Rating: 0 to 5 stars
EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
SHAME
HAYWIRE
THE IRON LADY
IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY
CONTABAND
CARNAGE
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
WAR HORSE
WE BOUGHT A ZOO
THE ARTIST
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE GHOST PROTOCOL
SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS
YOUNG ADULT
THE GIRL WITH
NEW YEAR'S EVE
THE DESCENDANTS
HUGO
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS
THE MUPPETS
THE SKIN I LIVE IN
LIKE CRAZY
THE TWILIGHT SAGA:
BREAKING DAWN – PART I
J. EDGAR
IMMORTALS
TOWER HEIST
ANONYMOUS
TAKE SHELTER
MARGIN CALL
| CHRONICLE Rated PG-13 for intense action and violence, thematic material some language, sexual content and teen drinking. Sci-Fi/Action/Drama/Horror 84 minutes
4 stars |
Three teenagers find a glowing alien object one night, and somehow develop increasing powers from their contact with it. The reason this object is in the ground, why it is there, why it transfers powers to these particular teens is never explained, but it doesn’t need to be. The movie is about how these superpowers affect them. The three high school seniors are: Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan), his cousin Matt Garetty (Alex Russell), and Steve (Michael B. Jordan).
Andrew is a sullen, bullied kid with a dying mother and an abusive alcoholic father, Richard (Michael Kelly). Andrew hangs around with his cousin Matt who tolerates his behavior and tries to get him to socialize though Andrew resists. Matt doesn't pay too much attention because he is love sick and preoccupied with a pretty classmate. Steve is the popular guy who is everyone's friend. Andrew uses a camera everywhere he goes as a way to hide. The director Josh Trank uses this device, the hand-held camera footage, as a way of creating a reality for the audience to invest in.
When Andrew attends a party with Matt one night he gets roughed up by yet another bully. As he sits outside the party, Steve comes by looking for Matt. The three see a depression in the ground and discover the object. The early scenes where they are discovering how to lift and move items have them laughing and fooling around sharing the secret only with each other. The light-hearted atmosphere changes abruptly when Andrew’s out-of-control anger pushes him to go beyond minor use of the powers and causes an accident. Matt and Steve decide they need rules to use the superpowers and force Andrew to agree.
Writer Max Landis, with an additional story credit from Josh Trank, creates believable high school teens, especially one with serious problems leaving him unstable and dangerous. Could any bullied kid with so much abuse heaped on him resist retaliation? The pacing is effective as Andrew's darker urges emerge and he is essentially unstoppable.
The three actors draw in the audience with their performances, especially Dane DeHaan who thoroughly inhabits the disturbed Andrew. Alex Russell as the distracted Matt is an okay guy who tries to look out for his cousin, and Michael B. Jordan is engaging as the popular kid who everyone likes.
The stunts escalate with the teens superpowers, and this is where the movie doesn’t entirely work. They seem to be a step behind the best of what the audience has seen in other movies. Yet, the story is good enough to carry it to a respectable conclusion. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE WOMAN IN BLACK Rated PG-13 for thematic material and violence/ disturbing images. Drama/Horror/Thriller 96 minutes
3 stars |
This is an old-fashioned haunted house/ghost story that takes place in the late 1800s-early 1900s in England. A young lawyer, Arthur Kips (Daniel Radcliff), whose wife died in childbirth is left with a young son. Because he is having trouble adjusting to his loss his job is in jeopardy. His employer calls him in and tells him he has one last chance to save his job. He is being sent to a remote village to settle the estate of a widow.
When he arrives the townspeople are less than welcoming except for a wealthy local man named Daily (Ciarán Hinds) and his wife (Janet McTeer). Everyone else looks at him with suspicion. He finally secures a ride out to the crumbling mansion of the widow to look through all the papers. Arthur hears unusual noises and investigates, but comes upon objects and clues he doesn't understand yet. Of course, stranger things begin to happen, especially after he sees the Woman in Black. Eventually Arthur learns the story of the ghost and why she is so vengeful towards the townspeople.
There are leaps of logic in the screenplay by Jane Goldman that are difficult to ignore. These may have been handled differently in the 1983 book of the same name by Susan Hill, or the play made from the book. But in the movie why doesn't Arthur question the villagers' odd behavior until well past a time that he is deeply involved? Itdoesn'ts left to Daily to explain much of what happens. He has lost a child as have many of the townspeople.
Daniel Radcliff does a fine job anchoring the movie as Arthur. In flashback the audience understands his predicament and why he is brokendoesn-thearted. Empathy from the audience helps as he is put in harmdoesn'ts way. Ciarán Hinds is also effective as Daily, the man who befriends Arthur. Janet McTeer as Daily's wife has a few moments of bizarre channeling behavior. Director James Watkins makes the most of the sets, set design, and costumes which are spot on and add considerably to the atmosphere. Creaking floors, visions of the dead, candles that blow out for no reason; all of these devices are used and more that are familiar. The visual effects and stunts are handled well if not is outstandingly original.
Some in the audience were frightened through the whole movie, others groaned at various times. If you like suspenseful ghost stories with twists here and there you may find this English horror tale your cup of tea. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| BIG MIRACLE Rated PG for language. Drama/Romance 107 minutes
3½ stars |
It's an instinct of certain caretakers to want to come to the rescue of beings that need help. They can be human beings, or they can be animals that are helpless in certain situations. Big Miracle, based on a true story, about a family of three whales trapped in ice in Barrow, Alaska galvanized people across the United States in 1988. How all this happened is an uncommon, heart-warming general audience account with many people/sub-plots contributing to what would have normally been a non-story. The whales would have died quietly.
One thing you begin to understand is the power of the media in spreading news. An easy-going news reporter named Adam Carlson (John Krasinski) comes upon the trapped whales and sends the story along to his news division which is then picked up by national news organizations. His ex-girlfriend Rachel Kramer (Drew Barrymore), who does work for Greenpeace and is a local irritant to Alaskan politicians and businessmen, refuses to let the whales die. They did not make it to the open ocean as it turned colder sooner than expected and the water around them froze before they could escape. The two adult whales are becoming battered by trying to keep the hole open so they could breathe. Their young offspring is struggling even more.
The native people of the area who are whale hunters want to let the whales die and use them for badly needed food, but Rachel has other plans and gets television audiences, especially children, to sympathize with her position. This includes an oil executive named J. W. McGraw (Ted Danson), who has been on opposite sides from Rachel. The governor is "forced" to use the National Guard when President Reagan requests that an ice breaker be brought to the scene. Colonel Scott Boyer (Dermot Mulroney) is one of two helicopter pilots dragging the ice breaker.
In the meantime, Jill Jerard (Kristin Bell) is a reporter sent to Alaska to report on the story and Adam finally sees an opportunity to get promoted to the national news media. Some of the humor comes out of the visitors' naïve misunderstanding of the environment.
Screenwriters Jack Amiel and Michael Begler do a credible job adapting Thomas Rose's book Freeing the Whales with all the details/people/politics involved. Director Ken Kwapis does manage to convey the cold isolation and desolation of Alaska. The visual effects work as well.
All the characters in the movie are helping the whales for their own reasons, some of them are selfish, some unselfish, most begrudgingly, but the end result is a movie the whole family will appreciate. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| ALBERT NOBBS Rated R for some sexuality, brief nudity and language. Drama 113 minutes
4 stars |
Life in Ireland was harsh in the early 1900s. Jobs were hard to get and harder to hold on to; unemployment was high with widespread poverty. It is in this environment that writer George Moore introduced the character of Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close) in a short story. Yet, this is no simple chronicle of the time or uncomplicated cross-dressing tale even when the pace of the film is slow and deliberate. The character of Albert Nobbs, a woman whose real name we never learn, works as a man/waiter in various venues for thirty years. What would cause a woman do such a thing, and could she/he carry that off? When we first see him (masculine for clarity) he is working at the Morrison Hotel in Dublin.
Glenn Close’s transformation to Albert is nothing less than amazing. Though he is a rather strange, small man, Ms. Close is totally believable as the character. What is so compelling about the story is that even with the severe, constricted conditions he lives with day in and day out, the humanity of the character comes through. The wealthy class ruthlessly controls the working class so tightly there is little room for choice. One mistake could mean being out on the street. So Albert’s expression changes very little during the early course of the movie. When a house painter named Hubert Page (Janet McTeer) comes on the scene and discovers Albert’s secret, Albert is surprised to learn that Hubert has been hiding a gender switch secret too. This triggers something in Albert when he visits and finds Hubert part of a happy couple with another woman.
Since Albert has been saving money for years to buy a business and be on his own, he now dares dream of having a wife like Hubert. The perfect candidate turns out to be Helen (Mia Wasikowska), a maid at the hotel, except she is in love with a rogue named Joe (Aaron Johnson) who promises to take her to America. Of course, this complicates Albert’s plans, though Albert refuses to let go of the dream once it’s formed in his head. This time he will take a chance to break free and bring thirty years of dread to an end. Some of the most poignant moments come when Albert looks back on his tidy, but stifling life, built on fear of exposure.
Janet McTeer is excellent as Mr. Page. Her height as well as her mannerisms and swagger add to the sense of believability of a masculine character. When she and Albert dress as women to try it out, they both run free, but look awkward out of their normal man clothes. Brendan Gleeson, Mia Wasikowska, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and Pauline Collins are well cast and add a sense of inevitability to the story. Michael McDonough’s cinematography shows off the lush Irish setting, along with the editing of Steven Wiseberg, accompanied by the original music of Brian Byrne. Albert Nobbs is sensitively directed by Rodrigo García with a screenplay adapted by Ms. Close, John Banville, and contribution by Gabriella Prekop.
Being a man or woman is more than just the clothes one wears. It is in the mind and heart. Yet desperation can cause people to do strange things to survive. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| MAN ON A LEDGE
Rated PG-13 for violence
and brief strong language.
