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The Book of Life

DIA de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead, may seem like a morbid celebration as the focal point of a children’s animated film, at least if you choose to believe kids aren’t inherently morbid.

But the roots of the Mexican holiday revolve around the fond memories of loved ones past, and that is director Jorge R. Gutierre’s entry into a kids film that invites the tykes to see dead people, with an emphasis on celebrating their memory.

Manolo (Diego Luna) and Joaquin (Channing Tatum) are old childhood friends who find themselves competing for the love of the same woman, Maria (Zoe Saldana). Their triangle becomes the focus of otherworldly Bickersons: La Muerta (Kate del Castillo) rules the Land of the Remembered and her troublesome mate Xibalba (Ron Perlman) rules the more nightmarish Land of the Forgotten. A bet is made, and the outcome of the romance will have major repercussions in the afterlife.

The animation resembles stop-motion because all the characters look like traditional Mexican wood figurines, but it’s all CG, violently colourful and, at times, absolutely dazzling, filled with the vividly detailed eccentricity that bears the creative imprint of producer Guillermo del Toro.

But that’s the main reason to check this out. The story is a tad convoluted and the musical component — lacklustre original songs or Spanish-flavoured covers of pop hits — diminishes the overall movie.

Still, the film’s visual potency makes this a nice introduction to Mexican culture for kids, especially important given that Tim Burton has been purloining that Day of the Dead imagery for years. HHH

 

Fury

DIRECTOR David Ayer’s Second World War film takes its title from crew’s pet name for their Sherman tank, the word painted on its prominent 75mm gun.

But it also refers to the force that drives the crew, especially Sgt. Don Collier (Brad Pitt), a guy who has lived in the tank from the Allies campaign in North Africa all the way to Germany in the last month of the European conflict in April 1945.

A lot of blood has been shed and lives have been lost, and Collier, known to his crew under the battle sobriquet of Wardaddy, has lasted this long by keeping his kill-or-be-killed rage stoked hot.

The “daddy” handle is not inappropriate. He is responsible for the lives of his fellow crew members, including the doggedly Christian gunner Boyd Swan (Shia LaBeouf), the somewhat repulsive backwoods redneck Grady Travis (Jon Bernthal) and sardonic Latino driver Trini Garcia (Michael Pena).

Into this mix of battle-hardened men comes a young clerk-typist named Norman (Logan Lerman), untrained and unprepared for the responsibilities of his new job. What follows is Norman’s trial by fire.

Ayer portrays the horrors of battle in a few intense battle scenes that don’t spare the gory details, including legs being shot off, heads blown apart and bodies flattened under tank treads.

He also addresses the unheroic qualities of his designated heroes, especially Wardaddy, a man long past the niceties of rules of engagement when it comes to German prisoners.

Ayer’s depiction of men in war flies in the face of Steven Spielberg’s soothing “greatest generation” salute in Saving Private Ryan. Non-stop exposure to brutality brutalizes, as Norman learns too well under Wardaddy’s tutelage.

“Ideals are peaceful,” he tells Norman. “History is violent.”

Ayer probably overstates that case in the film’s too-long 135 minutes, but the movie’s attention to detail and its performances are impressive. One comes away moved by its resonant undercurrent of tragedy, springing from the violence done to the human spirit. HHH1/2

 

The Judge

WITH a cast of big, prestigious, expensive actors and a ponderous running time, you might expect a high-quality, Oscar-bait drama here.

But given one solitary and somewhat obligatory supporting-actor nomination for Robert Duvall, the final verdict must be that director David Dobkin’s The Judge is less than the sum of its formidable parts.

Robert Downey Jr. plays it slick, smart and sardonic as hotshot Chicago attorney Hank Palmer, whom we find sealing a victory on behalf of a clearly guilty client by peeing on the leg of the morally outraged prosecutor.

When Hank is called back to his small-town birthplace upon the sudden death of his mother, the homecoming is fraught with non-legal drama. Hank endures the prickly attitude of elder brother Glen (Vincent D’Onofrio), consoles his camera-toting, mentally-challenged younger brother Dale (Jeremy Strong), and spars outright with his dad, Judge Joseph Palmer (Duvall).

The latter relationship shoots sparks due to past tribulations. While one might expect dad to be proud of his legal-eagle offspring, he actually disapproves of his son’s reputation for legal shenanigans, all contrary to his more dignified notions of American jurisprudence.

But dear old dad may not be the stickler for legal propriety everyone assumed. A criminal the judge once sentenced to hard time is found dead, and a suspicious dent has been found in the judge’s car. Did Judge Joseph Palmer finally take justice into his own hands?

Director Dobkin tries to stay classy, but is confounded by the script, apparently written with intent to numb the butt. It parses out important information in stingy increments. Often, we in the audience are the only ones not privy to information that everyone onscreen has.

The Judge has some entertainment value, chief of which is Downey, expertly trading thespian blows with Duvall and D’Onofrio.

But even that pleasure is extinguished by sheer implausibility by the time father and son face off in a climactic courtroom scene that is intended to bring tears to the eyes, but is more likely to elicit the involuntary rolling of said orbs. HH

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca