I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

Jim Carrey is gay, gay, gay, gay, gay!

Or at least as Steven Russell in this directorial debut of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. The film had been given positive reviews at Sundance and Cannes, despite withheld release by distributor disputes as well as Disney, who pushed the screening until after A Christmas Carol because they didn’t want the kids to think Uncle Scrooge was gay.

Maybe it’s just me sensationalizing Hollywood gay films (still a minority), and maybe it’s the casting director’s fault that I got excited. I saw the trailer in cinemas and I couldn’t believe it: Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, two award-winning and famously straight Hollywood actors will play lovers. Then the trailer said: ‘This really happened," and I was a believer.

Regardless of my opening line, this film is not about sexuality. It’s about living. And loving. Fiercely.

The film opens in a hospital, a man on his near-death bed narrating how his life has come to this: it’s because of love. Then clouds. Sweet music. Children laying on a field. A mother calling out to her child. Cut to: “We love you,” and “You’re adopted.” Strap on your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Steven Russell tries the best he could to please the people around him. He is a model husband, church-goer and police officer in Texas, until a car crash enables him to have a dramatic reassessment of his life. So he quit his job and left his family to live a flamboyantly gay life in Miami with his hot new boyfriend (Rodrigo Santoro). Gay life is expensive, but the bills didn’t stop him from overspending for the people he loves. He tried hurting himself, literally jumping off escalators, because insurance pays and he didn’t want to experience being abandoned again, like what his birth mother did.

Now, wasn’t that a cigarette brand in the title? Whether this would be a biographical revelation on how a person became a cigarette brand was something I resisted researching on. We shouldn’t kill the suspense. It wasn’t. The brand name, I found out only upon writing this review, had a single ‘L’ on Philip. Phillip Morris, with the double ‘L’, is the prison-mate, who Steve falls madly in love with. Blonde, blue-eyed and sensitive, he usually lies low to avoid being picked at by prison bullies. Phillip was shy at Steve’s sudden declaration of interest upon first meeting (my favorite scene, Ewan McGregor forever!), but Steve’s street-smarts won him over. He made the impossible at reach even in prison, and that’s saying something. When Steven was being transferred to another prison, Phillip sums up the courage to run out into the yard (where the bullies are) to declare his love across prison walls. In due time, Steven finishes his sentence and poses as a lawyer to get Philip out of his, wherein he succeeds by fishing (“I think you know what I’m talking about”) at the judge’s wrongdoings. After this is a series of conman tricks and prison break attempts. Phillip is angered by Steven's lies and refuses to remain in their relationship. Steven admits that he doesn’t know who he is and he’s been living a lie since he was born, but his love is true.

The movie vacillates between toilet humor and intense drama, and it does so unevenly that the viewer doesn’t know what to expect. I like it that way. Jim Carrey has brought with him his hysterics. This signature acting is so recognizable that it makes it harder to believe that he is still Steven Russell. However, the dramatic scenes he played so admirably, which maybe his best since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Ewan McGregor was, needless to say, *fabulous* from the Southern accent (he’s Scottish, by the way) down to the shy, feminine glances.

Russell’s case was first put into writing by Steven McViker for the Houston Chronicle. It’s a good thing that this happened for real and we remain in awe. If it weren’t, it would be so difficult to suspend belief that there still exists a love as resilient as this.

Sources: Ace Showbiz, Business World

A Christmas Carol

Some people will never, ever agree with me when I say that motion capture has its own advantages. I shall defend that in a bit.

I shall give A Christmas Carol a passing score. And not because it's Christmas.

First, because Jim Carrey's acting was excellent. In motion capture films, an actor not only provides the voice, but the performance as well. So all the facial twitches of Ebenezer Scrooge were performed by Carrey. Oh, and Jim Carrey also performed all of the Christmas ghosts.

Second, the supporting cast was also excellent. Gary Oldman as Cratchit was terrific. Although I can't say the same for Colin Firth, as his character's facial expressions looked fake. Well of course. He's still computer-animated. Oh, and Fay Masterson is in it. Fay Masterson was my long-time crush from The Power of One.

Third, it used effective realism. Thank God Zemeckis didn't modernize the dialogue. He stayed true to the book. I'm sure Charles Dickens' ghost would've haunted him if he messed up the canon. Some may need subtitles to understand the dialogue, but those who enjoy dated languages (like me) will have a blast with listening to authentic nineteenth century syntax.

And fourth, Zemeckis' motion-capture technology has greatly improved. I can see now the advantages of motion-capture versus live action. Motion-capture gives the director absolute control. As in absolute control. Anything Zemeckis wants onscreen, he gets. If he wants this kind of look, or this kind of expression, he gets it. To have a great actor in your cast is one thing. And to have absolute control over a great actor is another.

And so there you have it. I predict Robert Zemeckis will be pushing motion-capture to its limits, maximizing it to its fullest potential. And unless he tires of playing cinematic god, we have him to thank for any developments of this promising new medium.


*some info from IMDb
pic from dailybruin.com


A Christmas Carol. USA. 2009.


Rating: Seven and a half out of ten.

Yes Man

(This is one of those reviews I need to jot down because they're already rotting inside my head as I've seen this movie two months ago.)

Meh. It's okay. But meh. It's okay. But meh.

I can be quite indecisive.

Three reasons to watch it:

1. Jim Carrey sings and plays the guitar!
2. Danny Masterson! Hyde of That 70's Show is always the douchebag friend!
3. I really have a thing for Jim Carrey when he's not twisting his face in a supposedly funny way but ends up being scary.

Basically, it's Liar Liar meets Bruce Almighty.

4/10

Horton Hears a Who

This is the first ever adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book fully animated with digital technology. This probably is the Seuss adaptation that comes closest to what the author's intention was. At least visually.

Blue Sky Studios has improved from their Ice Age-days, where the only thing they got perfect back then was computer-generated hair. In Horton, the polygons have all disappeared, giving the characters a rounder, more stream-lined look. But still, Blue Sky is no match for Pixar. But that's another story.

Jim Carrey is funny as Horton, while I personally find Steve Carell's wisecracks a bit corny. And honestly, I am a bit tired with the Hollywood practice of getting big names to do voices for animated films. What happened to geniuses like Mel Blanc, who did all the voices for Looney Tunes? Cartoon voicing is an art, and most of the Hollywood actors right now don't have that talent. It's kind of sickening to see an animated character open his mouth with a voice you recognize. They don't even try to change their inflection.

Anyway, that is just my take on the animated film industry in general. But this specific film called Horton Hears a Who is a great work, and it has done justice to the great author, whose other works have been cannibalized by the previous big screen adaptations.


Rating: Four stars.

Trivia: The first animated film to use an all-star voice cast was, believe it or not, Transformers: The Movie, released way back in 1986. This was way, way before Robin Williams lent his voice as the Genie in Disney's Aladdin.