Crime/Thriller
102 minutes
2½ stars |
If you have a problem with heights some of the shots of Man on a Ledge may make you dizzy. The different angles from the 21st story of the Roosevelt Hotel are frightening as they look down on people and cars that look like miniatures. The man on the ledge, checked into the hotel as Mr. Walker, is actually an ex-cop and escaped convict named Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington). He has had a lobster and champagne meal and requests a negotiator named Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) who he bets will help him. She failed to help a jumper and is now ostracized by fellow cops, a fact which comes into play later.
The movie then flashes back to a month previous when Nick is in jail and his appeal is denied. His ex-partner Mike Ackerman (Anthony Mackie) tries to comfort him, but Nick is determined to get out or die trying. When his father dies, Nick has his chance and after a fight with his brother at the cemetery, manages to get away.
Back to the present, and this is where the trouble begins. While Nick is on the ledge, a heist is taking place. Many movies have incredible scenes of people breaking into vaults/safes, but the robbers here are not believable, even if they’ve been planning it for a year. You don’t wake up one day deciding to become a master burglar. Joey (Jamie Bell) and Angie (Genesis Rodriquez) spar as they make their way to the loot. The owner of the goods is a villain named David Englander (Ed Harris), who is not unlike others he has played before.
Meanwhile, Mercer must deal with other cops imposing on her scene like Jack Dougherty (Edward Burns), and Dante Marcus (Titus Welliver). Again, this strikes a discordant note. Mercer is supposed to be hung-over and sleepless because of her failure with the bridge jumper who was a cop yet she looks fresh and pretty throughout the movie. Every time Nick is threatened with being taken down he asks for more time and help from Mercer.
The movie moves along, but then comes another moment toward the end that is just too much to believe. The ending is anti-climatic and no one looks worse for the wear and tear after an exhausting day. Really?
Sam Worthington is a likeable actor who projects an earnest quality but his New York accent needs work because every once in a while his real Australian accent comes through. Jamie Bell does his part well enough but seems an odd pairing with the pretty/sexy Ms. Rodriguez. The movie held the audience’s attention throughout, so if you like action type movies you may appreciate Man on a Ledge, but you’ll definitely have to take a leap of faith with this one. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Rated PG-13 for emotional
thematic material, some
disturbing images, and
language.
Drama 129 minutes
3½ stars |
It’s been over ten years since the terrible events of September 11, 2001 in New York. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is about the consequences for one child when his father dies in the World Trade Center on that day. The actual event is handled with sensitivity. Yet, in the movie when a plane flies close overhead audience members may have the same reaction as I did. I held my breath, almost against my will, knowing what was coming. Gratefully, there is no footage of the planes actually hitting the buildings, only afterwards when smoke comes out of the side and rises into the sky. It’s enough to make the point.
Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) is told in the early scenes by his father Thomas (Tom Hanks) that he is special. Translation for the audience may be that Oskar has something similar to Asperger’s Syndrome, a high functioning form of autism because there is something about him. Oskar is bullied at school, spends much time alone, and is usually close to his father who creates “adventures” for the two of them. When Thomas dies, Oskar’s grief is all-consuming. Even a year later his mother Linda (Sandra Bullock) is unable to comfort him. Oskar keeps reminders of his father in a secret hiding place and at one point finds a key inside a vase. He becomes convinced that the key is part of a message that his father left for him. In his mind it is his way of remaining close.
As Oskar sets about trying to find the owner of the key, his only hint is the word “Black” that leads him to believe that it is named after someone with that name. He goes through the phone book and devises a specific system to contact everyone with that name that fits his criteria. He makes various forays to find these people, introduce himself, and ask them if they knew his father and what the key means. Most are exceptionally kind to him understanding what 9/11 has done.
There is a subplot concerning Oskar’s grandmother (Zoö Caldwell). She plays a big part of his life. At various times she has a person called the “Renter” (Max von Sydow) living in her home.
Based on the book by Jonathan Safran Foer, the well-written screenplay by Eric Roth takes a complicated subject and makes it understandable. Oscar-nominated Stephen Daldry’s sensitive direction lets us observe close-up the implications of Oskar’s unique way of living in the world, and the terrible loss of his father and guide. Thomas Horn does an outstanding job sustaining the character of Oskar as his fretting and obsessiveness does begin to wear on the viewer. Also excellent are Sandra Bullock as the distraught mother, Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright as a distracted couple, and Max von Sydow as The Renter, a character with no dialogue.
Some will be impatient with the subject matter, character of Oskar, and length of the movie. Yet, 9/11 is a part of our collective consciousness and every story that comes from it may help us learn something about grief, especially to have compassion for those who continue to struggle. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| RED TAILS
Rated PG-13 for some
sequences of war violence.
Action/Adventure/Drama
125 minutes
3 stars |
This movie about how the Tuskegee airmen who became heroes during World War II, we’re told, is based on true events. As African-American soldiers they face discrimination in numerous ways even in trying to fight for their country. It seems almost ridiculous now, but history has a way of showing ignorance for what it is.
Colonel A.J. Bullard (Terrence Howard) pleads the case with his superiors knowing his men are getting more and more frustrated as they languish in Italy spending their time escorting others around. Like all pilots, they are one of the elite branches of the military. They must be smart enough and brave enough to fly planes given the extreme dangers of war.
The story is mostly told through the air battles and the tight relationships of the men. Marty "Easy" Julian (Nate Parker) is the captain leading his men into the skies, and his friend and roommate Joe "Lightning" Little (David Oyelowo) is the hot shot flyer who won’t listen wanting to see more action. Easy drinks to calm his nerves, Lightning looks for comfort with a local Italian girl named Sofia (Daniela Ruah). Also in the company is the young-looking "Junior" Ray Gannon (Tristan Wilds), Samuel "Joker" George (Elijah Kelley), Declan "Winky" Hall (Leslie Odom Jr.), Leon "Neon" Edwards (Kevin Phillips), David "Deke" Watkins (Marcus T. Paulk), Andrew "Smoky" Salem (Ne-Yo) among others, and mechanic Antwan "Coffee" Coleman (Andre Royo). Aside from Colonel Bullard, Major Emanuelle Stance (Cuba Gooding Jr.), helps keep the high spirited men in check.
But it is only after suffering repeated losses that Major General Luntz (Gerald McRaney) gives them a chance to escort the "heavy" bombers. They prove more than up to the mission finally winning the respect for their skill and bravery. Of course, with dangerous missions come losses.
It's difficult to tell whether it's the screenplay by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder, or the direction of Anthony Hemmingway, but the pacing falters. While the aerial battles/stunts are well-done and exciting, giving a sense of what it may have felt like to be in the sky with that many planes, the low-key, sometimes stiff performances and dialogue tend to slow down the story. Veterans Cuba Gooding, Jr., and especially Terrance Howard convey the dignity of the officers they play. David Oyelowo brings the energy up any time he is on screen, and Nate Parker’s tortured Easy also commands attention.
Though it lacks as much impact as it should have, Red Tails is a moving true story and is a one worth telling and knowing. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| SHAME
Rated NC-17 for some
explicit sexual content.
Drama
99 minutes
2½ stars |
Brandon is a sex addict who acts, in various ways, upon his obsession. He is lonely, unhappy, destructive, and has a puzzlingly dysfunctional relationship with his sister. There’s also a goodly amount of nudity and the portrayal of assorted provocative situations. None of this, if one is aware in advance of the nature of the film, is in itself, individually or in combination, necessarily offensive. If, and this is key, there is a point to be made. Unfortunately, in this case, the lack of insight is glaring.
Brandon (Michael Fassbender, suitably robotic) is a successful New York businessman in his thirties governed by an all-consuming sexual mania. At the start Brandon is seen riding on a subway, prowling the car with his eyes for a willing partner, and finding a flirtatious married woman who indicates interest, yet slips away. The implication is that though Brandon appears to be a cool, methodical pursuer, he is in fact enthralled and ruled by his addiction. In effect he is being taken for a ride, making stops at porn sites, self-satisfaction in the office men’s room, prostitutes, one-night stands, threesomes. His life may be seedy but he’s comfortable with it as evidenced by his casual nakedness early in the film. As he lurches about, a woman’s voice is heard on his answering machine nagging and begging him to contact her until he comes home one day to find a naked woman in his shower. It’s not a stalker. It’s his sister, Sissy.
Another damaged soul, Sissy (Carey Mulligan, scarily vulnerable) is a suicidal club singer. The exact background and nature of the sibling’s relationship is unclear. They seem to have lived in Ireland and then emigrated and spent most of their youth in New Jersey. At one point, Sissy states, “We’re not bad, we just come from a bad place,” and given the supportive, needy, codependent, and at times incestuous nature of their relationship, it’s evident she isn’t speaking geographically. But what exactly happened then or since is left unclear. Mulligan (who also bares all) is readily available herself (perhaps a family trait) and casually beds down, to Brandon’s disgust, with his married boss David (James Badge Dale, perfectly sleazy) but she does get a long, extended solo of New York, New York for no good reason except it offers the one and only time that Brandon shows outright emotion.
Interestingly, after her reappearance in his life, Brandon starts to go downhill. A date with a co-worker Marianne (Nicole Beharie) ends in bed but he cannot perform, an unwelcome surprise, propelling him to careen from encounter to encounter until he resorts to, for him, the extreme of a same sex encounter. In the end, Brandon is none the wiser. Same for the viewer.
Given that director Steve McQueen co-wrote the script with Abi Morgan, there is not much hope of his infusing depth into the film. What he does add is an overall tone of the bleak and barren amid the brightly lit world of affluent Manhattan which is vividly captured in the cinematography of Sean Bobbitt. As the old Peggy Lee song asked, “Is that all there is?”
Shame – Much show and little substance. Review by Charles Zio
| HAYWIRE
Rated R for violence.
