cluttered, and over indulgent?  By releasing the most cluttered, convoluted, over indulgent looking trailer ever known to man.

That's right.  Just take a look at the trailer below.  Its a cacophonous mess with more characters than you can count and set to a voice over that actually makes the whole thing more confusing.  In spite of the numerous characters and seemingly wandering plot there are some noticeably non-P.T. Anderson things going on in this trailer.

P.T. Anderson, at heart, has always been a rambler.  He may have started to evolve away from his epic ensemble yarns of his early career (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) but his stories have always remained open ended, never with a clear finish line in sight.  His heroes: crazed mad men trapped in a room without an exit (which sounds cool but isn't necessarily a compliment).  After watching the trailer for Inherent Vice it looks like the viewing public is in for more of the same... or not.

First, in spite of the cast size and numerous familiar faces, Inherent Vice doesn't appear to be an ensemble based feature.  The whole trailer follows Joaquin Phoenix's character, holding other characters to mostly one or two seconds of screen time.  Add in the fact that the novel centers strongly on Phoenix's "Doc" and we're getting away from the freewheelin' P.T. Anderson story style that can go on and on without actually going anywhere.

Second, the trailer is kind of clunky.  Regardless of what you think of P.T. Anderson's films you cannot deny the trailers for them have been universally, tight, intense and very compelling.  The most compelling thing about the trailer for Inherent Vice is that it looks, well, kind of terrible.  It is hard to follow and feels like its trying a little too hard to be witty.  The screwball-esque style peppered with dark comedic moments is more reminiscent of another pair of critically acclaimed film makers: the Cohen brothers.

Just look at this trailer for the Cohen brothers' 2008 Burn After Reading.

While Burn After Reading was one of the Cohen brothers' less successful efforts, the trailer perfectly exemplifies the dark screwball comedy that they've perfected over the years and Inherent Vice seems to contain.  Throwing strange yet lovable characters into surreal high stakes situations is exactly what produced classics like Raising Arizona, Fargo, and Big Lebowski.

Barton Fink, one of the Cohen Brothers' best and undoubtedly their most underrated, thrives on being a dark picture with moments of oddity that stick in your mind solely based on how brilliantly complex their irreverence is.  I'm not saying P.T. Anderson just made his own Barton Fink or even that we was trying to, but if that's the way he's walking, I'm willing to follow.

For me, after years of seeing great trailers for films like There Will Be Blood and The Master and then being disappointed upon seeing the full film, Inherent Vice's helter skelter attitude might be just what the doctor ordered for P.T. Anderson.  Where it appears incoherent, it will be tight.  Where it appears to be trying too hard, it will be smooth and effortless.  I don't really know, but after slowly drifting away from P.T. Anderson after There Will Be Blood (a pretty good film that too many people label as great), Inherent Vice is tugging at my shirt, trying to get me back in his corner.

Random Movie Review: Top Five Robin Williams Films

Hello all, a little bit different spin on Random Movie Review this week.  Now, I know what you're thinking... "this week"?  "different spin"?  That's right folks!  New weekly segment!

I couldn't help but notice in the days that have followed the death of Robin Williams many people have shared their feelings on depression and their collective grief at the passing of a prolific entertainer but not quite as many have taken a moment to celebrate his work.

It is with that in mind that I invite you to realize the five greatest accomplishments of Robin Wiliiams' career, as decided by me: The decider.

#5

Good Morning, Vietnam

Way back in 1987 America got a big screen sized helping of Robin Williams' stand-up style done as a radio play.  Good Morning, Vietnam, loosely based on the experience of actual radio personality Adrian Cronauer, is one of the first memorable performances by Williams' and also one of the funniest.  It loses a little bit of steam when it focuses on the drama aspects of story, but its irreverence and many quotable lines make it a classic.

#4

Dead Poets Society

Some might be surprised not to see this even higher on the list.  One of the most well regarded of Williams' dramatic performances is certainly memorable for the right reasons but the story itself is a bit tired and the student characters fail to develop into anything beyond archetypes.  This movie always reminds me of another coming of age film from the same era, Scent of a Woman; a film that might have been quickly forgotten if not for one majestic performance.

#3

The Birdcage

Not only is The Birdcage Robin Williams' funniest live action movie, but it happens to also be one of the best stage to screen adaptations Hollywood has pulled off in the last 30 years.  Williams shares the screen with a fantastic cast and another brilliant comedian in Nathan Lane allowing him to play off others and set up jokes for a change instead of the manic "one-man-show" performances he is more widely known for.

Aladdin

Number 2 on Rated Wrong's definitive list of Robin Williams' movies is what was probably the first exposure anyone under the age of 30 head to the funniest man on earth.  Aladdin was a part of Disney's pre-Pixar animation hot streak of the late 80s early 90s (Little Mermaid - Pocahontas) and Williams' wild man performance is THE reason why.  Williams picks up what very easily could have been a very forgettable animated tale and effortlessly carries it into the cannon of Disney classics.

#1

Good Will Hunting

After Good Will Hunting Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon could all bill themselves as Academy Award winners, but only Williams could boast the title of Academy Award winning actor.  Good Will Hunting is Williams' best movie, a great movie, and it earns that distinction in large part because of his masterfully understated performance.  With Good Will Hunting Robin Williams showed the world he was more than just a clown, he was an artist, and a damn good one.

Hero Quest and Battle Masters

It really is true what they say:  Childhood ain't what it used to be, especially now that we ain't children.  But, we'll always have memories and no memory will be more valuable to me than that Christmas morning that I awoke to find that I had gotten both Hero Quest and Battle Masters.  If I remember correctly, I was seven years old and it was the last Christmas that I was still buying in to the Santa Claus mythos which was thanks - in no small part - to recieving these games.

What were they?

First, how dare you for asking.

Second, they were two fantasy adventure board games made by Milton Bradley in conjunction with Games Workshop.  Battle Masters and Hero Quest were inspired by and partially connected to the popular game and collectable series WarHammer instantly making both the dorkiest things I ever posessed as a child.

Both games came with a lot of little - very breakable - figurines (that were paintable, although I never did that... I could barely even get the stickers on right).  Both games took a long time to set up, especially Battle Masters, which could take a seven year old a good 40 minutes.  Both required hour or more long time comittments from preferrably 3-4 people.

For the craftier... and dorkier among us.

So, to put that last paragraph into simpler terms:  I didn't spend very much time actually ever playing either of these games.  Most of the time I'd just open the box and look at the little guys.  I probably played Battle Masters more often, because it was simpler and only required two people (thanks dad!), which is tragic because Hero Quest was really the more special of the two.

Where Battle Masters was more or less really complicated two-player risk, Hero Quest has imagination and suspense.  There were levels and plots and secrets you could unravel.  I remember flipping through the quest book looking at all the layouts, reading all the stories, probably only ever actually playing 2 or 3 of them.

Even if I didn't get to fully enjoy these games when I had them, it was still great getting to experience them at all.  And maybe I shouldn't be so bummed they're gone, because if I had gotten the full effect, maybe I would have gotten really into fantasy and then I would have gotten really into D&D and then I would have gotten really into World of Warcraft and then I would have gotten really into Mountain Dew and Funyuns and then I would have gotten really into lonlieness.  All for the best.