THE WALK Review

Man on Wire is the Academy Award winning documentary from 2008 that preceded this dramatization of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit's walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974. What made the documentary such a critical success and one of the more all-around entertaining documentaries ever made was largely due to two factors-1) Petit himself and 2) the heist-like nature required to pull the stunt off.  Petit is a character who needs no exaggeration. To watch him describe his mentality and desires in the documentary was to paint so vivid a picture that re-enactments were never needed. There was also a surplus of photos and footage from around Petit and his accomplices planning and executing this rather risky gamble to fulfill one man's crazy dream that filled in the gaps when Petit wasn't acting out his recollections. So, the question is why would anyone want and more importantly why does anyone need another version of a story that has already been told in a magnificent (and no doubt more honest) way? The documentary was filled with drama and tension so why dramatize it further only to restrict it to a narrative structure that would likely end up making the distressing story rather passionless. There seems to be no definitive answer as to why this new interpretation was necessary within director Robert Zemeckis' film, but strangely it seems to make perfect sense given the man behind this particular vision. Zemeckis has always been a filmmaker who likes to push the envelope when it comes to technology and trying things other filmmakers wouldn't dare attempt (see Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cast Away, The Polar Express). In Petit's story the director has found an inherently dramatic, fun and literally breathtaking tale that perfectly accommodates the type of innovative filmmaking methods he likes to march out and test on his audiences. And so, while The Walk may not be a movie we all needed, that certainly doesn't make it one worth ignoring. In fact, it's rather invigorating once it gets going.

Full Trailer for THE WALK Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Upon seeing the initial teaser trailer for Robert Zemeckis’ latest endeavor late last year I wasn't too excited for what it was promoting. The story of Philippe Petit had already been documented in the critically acclaimed documentary Man On Wire and it seemed unlikely that Zemeckis’ film would be able to match that acclaim or even what made the documentary so fascinating and that's not even taking into consideration that a dramatized version of these events hardly seems necessary. Still, the narrative film is coming and it has Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the lead so it will inevitably be discussed, but what I can't tell is if this movie wants to be more of an Oscar-contender or if it simply wants to be an exhilirating thrill ride that really capitalizes on the IMAX and 3D aspects of its production. The marketing is certainly driving this angle home, but this second, full trailer for the film also highlights the heist-type aspects of the film given Petit and his crew were not allowed to go to the top of the twin towers, string a wire between them and attempt to tightrope walk between them. The trailer is much better than what I would have initially expected from the film and the fact this trailer came with the announcement that this will be the opening night film at the New York Film Festival this year only makes me all the more curious. I wish we didn't live in a culture where we had to think of films simply as Oscar-type films and those for pure entertainment, but we typically do. Maybe The Walk can break that frame of mind. The film also stars Charlotte Le Bon, Ben Kingsley, James Badge Dale, Ben Schwartz, Clément Sibony, César Domboy and opens in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on October 2nd.

THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY Review

Time for a a little bit of an embarrassing admission: I've never seen Chocolat. I haven't seen The Cider House Rules either, well at least not all of it though I can recall starting it about a half dozen times. What I can say is I distinctly remember being in the eighth grade and my art teacher trying to convince me that it would be a more rewarding experience to go see Chocolat than Vertical Limit, which I was clearly anxious to see and would choose over an artsy film any day of the week (it had Robin in it!). Needless to say, all this time later I still haven't made time to visit director Lasse Hallström's well-reviewed romantic drama starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp that would seem to make the most pleasant double-feature with his latest film, The Hundred-Foot Journey. If we're being honest though, there wasn't a large amount of interest in this film for me, a 27 year-old who was more excited to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than an adult drama about the vast difference in cultures and their respectable inclinations even when a minuscule distance separates them, say a hundred feet? The Hundred-Foot Journey is a film no better described than being purely pleasant. It is a movie that could easily pass a weekend afternoon and be completely satisfying in doing so. There is nothing inherently wrong with a movie like The Hundred-Foot Journey, but it is to be understood going in that it is nothing but insubstantial froth. It is the dessert to a lazy, stress-free weekend or even the bubbly anecdotal answer to a demanding or trying couple of days. Either way, most will receive the same feeling from this slightly high brow Hallmark movie in that it paints a world where the outside conflicts of our existence never enter into the picture and the small trials and tribulations of our characters, while certainly major in their lives, leave little worry with the audience because we know exactly where things are heading and how *pleasantly* they will all turn out.