Action/Thriller
105 minutes
3 stars |
There are some women you don’t mess with. Mallory, played by Gina Carano, a former Marine, paid government contract strong-arm, and rogue agent is one of them. Ms. Carano herself is a tough girl having competed in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), and other contests. She is tall, curvy and athletic unlike wispy thin heroines we are supposed to believe can take on the guys. Here, it’s almost believable as she does her own stunts and fights with the big boys. In fact, it seems that is what takes up most of the time in this movie. It might have been better spent on a sturdier story. Though they do make sure she has a kissing scene, and is dressed in makeup and a pretty black dress for another so we see she can be attractive when need be.
Ms. Carano is undoubtedly the star of the movie even with the likes of actors such as Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum, and Michael Fassbender. Steven Soderbergh directs this stellar cast. Why so much fire power surrounding her? Someone must believe she has “it” and wants her to have plenty of support. And, of course, what actor doesn’t want to work with director Soderbergh?
The main problem here is that the story is rather thin. We’ve seen it all before, and even prior to the movie, the movie trailer gives away the premise. The story isn’t linear as it starts when Mallory drives up to a diner waiting inside to meet someone else but Aaron (Channing Tatum) shows up instead. Mallory worked with him as part of a team when they rescued a journalist. A local named Scott (Michael Angarano) tries to help her out of a bad situation and they drive off in his car pursued by police and others.
In flashback we learn she wants out of the grind of these jobs, but is drawn back in one more time by her boss Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) when he gets pressure from Coblenz (Michael Douglas) who specifically requests her or he won’t pay for the services.
Mallory relents when she is told the assignment is a “piece of cake” without much hazard. She merely shows up with a partner named Paul (Michael Fassbender) who is supposed to be her husband, at a party, takes care of business and is out. It doesn’t work out that way, and Mallory is on the run not knowing who to trust, except her father (Bill Paxton).
Mr. Soderbergh knows how to direct/photograph the action sequences and the actors add their appeal to the overall story. The usual tension-building music is dispensed with in favor of a more percussive underscore to create the apprehensive atmosphere. Yet it all seems so high-powered for the story of a girl who won’t be ignored. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE IRON LADY
Rated PG-13 for some
violent images and
brief nudity.
Drama/Biography
105 minutes
3½ stars |
All the reasons to see this film can be summed up in two words – Meryl Streep. Margaret Thatcher is a historic figure and a controversial one whose legacy has yet to be clearly decided, if it ever is. Not so, Meryl. There is no doubt she is one of the greats, a fact she proves yet again as Thatcher.
The bulk of Streep’s performance is as the elderly, mentally challenged Margaret Thatcher. Now alone and mostly forgotten, Thatcher lives in memories and reveries. Her constant companion is her late husband Denis (Jim Broadbent, spot on as always) who cajoles, scolds, and offers companionship to the secluded, lonely widow as she travels back in time as she reflects on her life.
Young Margaret (played pitch perfect by Alexandra Roach) is the adoring daughter of a small grocer who is enraptured by her father’s political bent and is determined to make something of herself, a first and important step being her acceptance to Oxford. Upon graduation she pursues her political interests with the Conservative Party where her opinions and self-confidence are viewed with paternal tolerance by the male elders of the party. There is, however, one who is charmed by her spunk, namely Denis Thatcher (Harry Lloyd, nicely playing an enchanted young man) who proposes after acknowledging that Margaret has greater ambitions, after her first loss for office.
Now a mother of twins, Margaret finally wins a seat in Parliament and comes face to face, literally, with the fact that she is entering a true boys club. Skip ahead, the smart, able, and still opinionated Thatcher has become Secretary of Education. Still marginalized, she determines to run for head of the party to shake up the establishment. Her advisors counsel her to aim higher and under their tutelage (including voice lessons and cosmetic alterations) she, indeed, becomes Prime Minister.
In that position, Margaret is a warrior against what she sees as the factors leading to British decline, primarily unions and welfare, and in fact when she goes to war with Argentina over their invasion of the Falkland Islands. Over time, Thatcher becomes ever more intolerant of disagreement, while claiming she wants to hear dissent, while pursuing policies that it appears are successful and create violent dissent at the same time. Eventually, her cabinet and then the party abandon her, a bitter pill for her to swallow.
Writer Abi Morgan attempts to present a balanced portrait of Thatcher by presenting both sides of the issues she faced. It’s a necessary effort as the objective facts of Thatcher’s term (the longest by a Prime Minister in the 20th century) are yet to be definitively settled by the British themselves. As for Americans, we lack the political background although the issues she faced do seem to resonate with the current political climate.
But then, the politics are secondary to the enjoyment of this film. It is Meryl Streep’s performance which commands attention. In every way, it is superb. Director Phyllida Lloyd does a nice job and even if she dwells a bit too long on the fading Thatcher, there’s no denying that Streep merits the attention by being consistently engrossing.
The Iron Lady – Another peak for The Great Lady – Meryl Streep. See it for her. Review by Charles Zio
| IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY
Rated R for war violence
and atrocities including
rape, sexuality, nudity
and language.
Drama/Romance/War
127 minutes
3½ stars |
This film about the 1990s Bosnian War is a noble effort by first time writer/director Angelina Jolie. Yet, after almost a decade of war that Americans have had to deal with, it feels overwhelming at times. It is a long movie that has a complex plot, with many difficult scenes, though the sub-titles are easy to read and not intrusive.
It begins well enough with a young Bosnian woman named Ajla (Zana Marjanovic) looking forward to going to a bar/nightclub to meet a Serbian man named Danijel (Goran Kostic). She sees him and we notice he is wearing the uniform of a policeman. There is little dialogue as they smile, flirt, and dance with each other. As the band starts to play a slow romantic song, they are clearly on their way to falling in love. Yet, there is a moment that changes everything that follows.
Fast forward to Ajla being herded with other women onto a bus and taken to a military post. When they arrive they become servants to the soldiers, cooking, cleaning, and continuously raped. Danijel, still taken with Ajla, tries to shield her from the worst, but can only do so much. These are not the only atrocities that the audience witnesses. The point of view is what happens as the Serbs capture the Bosnians, take over their land, and worse. This may offend some, yet Ms. Jolie does try to present different perspectives during the course of the movie. Danijel especially is conflicted by what he is expected to do.
The story progresses over several years and both Ajla and Danijel are pushed to their limits under the strain of war. There are few moments of relief. Ajila had been a painter before the war and even had several paintings in a museum. This plays prominently in the storyline. She has a sister who suffers a cruel situation. Danijel gets pressure from his father Nebojsa (Rade Serbedzija, the well-known actor), his militant military superior, to stop protecting Ajla.
Both Zana Marjanovic and Goran Kostic convey the romantic tenderness of new love, although the word “love” is never spoken. This relationship is not just sex between them, though there is plenty of that with attending nudity that is realistic and natural. Mr. Kostic, maybe because he is a soldier and has more action, shows more of a transformation during the course of the film. Ms. Marjanovic looks much the same as she does in the beginning despite the character's physical and mental abuse.
One of the saddest aspects indicated in the movie is the way the ethnically diverse population lived side-by-side, going to school together, even marrying and able to live peacefully for years, until the war. Yet, the movie goes on too long trying to show too much by being more literal than necessary. The tragic end is almost expected and that takes away some of the power. Still, Ms. Jolie has made a valiant, sobering attempt to explain the unexplainable. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| CONTRABAND
Rated R for violence,
pervasive language
and brief drug use.
Action/Crime/Drama
110 minutes
3½ stars |
Protecting family is a powerful incentive, powerful enough to bring a former criminal, Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg), back into the international smuggling business. His wife Kate (Kate Beckinsale) has a younger brother named Andy (Caleb Landry Jones) who messes up a drug deal and owes big money to a volatile dealer named Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi). How to fix the mess? Chris has to get on a ship to Panama and bring back counterfeit bills to pay off the debt.
This action/thriller is not without some clichés and hard-to-believe moments, but it is tense and entertaining. It’s also violent, as it would be among the criminal element. When Chris leaves, he asks his best friend Sebastian Abney (Ben Foster) to take care of his wife and young sons. Sebastian has a legitimate business like Chris’ security company. But of course, it’s more complicated than that as he worries about the home front.
The story picks up considerably once Chris gets on the ship where the hostile Captain Camp rightfully doesn’t trust him, obviously because of past experience. Several of the crew members aid Chris through various means, including sabotage, causing delays and other problems so they can complete the deal. They have to get the bills and get the contraband back on the ship during a small window of time. The cargo on these ships is large, but seemingly well monitored. Yet criminals find clever ways to get through it all.
Mark Wahlberg anchors the cast with a steady performance and is convincing as a reformed family man in love with his wife. Kate Beckinsale manages the pretty but tough wife with surprising conviction. Giovanni Ribisi plays what has become for him a familiar character, namely a violent, disturbed maniac. Then there is Ben Foster, adding at least some nuance as the best friend. J.K. Simmons is amusing to watch as the irritable captain. Caleb Landry Jones as the naïve brother-in-law, and Lucas Haas as a ship mate also add to the mix.
The technical elements work with sets that are appropriately gritty, the original music by Clinton Shorter, editing by Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir, cinematography by Barry Ackroyd solid. As are the special effects and stunts. The movie delivers what it says, no more, no less. Isn’t that what deals are all about? Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| CARNAGE
Rated R for language.
Comedy/Drama
79 minutes
3 stars |
The meeting of two unacquainted married couples, brought together by a prior fight between their sons, is described (more than once) by one of them as the “worst day of my life.” True for all, and it isn’t much fun for the viewer either. It’s no secret, and this is an example, that some plays do not translate to film (even Tony winners).
Opening on a bright, clear day in Brooklyn Bridge Park, in the near distance a group of boys is visible. A scuffle breaks out and a boy with a stick (we learn his name is Zachary) strikes another (Ethan) around whom all the others gather. Since we cannot hear their conversation, we only know the parents version of the event. But it doesn’t matter since the fight is merely a pretext to get the mismatched couples (jointly and separately) in the same room for a day of truth telling, confrontation, and revelation.
