Go See The Trotsky

On Friday I went to see The Trotsky, a new Canadian film about a young man named Leon who's convinced he is the reincarnation of famed Bolshevik Leon Trotsky. Leon tries to emulate every aspect of the historical Trotsky's life, and the film depicts his efforts to found an empowered student union at his Montreal West high school. Starring Jay Baruchel, The Trotsky is in limited release right now and you should go see it because it is great and deserves your support. And how often can you say that about mainstream Canadian cinema?

The Trotsky isn't what I'd call deep or psychologically complex, but it is a lot of fun. This is a real "for the love of the game" type movie, expertly crafted entertainment that relishes in the joy of story-telling. It's a hilarious underdog tale that dives headfirst into its ridiculous premise and makes you root for the least likely candidate. The Trotsky features an exceedingly clever and tightly-written script and an outstanding cast including Saul Rubinek, Michael Murphy, and Colm Feore. And Jay Baruchel...

In talking about The Trotsky it's important that I mention how much I usually detest Baruchel. He's been in a lot of movies and television shows that I really enjoy (Undeclared, How To Train Your Dragon, etc.) but something about him just rubs me the wrong way. I'm not saying that he's a bad actor (though talk about one-note), merely acknowledging my personal bias against him. Because despite my prejudice I still managed to wholeheartedly enjoy The Trotsky, and not in spite of Baruchel but because of him.

The movie seems to be written with an awareness of how annoying Baruchel can be, and a major focus of the plot is how people who hate him come to appreciate and support his cause. It's not that he acts any differently than in previous roles, rather the film seems to be specifically designed to capture his personality and endear it to the audience. By the end of The Trotsky I too was cheering Baruchel on and enjoying his typical nerdy whining as Leon, and honestly I don't think there's any other actor who could have brought the quirky character to life. Baruchel carries the movie and in turn it carries him. This truly is the epitome of a breakout leading performance.

 Jay Baruchel: Surprisingly great in The Trotsky

To reiterate: Jay Baruchel = remarkably awesome; The Trotsky = outstanding; You = should go see the it.

How To Train Your Dragon 3D

I saw How To Train Your Dragon in 3D last night. I had been trying to make it out to the theatre for a few weeks now, and I had worried that I might miss its run and not get to see it in 3D. Thankfully the somewhat lackluster box-office performance of Kick Ass gave me a bit of extra time. A month into its release How To Train Your Dragon is sitting high with a 98% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, and so I was fairly confident that it would be worth the $15 3D ticket price. And for the most part it was.

The film is cute. It's by far the best animated feature that Dreamworks has ever produced and yet it still doesn't approach the level of quality of most Pixar releases. The script is sloppy at times and the voice acting could be better, but overall it's a very solid effort. I laughed, I felt a modicum of emotion during the "sad" parts, and I was pleased that I saw the movie. I doubt I'll be much interested in seeing it again though.

The biggest problem with How To Train Your Dragon is that its plot feels underdeveloped. It isn't so much that what happens seems odd as much as the progression from one event to the next doesn't flow adequately. There is often too little justification for the next occurrence, however logical, which forces the viewer to forgive the movie for not using its time effectively. Instead of showing the characters evolving, for example, How To Train Your Dragon spends more time focusing on spectacle. The story makes complete logical sense (relative to its fantasy) but everything that happens feels taken for granted. How To Train Your Dragon does very little to make you care about what's happening but assumes that you will because the archetypal characters are basically good and the dragons are cute. This results in a film that isn't bad but is a lot more superficial than I had been hoping for.

All that aside, the use of 3D in How To Train Your Dragon is absolutely incredible.

This film is one of the best examples of 3D visuals to-date. Not once does the effect call attention to itself, instead merely accentuating everything onscreen. As always it goes a long way in making the fantasy world come alive by giving it tangibility, but what's most impressive here is the visual fidelity. I conferred with my fellow viewers after the screening and we agreed: only once in the entire film is there an example of the "motion blur" effect that plagues so many 3D films. It's even more jarring than usual here and so it sticks out, highlighting the impressive quality of the 3D throughout. It's really just incredible.

Avatar may have had more spectacular visuals but they were generally a lot blurrier than those of How To Train Your Dragon.

I enjoyed How To Train Your Dragon. It's a fun adventure film that unfortunately doesn't have the emotional impact I was hoping for, but does have some of the most impressive 3D visuals I have ever seen. If you like animated films or dragons or have any desire to see it at all then I recommend you go now, while it's still in theatres in glorious 3D. After that it'll lose much of its appeal.