The Lovely Bones

I think I've almost hit that point with Peter Jackson as a filmmaker. It's that point where you say, "You've got something else in you right?"

Here's the thing: for me, he has 3 great movies (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I can argue is really 1 movie) and 1 good movie (King Kong). Other than that, as a director, he really does not have another good film on his resume. Seriously, look at his IMDB profile sometime and tell me his other classics. Unless you're part of that special minority that thinks The Frighteners is underrated, he doesn't have another solid film on the books.

I say this because his latest entry, The Lovely Bones (TLB), is pretty disappointing. I'm not saying I had high hopes for this one because I had heard it wasn't great, but I was at least hoping that he, along with his frequent collaborators Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, would at least deliver an interesting film. Unfortunately, he didn't even do that.

Unfortunately, TLB is not interesting in any capacity save one: Stanley Tucci's fantastic performance as the serial killer next door George Harvey. He is almost unrecognizable, as he has a wig, glasses, extra weight, and an accent borrowed from some undefined midwest region. He was nominated for an Oscar for this movie with good reason. I am constantly amazed at how seamlessly he gets in and out of characters; if you don't believe me, go see Julie and Julia and then this film and tell me if you think there's someone as chameleon-like as him.

Other than that, there's not much to enjoy. The plot isn't horrible, but it ain't great: a 14 year old girl named Susie is murdered in 1973. She then spends most of the film in the "In-Between world," which is between Heaven and Earth. In this world she is able to interact with the other victims of her killer and see how her death has affected her loved ones. She can even sometimes touch them with her presence.

This is consistently intercut with how her family has dealt with her loss, which is to say not well. Her dad Jack, played by Mark Wahlberg, becomes obsessed with helping the detective Len (Michael Imperioli) catch Susie's killer. Her mom becomes so distraught she has to leave for a while, which prompts Jack to bring her mom Lynn (played with some wit by Susan Sarandon) to help take care of their other two kids. Daughter Lindsey becomes convinced that creepy George did it and tries to get evidence that he did. She ends up convincing Jack that he's the killer too, so Jack tries to go all vigilante on him, which backfires horribly.

Meanwhile George is planning his next killing: Lindsey, but she finally does find some evidence to connect him to the crime, which means he's gotta bail. But not before Susie has a psychic connection with the guy she was in love with before her murder. Yeah, I know - where did all of this craziness come from?

And that's ultimately my main problem with TLB, besides the visuals not being very good (which surprises me. He did LOTR & Kong - how could the visuals not be on point?). This is supposed to be an emotional experience, but that emotion gets drowned by a tedium and darkness that is not enjoyable to watch. My bones didn't feel so lovely when the credits rolled.

I just hope Jackson can find another story that brings real human drama and touches our hearts the way he has before - if you count dwarfs, elves, and a huge ape as part of the "human" category.

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?

I'm not one of those Tyler Perry haters. In fact, I have enjoyed several of the works in Mr. Perry's filmography.

I know that Perry is one of the most divisive figures in Hollywood today. Some praise him for bringing the African American experience to a mass audience. Others criticize him for showing that experience in a less than educated light.

I think Tyler Perry does something that few else is doing right now; he is sharing what has been his journey in life with others on film. For the most part, I have enjoyed sharing in that journey because, if nothing else, it has at least been an interesting, and often times, funny ride. Until now.

His latest film, Why Did I Get Married Too? (WDIGMT), is the follow-up to Why Did I Get Married? (WDIGM). The first film came from a very fresh, interesting perspective: why do people choose to get married and then stay together, even if there are difficulties in the relationship. WDIGM's analysis of 4 married couples' relationships was an intriguing deduction of why we fall in love and what it means to be in a committed relationship.

WDIGMT is simply a study of married people that should be committed. The 4 couples stay at a villa in the Caribbean ready for the yearly married couples getaway. All the couples assume their position: Gavin and Patricia are not talking about their issues, Marcus and Angela are in a perpetual state of argument, Sheila and Troy are now married with a baby and having money problems, and Terry and Dianne are the seemingly perfect couple. They all arrive ready to relax and have fun until Richard T. Jones, who plays the villainous Mike, inexplicably shows up and becomes the proverbial fly in the ointment. Most everyone in the audience, myself included, scratched their heads when he arrived. We should've taken it as a warning sign.

The first hour of WDIGMT actually is pretty good. The dynamics of the characters is ok and the plot, for what it is worth, handles itself well. After that, particularly once they leave "paradise" is when the wheels fall off the wagon. Everyone starts going crazy: Angela is obsessed with the idea Marcus is cheating, Troy is constantly angry with Sheila because he can't land a job, Terry suspects his wife is cheating, and Patricia and Gavin's divorce gets ugly. Really ugly. Patricia sending a gay stripper to Gavin's office ugly. Oh, and Mike gets cancer. Cause he has to have a story too.

There are several problems with the 2nd half of the movie. One is that Janet Jackson, God love her cause I know she tries, can't act. Period. Another is that the Angela character is too outrageous; when you're doing a character that is way over the top, you ride a fine line between outrageous and ludicrous. Since she usually plays the outrageous character in TP's movies, I figured she'd have that nailed down by now. I guess not. And the whole end, which is horribly abrupt, is an unmitigated mess. I won't give it away, but you will walk away like a guy that's been stood up on a date: very unsatisfied and disappointed.

The biggest problem however is that the plot becomes totally dependent on coincidence and happenstance to keep the alleged drama going forward. I've noticed this has been happening in a lot of TP's movies lately. If you've been paying attention to his plot construction in the last 4-5 movies, they are all basically the same. You can see all of the points of conflict that happen in WDIGMT coming way down the road. This is not a good sign. I don't know if TP hasn't been inspired lately or just doesn't have another kind of story in him, but I fear that if he doesn't change, people will be wise to his game and stop buying tickets to see his movies.

No matter what, Tyler Perry did prove one thing with this film: he really can do bad all by himself.