The Cowen’s, Alan (Christoph Walz) and Nancy (Kate Winslet), are the parents of the stick wielder. He is a high-powered lawyer continually on his cell phone (presently dealing with a pharmaceutical case), cold and calculating with a low opinion of his son, and a cynical worldview. She works in finance, is tightly wound, and impatient and resentful of her husband’s career dedication and absence as a husband and father.
The Longstreets, Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly), whose son has been hurt in the park altercation (he lost two teeth) are doing their best to be civilized. At least, Penelope is, being much given to cultural values, moral absolutes, and worthy causes (she is writing a book on the horrors of Darfur) while Michael is basically a blue collar guy made good.
Both couples are residents of a trendy, affluent section of Brooklyn. The Cowen’s financial position is indicated by their expensive clothing and aloof (Alan) or forebearing (Nancy) attitudes. Michael (a self-made success) and Penelope (a liberal part time writer) manifest their financial wherewithal in their smartly and tastefully art appointed large, river view apartment.
From the start, Penelope and Alan are not fans of one another, while Nancy and, especially, Michael are trying to steer their meeting toward conciliation and resolution. In fact, Alan and Nancy make several efforts to leave (getting as far as the elevator in the hallway) before being drawn back into the Longstreet’s living room. Matters, of course, go from bad to worse. Both couples are unhappily married. The men bond. The women share. Alliances and sympathies form and shift (in various combinations) as the masks of civility fall to reveal that deep down these are not admirable or nice or likable people.
Director Roman Polanski does what he can, but the script by original playwright Yasmina Reza and Polanski himself, is too static and stage bound. Though as God of Carnage it may have won the 2009 Tony for best play, a few shots in the park/building hallway/kitchen/bathroom/and a walk or two through the labyrinth apartment cannot offset that almost the entire film is focused on four people (talking heads) circling a living room revealing their less than admirable natures. By the way, production designer Dean Tavoularis does a great job on the apartment, every touch is exactly right. The shame here is that the acting is of the highest quality, certainly award worthy, every single one (Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Walz, John C. Reilly). If only the material had been equally worthy.
Carnage – Unpleasant people, skillfully acted, enviable apartment. Review by Charles Zio
| TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
Adaptation/Thriller
Rated: R (for violence, some
sexuality/nudity & language.)
130 minutes
4 stars |
This spy thriller looks back at the 1970s cold war. That’s when it was clear that the Russians were the enemy. Spying without the internet and advanced communication devices and techniques seems almost quaint now, yet the paranoia of that time is captured in this tense and suspenseful movie. Adapted from the dense novel of the same name by John Le Carré, the movie is challenging to follow. Every scene is important even if it does seem to meander in the moment. The pacing is deliberately slow, but eventually it pays off.
Control (John Hurt), head of British Intelligence, is forced to resign and so is his protégé, agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman). It is because of an operation in Hungary that goes wrong when agent Jim Prideaux is shot as he’s waiting to meet his contact. But then Smiley is asked to come back secretly and investigate the allegation that there is a double agent, or mole, in the agency. He hand picks several men to work with him, among them Peter Guilliam (Benedict Cumberbatch) who he sends on several assignments throughout the movie that highly increase the tension quotient.
In the meantime, he investigates his former colleagues: Percy Alleline (Toby Jones) who is Tinker, Bill Haydon (Colin Firth) who is Tailor, Roy Bland (Ciarán Hinds) who is Soldier, and Toby Esterhase (David Dencik), who is not necessarily the mole. These titles were given to the agents by Control before he was able to figure it out. Then there is a rogue agent named Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) who is involved in a subplot that is woven into the story.
The setting is dreary. It seems to be permanently overcast. This is done purposely, of course. Smiley too, with his ironic name, is a plain, boring sort of bureaucrat. His one passion seems to be his wife, whose face we never see, and the only one in an enticing red dress at a previous company Christmas party. The movie comes back to the party several times in revealing flashbacks. Women don’t have major roles. The men dress in suits and raincoats, and rarely raise their voices. It is all so understated English, stiff upper lip and all that, but agents are taught to be stoic or it could threaten their lives and those of others. They must constantly be on guard and tightly wound so as not to give anything away, and emotions just get in the way, yet...
The cast is superb starting with Gary Oldman who you many remember for his more flashy roles. The acting here is of the “less is more” variety by experienced actors who can convey so much with just an expression or a few gestures. Colin Firth, the Oscar winner from last year, is quite familiar with this technique and uses it to his best advantage. Also impressive are Tom Hardy, who more than holds his own with more experienced colleagues, and Mark Strong in one of the more challenging roles. We don’t see as much of Ciarán Hinds, but he is good as well. Benedict Cumberbatch, who I first noticed in 2006’s Amazing Grace , a good movie that didn’t get much attention, has an enviable acting range.
Director Tomas Alfredson and writers Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan deliver a taut, gripping movie. You need patience, but if you stay with it you will be rewarded. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| WAR HORSE
Rated PG-13 for intense
sequences of war violence.
Drama/War
146 minutes
4 stars |
Director Steven Spielberg has an unmistakable style and feel to his movies, especially those of an epic nature like War Horse. Though he has made or produced a number of World War II films, this is his first project about World War I. Certainly there are many more movies about World War II which some historians/people feel is a more heroic war, if there is such a thing. Yet, the events and consequences of the first world war directly affected the lead up to the second one. The Best Picture winner of 1930 “All Quiet on the Western Front,” about World War I is probably the most well-known serious look at the futility of this war and was adapted from a book, like this movie, from the perspective of a young German soldier. It is reportedly being remade this year.
War Horse is a 1982 children’s book by Michael Morpurgo, then turned into an award-winning play by Nick Stafford. This is right up Mr. Spielberg’s alley since he has an affinity for young people’s stories, yet this movie is not for young children and though promoted as “family-friendly” it is rated PG-13. Parents can judge for themselves the readiness of their young teens for some of the intense war scenes.
The early part of the movie focuses on the Narracott family. Ted (Peter Mullan) the father is an alcoholic, impulsive and proud. He buys a horse he can’t afford to show up his landlord. When he comes home with the beautiful animal his hard working wife Rose (Emily Watson) is furious because they won’t have enough money to pay the rent on their small rock-filled farm. Yet their son Albert (Jeremy Irvine) loves the exceptional horse he names Joey. As the tough times continue for the family, World War I breaks out. Ted has no choice but to sell Joey to the army, but kind Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) promises Albert he will take care of the animal.
Joey proves to be a smart, brave horse who passes through a number of hands, both armies, and numerous adventures during the course of the war. Through these scenes the audience gets to experience the war close up. Albert joins the army when he is old enough and is sent to the front.
Mr. Spielberg’s movies, including this one, have a certain sentimentality, but because of the subject matter, this one also includes some disturbing scenes of war and death. Yet, it’s not bloody or gory. The scenes of the trenches, where soldiers are literally trapped in a small space with each other, are particularly compelling in that the audience understands what it must have felt like to have no place to go when bombs go off around and over you.
The cinematography by Janusz Kaminski is well done as is the music by John Williams, film editing by Michael Kahn, production design by Rick Carter, art and costume design, visual effects and stunts. The horse trainers did a remarkable job and the horses used in the movie are well-trained and used to great advantage, especially in evoking the bond between people and animals. Overall there are fine performances in the movie including the supporting cast although American audiences may not be familiar with some of the actors, and adding work with the horses must have been challenging for them.
War Horse is about love and loss, and the horror of war, and being put in circumstances beyond one’s control, yet ultimately it is a positive story. Though put through severe circumstances, somehow, some way, damaged people and beings manage to survive. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| WE BOUGHT A ZOO
Rated PG for language
and some thematic elements.
Comedy/Drama/Family
124 minutes
3½ stars |
Buying a zoo is a childhood fantasy. After all, you get to see, and feed, and be with the animals anytime you want. In this movie, even though there are a few unsettled moments, you are never in doubt that the Mee family will be fine after what seems a hasty decision is made. The major source of tension, aside from a few nervous scenes about getting the zoo ready for an inspection, is the relationship between Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon), and his fourteen year old son Dylan (Colin Ford). While this is touching because of the cause, the wife/mother’s death from cancer, it distracts the attention of the audience. As times it may be too intense for the youngest sensitive viewers.
When the movie opens, the family is still mourning her death six months later. Benjamin does his best to hold himself together, but understandably struggles with the loss. Dylan becomes rebellious and loses himself in his drawings, finally getting expelled from school. Despite a few tearful moments the well-adjusted member of the family seems to be Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones), the young daughter.
In an effort to get away from the town where there are so many reminders of his wife, Benjamin decides to sell his house and buy another. This is against the advice of his older brother Duncan (Thomas Haden Church adding a much-needed light touch) who is not one to talk since he is divorced and broke. Benjamin comes across the isolated house he just must have and then finds out that a zoo comes with it. Not only that, but there is a staff who maintain the zoo. Much needed money and repairs are what will bring the zoo back to life, but can the Mee family do it? I think you can guess the outcome.
Mildly interesting situations, and nice photography of the animals is pleasant, and the kids will probably like that part of the movie. The animals are well-trained, yet I would have liked to see more about their daily routine and maintaining them.
Scarlett Johansson is feisty as the head zookeeper. Elle Fanning conveys innocence and sweetness as the girl who tries to help Dylan overcome his pain. The supporting cast is helpful too: Angus Macfadyen as Peter MacCready, John Michael Higgins as Walter Ferris. Yet the movie really holds together because of Matt Damon who continues to give us different looks in his acting.
We bought a Zoo is a pleasant movie. You won’t be bowled over, but it is something for a family to see together. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE ARTIST
PG-13 for a disturbing
image and a crude gesture.
