The Raven (2012)

For full disclosure, I have to state right off the top that I'm a fan of John Cusack. I also quite like Edgar Allen Poe, mostly for his writing, but also because we share the same middle name and our names have the same meter: Edgar Allen Poe - Eric Allen Cone.
I must also confess that while I knew a little of the life of Poe, I knew nothing of the end of his life. The opening narrative of the movie says that Poe was found delusional on a park bench in Baltimore and nothing was known of his last few days alive. I suspect that the events leading up to the start of the movie are based on what was really known about Poe. It just has the feel to it. This movie is a period piece and to my eye they went to a level of detail that would make even the BBC folks nod with approval. You don't put that much effort into realism just to mess with what is known about Poe. In furthering my confession I write this blog entry offline (like I do almost all of my entries) mostly because it's more convenient for me, but also because I like the irony. One thing that it does not afford me easy access to reference materials. So, while I have the collected works of Mr. Poe right here to peruse, I only have my knowledge from a lifetime ago from some class I took where I learned that Poe's wife died of consumption.
Disclosures and confessions behind us for now, let's get down to the nitty and the gritty. I like this movie. It was a historical thriller that did not go the route of the Sherlock Holmes movies with the over-the-top special effects and the slo-mo camera work revolving around the character because somebody thought the Matrix looked cool. I'm not saying it didn't look cool, 'cause it did, but at the same time is that really the best way to tell a Sherlock Holmes tale? Instead, the action in The Raven feels very believable and that's a good thing.
As far as the acting goes, John Cusack is the weak link of the movie. Seriously, this is not a complaint. I thought Mr. Cusack did a fine job, but the other actors, particularly Brendan Gleeson as Captain Hamilton, were superb. I'm not familiar with Luke Evans, but he does a good "intense". He also looks good with his shirt off. Just saying. I would watch other movies that followed the career of the character he plays in this movie, Inspector Fields, who is very much like Detective Murdoch from the Murdoch Mysteries television series and movies but grittier and more, um yeah I'm going to say it, intense. The last actor I wanted to mention is Sam Hazeldine, who pulls off a very good Hugo Weaving imitation at the end of the film. Maybe it's not an imitation, but I like the low-pitched voice and almost excruciatingly articulate pronunciations.
There is one thing about this movie that really chapped my hide. You're watching the resolution of the film, and if you're me, you're pretty satisfied with what you just watched. BAM! The credits start and it's this hardish rock song with some industrial elements and the graphics are abstract cgi of geometric ravens landing in piles as they die. What the fuck? This doesn't fit with the rest of the movie in either sound of look, and it doesn't fit with the second half of the credits. This really left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. So, watch the movie, skip the credits.

The Raven at IMDb

The Three Musketeers (2011)

I'm not sure that Alexander Dumas would recognize this version of France or his tale. The last time I watched a film based on this story it stored Keifer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen...did I make that up? It was like such a bad nightmare, barely passable American actors in frilly clothes and handling swords like they were fighting with sticks. I must ahve dreamt that, I'm sure.
I had made up my mind going into this version that I wasn't going to like it because it was going to try and be accurate, but be all in English which really bothers me for some reason - not that all the characters would speak English, but that the French would all speak English and the English would all speak English, and they would all have the same accent, and in the case of this movie, the Italians also speak English. I would then spend two hours finding little nitpicky things wrong with it and remind myself that American made movies about this period in European history are always crap because Hollywood doesn't understand how to do the period piece right.
That never happened though. Oh sure, all the nationalities of Europe speak English with the same accents in this film, but right from the beginning Athos is all Steampunk scuba diver guy, what a hundred, hundred fifty years before there would have been the steam power to hitch the punk up to? I know this movie played in theaters as a 3D film, and right from the get-go the action plays like that. What it really plays like is the Matrix - slow motion slides under a hail of spiked balls, using the chains that one is bound with to beat the enemies at hand. This is not your father's or grandfather's interpretation of the classic story.
Right at the beginning we meet Athos, so ably played by one of my favorite actors, Matthew MacFadyen. I loved him in Spooks, he was even okay in that version of Robin Hood with Russel Crowe (which was also surprisingly better than I thought it would be, but in a completely different way that this film). I even watched him in the abysmal Pillars of the Earth, which was a period piece and was very authentic, but had just a horrid and convoluted story.
And there kissing Athos is "Milady" played by Milla Jovovich. She has never let me down. Ok, I haven't seen that movie where she's on a honeymoon on Hawaii on some hike and there is a killer about, Dang, now I'm going to have to watch that, and pretty sure that will suck, but I am willing to put up with that to watch her. I don't think there is a better female action star out there, and I strongly encourage Kate Beckinsale, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Zhi, or Charlize Theron to come to my house and set me straight. I am the proud owner of all the Resident Evil movies, and I'm not afraid to say that I think UltraViolet is best non-traditional vampire movie. So there.
This Three Musketeers is not historical as much as it is whimsical, very visually stylized that I may look back on 20 years from now and make fun of. but honestly most of the films I do that with now I made fun of when they came out, or at least when I got to see them for the first time. Take Army of Darkness for example, brilliantly funny movie - Bruce Campbell at his absolute best - and yet I am willing to admit that Bridgette Fonda's hair-do has become a hair-don't in the last 25 years. I thought it was cute then, just like I thought the cute girls I went to high school with had cute hair, but now looking back at old yearbooks, I can see how silly their hair looked.
Lately, I've been kind of down on Orlando Bloom - you may recall that I compared his portrayal of Paris with his portrayal of Legolas, and there was very little to contrast. But, he totally rocks the bad-ass bad-boy who may be opposed to the heroes but does it with style.
The weak point for me was D'Artagnon. This is not the first thing I've seen Logan Lerman in and he does a fine job, it's just that he's too damn young. Not his fault, I blame the director. I just don't buy that a 16 or 17 year old kid is pretty much the best sword fighter in Europe. Sure, I'll buy airships and hidden vaults of Da Vinci's secrets, but this is too much.
One thing I always think about every time I watch a Three Musketeers movie, any Three Musketeers movie, is what cool names Dumas came up with: Athos, Porthos, Aramis and even D'Artagnon. I salute you M. Dumas and will strive to come up with better names for the characters I write about.

The Three Musketeers at IMDB