Super (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. James Gunn. Starring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler.
A very dark comedy about a pudgy superhero bashing crime with a wrench.
After his wife (Liv Tyler) leaves him, diner cook Frank D'Arbo (Rainn Wilson) becomes convinced that God is commanding him to fight crime in the guise of The Crimson Bolt. He is eventually joined by Libby (Ellen Page), a comic book store employee even weirder than he is.
The main appeal of Super is of course seeing the guy from The Office punishing petty criminals with ludicrously disproportionate force. But while we come for the wrench beatings, we stay for the sharp, absurd dialog (which jumps off on the most insane tangents before somehow coming back around to the point) and some excellent performances by the leads-in particular Ellen Page, who walks the line between adorably hyperactive and just plain scary.
But don't go in expecting only cheap giggles, because Super takes some of the darkest turns I've ever seen in a movie. At some point-probably around the place where Frank splits a man's skull open for cutting in line at the theater-the violence ceases to be funny. The film starts to be about the pathology of a man who would do these things and the very real consequences of violence and naïve heroics. Towards the end, there are images horrible enough to haunt a man's dreams.
Frank's character arc is as compelling as any superhero you can name, made a bit poignant by a rare touch of bitter realism.
This is sure to be a polarizing film. I have no doubt that some people-even some with taste not so different from me-will hate it. But in its own sick way, I think it's probably the best superhero movie ever made.
Rated R for emotional wrenching.
4.5 out of 5
Paul (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. Greg Mottola. Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen.
The science fiction film that answers the most terrible of questions: what if aliens visited Earth, and what if they were Seth Rogen?
The latest feature collaboration between writers/actors Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, Paul is about a pair of British geeks on a tour of America's UFO hotspots. Near Area 51, they run across Paul, an alien with the voice and personality of Rogen, who joins them on a road trip across the country.
Science fiction films have almost always broken down when the alien finally appears onscreen: when all the wonder of the viewer's imagination meets grey-skinned, bug-eyed reality.
Paul has the advantage of not being particularly imaginative or wonder-filled to begin with, so there isn't such a long way to fall. But tacking a sarcastic human voice onto a traditional alien and having him crack wise for an hour and a half is going to be awkward no matter how you frame it.
This isn't exactly a dumb movie. It has a few of the clever twists and red herrings that Pegg is so good at. And like most British comedians, he and Frost clearly have a better grasp of science than the top Hollywood screenwriters.
But the film is a little too delighted by dirty words and jokes about alien genitalia, and once it settles into that familiar rut it never really comes back out again. Gags about Paul advising Steven Spielberg on the production of E.T. (and other pop culture references) are even worse. When the inevitable "alien dancing" scene comes along, all hope is lost.
It doesn't help that I find Seth Rogen's antics just about completely unbearable since The Green Hornet.
Paul is the worst of Frost and Pegg's collaborations, but it has enough high points to be watchable.
Rated R for inventive profanity.
3 out of 5