Romance/Comedy/Drama
100 minutes
4½ stars |
What’s old is new again when re-imagined by creative filmmakers. Writer/director Michel Hazanavicius gives the audience a fresh look at silent movies. You realize just how visual the medium is when there isn’t any dialogue, but what may be as important is the use of black and white photography by cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman. What you notice first about the cinematography is that it highlights the lines, shapes, and shadows that allow you to focus more clearly on important images. This may be why it seems more romantic. The actor’s faces seem more expressive because there are less competing distractions fighting for your attention. “Silent” movie is a relative term. Another benefit is that you notice the ideal original music by Ludovic Bource which constantly underscores the action. When the director wants to emphasize something, sound of any kind is stopped altogether.
In Hollywood of 1927 silent movie actor George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a superstar. Audiences love him and it seems as though the good times will never end. Aspiring actress Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) accidentally bumps into him and a photo of them is all over the newspapers. George helps Peppy get her start in movies and the two have a touching moment when they are shooting a scene. She is an extra you can see the sparks developing between them as they repeat their action.
Mr. Valentin, looking like a matinee idol of that era, and Ms. Bejo have wonderfully animated faces, exactly what is called for in silent films. Sometimes there is dialogue on the screen shown after they talk, but not always, so it doesn’t hamper down the action. The story itself is part homage to Hollywood history and development, and part to those actors who could not make the leap from silent movies to the “talkies.” It will feel familiar: the superstar falters when his popularity wanes, only to be overtaken by the talented star he helped create. In that sense, it is a poignant story of loss.
As George tries to hold onto his downward spiraling career the second half of the movie at times slows down, although not fatally, but there are too many scenes when his fall into oblivion is obvious.
John Goodman is stereotypical studio executive Al Zimmer in a fun take off on those who only worry about the bottom line. Also effective is James Cromwell as George’s loyal driver Clifton. His dog Jack played by several cute Jack Russell terriers, sticks by him as well. Supporting actors are well-chosen as they all seem to fit into the limited scenario of early Hollywood filmmaking.
The Artist is not only for movie buffs. It is for those who love movies, and a touching story with mesmerizing images and only a few choice words. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
OF TINTIN |
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
Rated PG for adventure
action violence, some
drunkenness and brief smoking.
Animation/Action/Adventure
107 minutes
4 stars |
It’s fantasy, it’s animation, and it’s directed by Steven Spielberg. That tells you right there that kids and/or kids at heart are going to enjoy it more than others. Or maybe I’m just a good audience, but I think this PG rated movie is different and fun. The cartoon violence is not any worse than many cartoons on television, but parents will have to judge for themselves what is best for their children.
Tintin is not one widely known here having been created by Hergé, a Belgian who developed the comic book character as a teenage reporter with a distinct flip in his hair, in the late 1920s. That's why there is a particular feel and sensibility to it. In those days boys were the ones who had adventures, so without changing the spirit of Hergé’s work there’s not going to be many antics for girls to participate in, in this movie. The story here begins when Tintin is at a market and buys a model ship and is almost immediately approached by others who want to buy it. When he declines and takes it home his faithful fox terrier named Snowy breaks it and a secret message falls out but rolls under a dresser. When Tintin’s apartment is robbed, the race begins to discover why the ship, and that message, are so important.
The pace does begin to seem a bit frantic as it rushes toward the end in the second half. After all, there are pirates, ships, an airplane, a desert, camels, and a broken dam, among other things that provide for last minute rescue situations that Mr. Spielberg is especially fond of presenting to thrill the audience.
The performance capture animation uses human actors providing action and then that information is taken to create digital computer animations of the characters. This was a hit with the audience and several people around me were commenting on how real it seemed. And yes, even the hairs on the characters’ heads move separately in the breeze. Nice touch. As usual, the 3D didn’t seem to be really necessary, but it didn’t detract from the animation either.
Jamie Bell voices Tintin well, sounding like the teenager he is supposed to be. Among others who contribute their voice talent: Daniel Craig as Ivanovich Sakharine and Red Rackham, Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock and Sir Francis Haddock, and Simon Pegg as Inspector Thompson.
The Adventures of Tintin provides plenty of animated action and adventure if that is what you are looking for in a movie. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
- GHOST PROTOCOL |
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE GHOST PROTOCOL
Rated PG-13 for sequences
of intense action and violence.
Action/Adventure/Thriller
133 minutes
4½ stars |
Go figure. It’s a pleasant surprise when a movie exceeds your expectations. That’s exactly what happened with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Since it’s the fourth movie in the series based on an old television spy show, “tired” was more a word that might have matched the movie. Yet, it turns out to be fast-paced with excellent stunts/CGI, and edge-of-your-seat escape situations.
Tom Cruise is back as agent Ethan Hunt and looking no worse for the aging process. He works for the IMF, which is the fictional and secretive Impossible Mission Force used by the United States government for select espionage missions. When the movie opens Ethan is in a Russian prison. While he is there a terrorist bombing destroys the Kremlin. He escapes only to find out that some think the United States instigated the bombing. Although the IMF knows they are operating to find the sources of the bombing, it disavows the four-person team headed by Ethan calling instead for the “Ghost Protocol.”
Several sequences are especially good. One you may have seen in previews is where Ethan is outside the tallest building in Dubai, United Arab Emirates called the Burj Khalifa tower. The other is a sandstorm. In both cases your heart will race. Seeing the movie on the very large IMAX screen is helpful, too. When Ethan is dangling high on that tower you can almost feel the wind.
Ethan’s team is an interesting assortment of personalities. Jeremy Renner plays Brandt, who ends up with the team by default when he is ambushed with Ethan. Simon Pegg plays Benji the technical expert and comic relief who is more competent than he seems. Paula Patton does a nice job with Jane, as a beauty with brains. The leading actors, and including the supporting actors, are well-cast. (An interesting note is that Michael Nyqvist who is the original journalist from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is in this film as a totally different character.) The stunt work is top notch, and production and set design is impressive.
Director Brad Bird, whose previous work has been in acclaimed animated movies, pulls out a winner here, too. The screenplay by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec (with a nod to writer Bruce Geller of the original television series) is sharp and intelligent with some humorous touches. The exotic locations like Dubai, Moscow, and Mumbai give the movie an international feel.
This is a movie that gives you value for your ticket price. You won’t be disappointed. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
A GAME OF SHADOWS |
SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS Rated R for brutal violent content including rape and torture, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, and language. Drama/Thriller 158 Minutes
3½ stars |
For those who liked the first new Sherlock Holmes movie, here comes more of the same plus the villain Moriarty (Jared Harris). Although Robert Downey, Jr., and Jude Law as Dr. Watson look like they are having a swell time some folks don’t like the fact that Guy Ritchie and company are messing with the traditional character. Well, I say live and let live. The actors are what make the movie watchable because it certainly isn't the plot that has the word "shadows" in it, which is the first big tip off.
The storyline doesn’t make much sense, but then this is not about logic. It seems as though the screenwriters Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney have strung together a loose bunch of scenes and leave the rest to the director. Mr. Ritchie has always been about style over substance. In fact, it almost seems the plot is made to fit around the action.
What hasn’t changed is Sherlock Holmes' native intelligence. Only here there is a large element of, what to call it, fantasy/wackiness? In one scene he is dressed as a woman for little apparent reason since it is a failure as a disguise.
Rachel McAdams, from the first movie, disappears quickly as others are introduced. Stephen Fry shows up to play Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s brother. He’s another odd, maddening character. Is it any wonder Dr. Watson longs for the safety of marriage with Mary (Kelly Reilly), a somewhat prim woman in the first movie. One of the funnier scenes, though, happens to be Watson showing up at his wedding in a stupor after another crazy night with Holmes.
Holmes encounters a gypsy fortune teller named Sim, none other than Noomi Rapace from the Swedish film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, who then becomes part of Holmes’ entourage. She’s supposed to be helping him find the killer of a prince? Back to Moriarty who plays a cat and mouse game with Holmes. He desires to kill Holmes, but seems to like having him around to show him up. Holmes is a bit less flip when in scenes with Moriarty who is supposed to match his intelligence. Holmes gets so roughed up, in reality, he would have multiple broken bones, or not even survive, but then there would be no movie.
The movie’s color palette of muted browns, grays, and reds, and costumes match the time period. The cinematography by Philippe Rousselot includes techniques like slow motion, and also like stop-motion where the actors come to a complete stop and objects may be in mid-air around them. If you consider things like this gimmicky, it will annoy you. But this frothy Sherlock Holmes confection, while lacking substance is still fun for some. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| YOUNG ADULT
Rated R for language
and some sexual content.
Comedy/Drama
94 minutes
2½ stars |
If courage (Charlize Theron willingly unattractive) and guts (demolishing clichés about high school, old romances, small town joys, among others) were enough, Young Adult would be a winner. But it’s too hard a slog when the journey of discovery concerns a spoiled, selfish, indulgent, and thoroughly unlikable protagonist for whom it’s virtually impossible to feel any sympathy. It’s a valiant effort but, in terms of enjoyment, an unsuccessful one.
Charlize Theron, to her credit, undertakes the task of appearing less than beautiful, physically and especially emotionally, as Marvis Gary, the ghostwriter of a series of young adult novels that is winding down. An escapee from small town Minnesota (Mercury) she resides in slovenly luxury (a high rise balcony apartment in Minneapolis) with no real personal interaction (she’s a divorcee) aside from her small pet dog. Receiving a picture of her old high school boyfriend’s newborn daughter, Mavis, despite being bright and accomplished, decides that therein is the solution to the malaise of her 30s – a trip home and reconnection (in fact, repossession and a whisking away) of her old beau. Bag packed, dog in carrying case, old tape in the car deck and away she goes.
Once back in town she contacts the guy in question, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson, ever on the mark), who agrees to meet her the next day for a drink. That he cannot spontaneously join her, due to husbandly/parental duties, would be a clue to his altered availability if Mavis was not single mindedly intent on her own plan to win him back. Passing the time in a downscale tavern, Mavis meets up with a former high school classmate, Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt, clear eyed and effective) who she does not remember even though his locker was next to hers for four years. So much for high school camaraderie. In fact, those golden years were brutal for him (he was crippled in a vicious bullying attack) and Mavis berates him for his self-sympathy considering, at all times, her interests to be of paramount concern.
It is evident, as Matt points out repeatedly, that Mavis is not being realistic, that Slade is happily married to Beth (Elizabeth Reaser, well done) and a fulfilled father. Meeting up with her kindly parents (through no effort on Mavis’ part), Hedda (Jill Eikenberry) and David (Richard Bekins) demonstrates that she can’t go home again, they simply speak different languages. Throughout, Mavis is composing the last in her young adult novel series which, of course, parallels her own experience. The culmination of the effort to recapture Slade occurs at the baby naming ceremony at his home. It’s a full fledged disaster for Mavis, and rightfully so, which leads to some tender and eye-opening moments and Mavis arriving, finally, at the maturity she has consistently lacked. Will she be a better person? Who knows? But she couldn’t be any worse.
The script by Diablo Cody doesn’t try for warm and fuzzy and it’s refreshing to see a movie that, among other things, doesn’t paint former high school years or small town America in golden hues. Also, that presents a protagonist it is hard, if not impossible, to regard with any feeling. Unfortunately, since Theron nails the part, the viewer is left to wait most impatiently for the credits to roll. Director Jason Reitman does what he can but the movie never picks up or takes off. It drones on. Much as self-centered, self-pitying Mavis does. Trouble is – who cares?
Young Adult – The heroine should have stayed in Minneapolis. And you at home. Review by Charles Zio
THE DRAGON TATTOO |
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Rated R for brutal violent content including rape and torture, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, and language. Drama/Thriller 158 Minutes
4½ stars |
If you are a fan of Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl...” book series, or the three Swedish films made from them, you may wonder why a remake was needed. I wondered the same thing, but now having seen this new version by director David Fincher and screenwriter Steven Zaillian I am glad they did it. Several key elements that have been changed give this movie a slightly different slant, but it’s still dark, disturbing, and above all, riveting.
The story is complex. Swedish magazine publisher/journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig, well cast) is recruited by wealthy Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer, appropriately distinguished), patriarch of the fractured Vanger family owners of the Vanger Corporation, to solve the murder of his niece many years before. Mikael is reluctant, but his reputation is tainted when he loses a libel case brought by a billionaire industrialist. Since he must pay large fines and is broke, he agrees to take the assignment. He needs a researcher and Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara, excellent), a strange young woman with many piercings and no social skills, is recommended. She, in fact, investigated Mikael for Henrik. He is angry and doesn’t want to work with her, but their business partnership turns out to be fortuitous.
It’s a long movie, but the pacing works because there is much to learn about Lisbeth. Mr. Larsson created a damaged though fascinating character. It may be that few writers have put their protagonist through as much as Lisbeth endures throughout these books. In this first movie of the trilogy she is brutalized by a sadist, and though she is petite and waif-like, she is more than a match for any man who does her wrong. Lisbeth is above all a survivor, and more than that she is a feminist avenger with an unrestrained sexuality. Not knowing this beforehand Mikael doesn’t realize she is the perfect person to help him investigate not just the disappearance of Henrik’s niece but what turns into a connection to a series of brutal murders of women.
The supporting cast including Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright and Joely Richardson are all good yet bring their own unique sensibility to their characters. Under the direction of Mr. Fincher the cold/snowy/isolated Swedish landscape and sense of dark foreboding atmosphere is expertly captured by cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, the original music of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and the editing by Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, in addition to the overall art and production design.
But none of this would work without the performance of Ms. Mara who totally immerses herself in the role. As wonderful as the original Lisbeth, Noomi Rapace, is in the Swedish films, Rooney Mara makes Lisbeth more accessible to the audience, more vulnerable, and more sympathetic in this version. It's a remake well worth seeing.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| NEW YEAR'S EVE
Rated PG-13 for language
including some sexual
references.
Comedy/Romance
117 minutes
2 stars |
Just wait, we’re going to have one of these ensemble movies for every holiday. Why? Because it’s probably going to make lots of money. Audiences like seeing multiple story lines with many popular actors, even if the plots are superficial. In New York, the city of millions of stories, the New Year’s Eve ball drop has become almost mythical. All of the various characters are in some way connected to that event and each other. Jon Bon Jovi is, what else, a rock singer oddly mismatched with Katherine Heigl as a chef and his former girlfriend, while Sofía Vergara mugs as her assistant.
Michelle Pfeiffer is one of the few who actually plays a character. She is unrecognizable at first as Ingrid, the timid wallflower trying to break out and fulfill her wish list by the New Year. John Lithgow has a cameo as her boss. Zac Efron plays a smart talking messenger who helps in her quest. Meantime, his friend (and yours) Ashton Kutcher is stuck in an elevator with Lea Michelle who is a back-up singer for Bon Jovi in Times Square that night. Clever.
Hilary Swank is in charge of the ball drop which is experiencing technical difficulties, with Ludacris, that’s right, as her supportive friend. Yet Hector Elizondo has to save the day. The ever present New Yorker Sarah Jessica Parker plays an uptight mom to teenage daughter Abigail Breslin, who just wants to have fun with her friends and kiss the cute guy, Jake T. Austin.
One subplot has Robert De Niro, yep, as a dying man. He and Halle Berry as his nurse provide the most serious moments in the movie. Cary Elwes plays his doctor and Alyssa Milano (is she pregnant hiding behind some props?) is another nurse. In the hospital also are Seth Myers and Jessica Biel, and Til Schweiger and Sarah Paulson as pregnant couples trying to win money by having the first baby of the New Year. Carla Gugino plays a disapproving doctor.
Then there is poor, sad yet rich and handsome, but lovesick Josh Duhamel who really is looking for the love of his life he met last year. This is another silly mismatched pairing. His mother Cherry Jones waits for him to deliver a heartfelt speech at their super-rich New Year’s bash where, surprise, Katherine Heigl is the chef. And so on, and so on.
It’s just all too, too. As many of my New York friends would say---oy. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE DESCENDANTS
Rated R for language
including some sexual
references.
Comedy/Drama
115 minutes
5 stars |
From the get-go, things are not what they appear and that, precisely and most enjoyably, is the key to the pleasures offered by The Descendants. After being informed (by voice over) that Hawaii is not the paradise mainlanders consider it to be (illustrated by shots of poverty and disability) comes a close up of a woman laughing with excitement and happiness as her hair blows in the breeze of a speedboat. We will learn that she, Elizabeth, like the other main characters in the movie are more layered than meets the eye. It’s a journey of discovery worth the trip.
Elizabeth’s husband, Matt (George Clooney in a modulated, understated, moving, award-worthy performance), is the descendant (along with a gaggle of cousins) of Hawaiian blood and the owners of a huge swath of land they must legally dispose of within the next seven years and are being wooed with very lucrative offers. Though the cousins will be taking a poll, Matt as the trustee actually has the deciding vote. He has devoted untold hours to the matter and others as a real estate lawyer resulting in a strain with his wife. Now that she is comatose (having been tossed from the boat and hit her head) he is remorseful and eager to make amends and a new start. But, he will never get the chance being told Elizabeth will not recover, that her life support will be withdrawn (at her instructions), she will shortly die. Matt now faces the task of informing and helping his two daughters (one ten, the other seventeen) deal with their mother’s fate, made the more difficult since he has been an absentee and estranged parent.
The secrets, resentments, strengths, weaknesses, agendas, and reactions that will play out are not only emotionally powerful on their own but in their subdued and honest expression resonant off each other. So we learn that Elizabeth was not a perfect wife and mother. That Matt alternates between reason and stubbornness, anger and affection, grief and bewilderment. While younger daughter Scottie (Amara Miller, a natural) acts out (primarily with cursing and sass), teenage Alexandra (Shailene Woodley, a star is born) evolves from a rebellious, thoughtless brat to a supportive anchor for her father, while her boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause, excellent) proves a diamond in the rough. Two others of particular note, Robert Forster as Elizabeth’s father, Scott, letting loose with barely suppressed anger as the only means to deal with her fate and experiencing the same emotion for different reasons, Judy Greer as Julie Speer (no spoiler but she has good cause).
The script by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash (based on a Kaui Hart Hemmings novel) is masterful weaving its strands smoothly and intelligently. There is no sense of the extraneous or resorting to cliché or stock situations or easy solutions. Plus it all fits since - genealogically, historically, personally, in our families, within society – everyone is the sum total of their own past and present striving for a future in which, it is hoped, we will become if not our best selves, then at least better selves.
Additional praise to Alexander Payne who, as director, has marshaled all the technical aspects with nods to Phedon Papamichael’s bright and clear photography; Kevin Tent’s editing; design by Jane Ann Stewart; and costumes by Wendy Chuck. In Payne’s sure hands every moment of the movie rings true, is pitch perfect, can not be conceived as going in any other direction. Certainly admirable is his ability to render scenes that turn on a dime from dramatic/tragic to humorous, though at the end he rightly allows emotion to reign. There’s even a quiet, lovely last scene. So, to Mr. Payne and all concerned– Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much).
The Descendants – Ascends, most deservedly, to a 10. Review by Charles Zio
| HUGO
Rated PG for mild thematic
material, some action/peril
and smoking.
Adventure/Drama/Family
125 minutes
4½ stars |
Martin Scorsese's Hugo is an incredible film. It's a sensory feast, an exquisite dream, and a homage to filmmaking. It's also an example of such a complete movie that it can transport you to another time and place. The only real question is whether this is a place you want to go.
It is early 1930s Paris and Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield, expressive and natural) is happy as his father (Jude Law, effective in a small cameo) teaches him the family profession of watch making, but more than that they are working together on a project to repair an automatron when his father dies suddenly his drunken uncle takes him to the huge train station where Hugo continues to maintain the gigantic clocks that hang over the expanse of the floor even after his uncle disappears. A hypervigilant Station Master (Sacha Baron Cohen, in a good match for his broad humor) with his doberman pinscher relentlessly hunts for Hugo who out of necessity becomes a thief. When he is caught by a mean magician/concession store owner named Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley, outstanding) who takes his notebook, he forces Hugo to work off his debt. Melies' young ward Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz, appealing), who is an orphan herself, at first is just looking for adventure but becomes Hugo's friend and confident.
As Hugo and Isabelle try to find the missing notebook, secrets about Georges emerge including the fact that he was once an early silent filmmaker. Much of his work has been destroyed or lost explaining his anger and depression.
Hugo is a marvel from the opening shot of huge clockworks that morph into an ariel view of Paris lit up at night, to an extended tracking shot that races through the train station, to the frames of Georges' movies. Even the 3D is used to its best effective. It's difficult to take it all in because there's so much detail. Excellent work by cinemtographer Robert Richardson to capture the lush look of the film crafted by production designer Dante Ferretti, set decoration by Francesca Lo Schiavo, costumes by Sandy Powell, and the phenomenal art design. Original music by Howard Shore adds to the atmospherics. And Mr. Scorsese's long time editor Thelma Schoonmaker enhances his work. In short, all of the technical elements blend perfectly with the director's vision, and John Logan's superbly written screenplay adaptation of Brian Selznick's book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
The subplot of the Station Master, meant as comic relief can be cut back without doing any harm, and the latter part of the movie is sometimes too pedantic as a lesson about movies. But the visual depth, the story about one's "life work" as exemplified by Georges Melies, and the magic and the power of filmmaking make this a must-see film. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| ARTHUR CHRISTMAS
Rated PG for some
mild rude humor.
Animation/Comedy/Drama
97 minutes
4 stars |
Santa and the North Pole have been updated, but at its heart Arthur Christmas is about old-fashioned values. How does Santa get around the world and deliver all those presents? According to this movie it’s like a military operation with thousands of elves at their computers tracking the presents as their fellow elves drop down from an invisible, gigantic spaceship-like sleigh. Santa (voice of Jim Broadbent) is like the general giving orders, and his older son Steve (voice of Hugh Laurie) is the Colonel making sure they are carried out.
Grandsanta (voice of Bill Nighy), the cranky old retired Santa lives in his quarters with one of the retired reindeer, while Mrs. Santa also known as Margaret (Imelda Staunton) makes sure her men are all cared for while being the smartest and wisest of the bunch (natch).
At 70 Santa is a bit tired and so the ambitious Steve pretty much runs the show with all his electronic gadgets. The younger son Arthur (voice of James McAvoy) is a funny-looking screw-up with a heart of gold and real spirit of Christmas in his veins. He has a small office where he hand writes letters answering the children who write to Santa. One special letter is from Gwen in England asking for a bicycle. When the bike is accidentally left behind and Gwen will be the only child without a present from Santa some heroic measures are needed to get it to her before she wakes up on Christmas day.
The vivid animation and CGI are well done and once absorbed in the story the 3D becomes second nature, but does have a few surprisingly vibrant moments. The voice acting is well cast with James McAvoy outstanding as the loser-turned-winner Arthur. Also providing their talents are: Ashley Jensen (Bryony), Laura Linney (North Pole Computer), Eva Longoria (Chief De Silva), Michael Palin (Ernie Clicker), and Robbie Coltrane, Joan Cusack, and Andy Serkis among others, as the elves.
The movie does begin to feel a bit frantic and long about 2/3s of the way through and I noticed the younger children in the audience getting restless, but then it gets back on track as it comes to a sentimental but charming ending. Arthur Christmas is a sweet Christmas movie recommended for all ages.
As a “bonus” before the movie Justin Beiber sings “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” in a modern style with some amazing dancers et al at Santa’s workshop. The younger kids in the audience didn’t recognize him but enjoyed it all the same. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE MUPPETS
Rated PG for some
mild rude humor.
Comedy/Family/Musical
98 minutes
4 stars |
The Muppets is a delightful odd salad with everything thrown in. The fun is watching the filmmakers put it all together for a new young audience. The humans in the story, led by Jason Segel playing Gary, and one of the co-writers, is a big teddy bear of a guy who is a natural at interacting with non-human co-stars. His lovely girlfriend Mary is played by Amy Adams who has some experience in that regard, too. At various times they break out into song and dance routines. It feels a bit awkward, and not as smooth as it could be, but this movie makes fun of everything so take it in the spirit in which it’s conceived.
The plot concerns Gary and his brother Walter (a Muppet puppeteered with voice by Peter Linz), who are very close. While Gary grows to be a strapping guy with a girlfriend, poor Walter is the sweet but unusual kind who is a huge fan of the Muppets. When Gary and Mary plan a trip to Los Angeles they take Walter along so he can see where the Muppets used to be. It turns out their theater is in a shambles and about to be taken over by arch villain Tex Richman (Chris Cooper, a hoot) who wants to drill for oil under the theater.
Yes, the plot also involves all the once famous Muppets led by Kermit The Frog (voice by Steve Whitmire), or Mr. The Frog as he is sometimes addressed. The gang all shows up after Kermit finds them to let them know of the dastardly plot including: Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, Beauregard, Swedish Chef, Scooter, and the rest including their bad alter egos. Though Miss Piggy proves to be the most difficult to convince especially after trying to get through her receptionist (Emily Blunt). Then they must deal with an executive (Rashida Jones) to give them a chance on television. Thanks to the talents of the puppeteer/voice team it seems like they were never gone.
In a kind of, “Hey kids, let’s put on a show” style, the gang decides to save the theater by having a telethon of sorts with Muppet acts to raise the one million dollars needed.
The movie moves quickly so the audience doesn’t get bored. Adults have to pay attention for the gags, jokes, and one-liners aimed at them that kids might not necessarily get. Also for the adult audience are the cameo performances by actors who make appearances for whatever their reasons that add to the party atmosphere: Alan Arkin, Bill Cobbs, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Donald Glover, Selena Gomez, Whoopi Goldberg, David Grohl, Neil Patrick Harris, and Mickey Rooney among others.
The Muppets is silly, charming, and thoroughly enjoyable for both kids and adult audiences. Many of the younger children will not remember the Muppets, and it will be interesting to see if this movie can resurrect them given the new heavily animated market that has developed for kids. I hope it does. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE SKIN I LIVE IN
Rated R for disturbing
violent content including
sexual assault, strong
sexuality, graphic nudity,
drug use and language.
Drama/Thriller
117 minutes
4 stars |
The Skin I Live In is a disturbing, yet haunting film. Few directors could pull it off, but Pedro Almodóvar has the sensibility for this kind of material. Adapted from Thierry Jonquet's novel Mygale ("Tarantula" in English), it is a chilling horror/sci-fi movie. It may remind some of the 1960 French movie Eyes Without a Face. Both have plastic surgeons as the main character. In the French movie the doctor tries to transplant a face, which must surely have seemed like science fiction over fifty years ago. Today there have been several successful face transplants although the surgery is not perfected yet. In The Skin I Live In the doctor, Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas), is a vengeful fanatic.
Robert lives in a compound that includes a surgical clinic where he performs the surgeries. His housekeeper Marilia (Marisa Paredes) keeps his secret. He has a young woman held captive in a room where she is constantly monitored. The audience doesn’t know anything about her at first except that Robert brings pieces of “skin” that he meticulously places on her body. He treats her more as a specimen than a person.
Flashbacks chronicle tragedies in Robert’s past, especially the horrible accident that burned his beloved wife over most of her body. Just when you think you understand what is happening, another incident takes another turn. A visit from a brutal stranger sets in motion a series of events that exposes the woman’s identity and Robert’s real intent. When the truth of Robert’s bizarre experiment becomes fully explained, it is shocking.
In lesser hands, the story would seem so outrageous that it could be rejected without any thought, but Mr. Almodóvar and his cast make it all seem depraved, but believable. Especially impressive is Antonio Banderas. Now middle-aged he is even more handsome than before. Yet, it is his performance, which is steady and mesmerizing, that makes the film work. Elena Anaya as the beautiful mysterious Vera is well cast. The supporting actors including Marisa Paredes, Jan Cornet, and Susi Sánchez are excellent as well.
The screenplay by Pedro Almodóvar explores several themes: the fragility of the mind in the face of traumatic incidents, the inability to accept reality, the need for revenge, the nature of sexuality, violence, and betrayal. What happens in this film may be off-putting, but keeps returning to consciousness as an unsettling feeling that just won’t go away. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| LIKE CRAZY
Rated PG-13 for sexual
content and brief
strong language.
Drama/Romance
90 minutes
3 stars |
Jacob (Anton Yelchin) gives Anna (Felicity Jones) a bracelet that says “patience”. How much patience you have may determine your tolerance for this movie. In the first heady moments of falling in love, or is it infatuation, Jacob and Anna act like typical young lovers. They make moony eyes at each other, act silly, moody, giddy, and thoroughly besotted with each other. But life is messy; love is messy, as is their handwriting, apartments, clothes, and even their hair. (Does anyone in the movies comb their hair anymore?) Yet, this is one of the points of the film. Nothing is neat and fixed. Emotions especially are in a constant state of flux.
Jacob and Anna meet in college and there is instant chemistry as they steal looks at each other across a not-so-crowded room. She leaves him a note, he’s flattered, they fall hard. He makes her a chair that looks just as uncomfortable as the one he replaces, but she’s thrilled. Anna is on a visa from England and as they head to the end of the semester she must return to England before the visa expires. She can come back mind you, but the two can’t bear to be apart even for the summer. This leads to their first bad/crazy decision: Anna chooses to ignore the visa and stay with Jacob. Some may take issue with this, perhaps forgetting how powerful those early feelings of passion can be. I can buy this decision, though it is dumb, because young lovers make impulsive decisions all the time.
Anna’s parents, Jackie and Bernard, (Alex Kingston and Oliver Muirhead spot on) well-off, indulgent parents of their only child visit the couple and act more like fast friends than parents. They are distressed when Anna stays in America, but don’t seem all that disturbed. When Anna gets back to England, she’s not able to get permission to return to the United States despite all the strings Jackie and Bernard are able to pull. The lovers are distraught and mope around in their separate spaces. Each is preoccupied with thoughts of the other, and yet...they find friends who comfort them.
Jacob visits Anna in England and they try to convince an official that they are serious, but rules ignored are not so easy to fix. At this point another bad decision is made.
Ms. Jones and Mr. Yelchin have an easy chemistry, and are believable as the young lovers, though neither of these characters is exceptional in any way that makes them memorable. Director Drake Doremus, and co-writer Ben York Jones know how lovers this age would act. Yet because these two are selfish and self-centered they don’t evoke much sympathy.
Like Crazy takes you with the couple on the journey of their relationship, which will be familiar to most audience members. No close bond follows a straight line, but the one in this film becomes, in the end, a tedious back and forth situation. The visa interruption interferes with the natural course of their relationship. Time passes for the couple, but also for the audience, and tries one’s patience. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
BREAKING DAWN – PART I |
THE TWILIGHT SAGA:
BREAKING DAWN – PART I
Rated PG-13 for disturbing
images, violence,
sexuality/partial nudity
and some thematic elements.
Adventure/Drama/Fantasy
117 minutes
2 stars |
Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) goes to the dark side. Do we care? After all the build-up the “passion” that has been saved for Bella and Edward Cullen’s (Robert Pattinson) wedding night is hardly earth shattering, though it’s supposed to be. If you’re going to have sexy vampires I expect more than not very convincing but attractive actors who look the part. But then this series has always really been about how dangerous sex is for teenage girls as evidenced by what happens to Bella once she is married at eighteen. After their first night together where Edward’s passion has destroyed the bedroom he declines to be with his bride again. Bella has a few bruises and being the gentleman vampire he is, Edward doesn’t want to harm his wife further. Not to mention that they have decided that he is not going to turn her into a vampire.
Jacob (Taylor Lautner), from the werewolf clan, is heart-broken and furious so he runs all over the world trying to find release for his anger. He knows that a human married to a vampire means death for the human. How’d you guess? He becomes an ally to the vampires because his love for Bella is stronger than his allegiance to his clan. Of course, this makes for some intense conversations and some physical altercations which are most of the action in this slow Part I of the last book. In fact, if any character in this saga is compelling at all it is Jacob whose raw emotions are at odds with the insipid, red-eyed vampires.
Even given that this world created by the author has its own rules, the idea that a vampire (the undead) can father a child is ludicrous. Talk about making it up as you go along. The real problem is that the filmmakers don’t pull it off. It’s just not involving enough to be believable.
There are a few positives. The look of the film enhances the dark mood. The production design, the art design images, and set decoration, are well done. The wedding scenes are a pretty fantasy. Also, the wolves this time around show the best CGI of them so far.
Bella and Edward continue to be rather bland characters. With only one expression from Bella it is difficult to know what it is about her that arouses so much devotion from Edward. Yet, he does mention her “kindness,” you know that inner beauty thing. This is what some young girls really want to hear and believe.
This movie is for hardcore fans of the Twilight series. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| J. EDGAR Rated R for brief strong language. Biography/Drama 137 minutes
3½ stars |
A movie that attempts to accurately portray the life of a sad, lonely, obsessive, insecure, repressed man, as the film J. Edgar does well, will be informative, chilly, and at times tedious. Though he was a central figure of the 20th century, his life in the end, and of his own making, can only be called a tragedy.
The great good fortune of J. Edgar is that the titled character is played by a superb Leonardo DiCaprio who captures both the physical aspects of the man (the appearance, walk, intonation and speech cadence) while equally capturing the inner man, at his core a loner seeking approval, praise, and admiration. The film alternates between the older Hoover dictating his self-glorifying biography (focused on the creation, rise, and triumph of the FBI) with the younger enactment of the background and incidents the older man hopes will cement his legacy.
Hoover’s home life was dominated by his mother Annie (an excellent Judi Dench) who adores her son while at the same time, and in a deceptively soft voice, issues dictatorial instructions. For his part, Edgar (as he prefers to be called) has no other human connection but devotes himself to his work. Initially attached to the Department of Justice in the 1910s, and a workaholic, he is given oversight of the fight against the then current danger of Bolshevik violence. For the rest of his life, Hoover will battle the forces he feels are anti-democratic (e.g., Communists) and anti-American (e.g., organized crime) by any method he deems effective, believing unequivocally the ends justify the means.
The triumph of Hoover’s vision in the creation of the FBI, shown here, owes much to his rigid standards of conduct, sense of organization, prescience in the recognition and development of scientific criminology, and his public relations savvy. On the other hand, Hoover could be superficial (objecting to facial hair on agents), intolerant (finding anyone who disagreed with him disloyal), and a master blackmailer (he had secret files and used them as a threat or to destroy those who might or did oppose him, from presidents on down).
Aside from his mother, the two most important people in Edgar’s life were his long-time and ever loyal secretary Helen Gandy (a convincing Naomi Watts) and his faithful assistant Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer, first rate and moving). It is Tolson who breaks through Hoover’s shell bringing emotion and love into his life until the end of his days, and it is in those final moments of their relationship that the movie generates genuine feelings.
The script by Dustin Lance Black is admirable in narrowing down decades of history to a few key graspable and illustrative points of Hoover’s life. To humanize a stern, cold, unhappy public figure is certainly a challenge, and Clint Eastwood deserves credit for succeeding to a large extent, moving the movie along though it slows a bit here and there. Given his nature and the subject matter, a film about Hoover is unlikely to be a tearjerker, laugh riot, or rabble-rouser, but as an insight into an historical figure and his place and times, the movie can claim some value.
J. Edgar – DiCaprio shines as seminal figure in competent reconstruction. Review by Charles Zio
| IMMORTALS Rated R for sequences of strong bloody violence, and a scene of sexuality. Action/Drama/Fantasy 110 minutes
2 stars |
The struggles of gods and men have given us many movies to contemplate. Interestingly, one of the characters in this film mentions that the gods are just a metaphor, and then goes on to prove that assertion wrong in the world of Immortals. Much of the movie seems familiar, yet the story is tweeked here and there. Mainly there is enough blood splatter and heads rolling to keep you engaged if that’s your thing. If it’s not, the technique that made the movie 300 a hit will become tiresome as this offering is not quite up to that story.
For one thing we have Mickey Rourke as master villain King Hyperion. He is a degenerate king who roams around baring various parts of his well-worn body beneath casually draped furs, or in fashion forward headgear looking like he’s going to Wrestlemania. We’re told his family has been killed, and this is supposed to be the impetus for his revenge, but you get the impression that good old Hyperion just loves to wreak havoc wherever he goes. He is in search of the legendary Epirus Bow, a powerful weapon created by the gods and the only device that can free the dreaded Titans, who have been imprisoned in a box within a mountain for centuries, and thus defeat the gods.
The gods are not allowed to interfere with human destiny, so can only watch from above and hope that they defeat Hyperion on their own. An Old Man (John Hurt) has been training a young man from boyhood. No one knows that the Old Man is actually Zeus (Luke Evans) in disguise who is grooming the man Theseus (Henry Cavill) to be the warrior to save his people despite the fact that he’s a peasant.
Director Tarsem Singh and writers Charley Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides have attempted to layer plot devices and storylines that give the story some depth, but it becomes complicated thus needing narration here and there to convince the audience that it all makes sense. In actuality, this movie is heavy on the special effects and CGI. The 3D is serviceable, but certainly doesn’t make or break the movie.
The acting is stiff most of the time, and maybe this is the way gods and Greeks talked and acted way back when, but then some of the actors speak like they came right out off the streets of modern day America. Henry Cavill, as Theseus, certainly looks the part of a hero, but is not entirely convincing. The same is true of Freida Pinto as the beautiful future-telling virgin/heroine Phaedra. At least Stephen Dorff injects energy as Theseus’ right-hand man Starvos, though he seems like he walked in from another movie.
Immortals is for those who like comic-like cartoon violence, plenty of CGI, and little musing about what it all means. For those who like mythology it will be a disappointment. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| TOWER HEIST Rated PG-13 for language and sexual content. Action/Comedy/Crime 104 minutes
3 stars |
Heist movies are not known for their believability, and that holds true for Tower Heist. That quality can actually make the genre more enjoyable as we watch a group pull off what seems like an impossible feat, or it can stretch reality to the limit and beyond. If you go to Tower Heist you’re not going to witness a great caper, but it will still be amusing. What helps is if you are into this kind of revenge movie where a misfit group of “little people” outwit the system.
Exploiting our disheartening economic times is an easy choice. Wouldn’t we all like to take down the arrogant masters of the universe who have caused us so much pain but seem to escape justice?
The Tower building in this case resembles the grand Trump Tower in New York. Fabulously rich residents are pampered beyond belief. The jobs of the Tower employees are to cater to their every whim. When one of the most wealthy of the residents, Arthur Shaw (a wonderfully malevolent Alan Alda), who is a money manager, turns out to have lost the employees’ pension savings something snaps in the general manager Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller in a solid performance).
Kovacs loses it in Shaw’s apartment and takes a golf club to Shaw’s prized possession, a red sports car once owned by Steve McQueen. He and several of his staff lose their jobs, dignity, and minds as they plan to steal whatever Shaw has of value hidden in his apartment.
The movie takes its time setting up the situation and tries to wring every empathetic feeling out of the audience to hope they succeed in a bizarre and totally unrealistic scheme. It may be that there were a few too many fingers in the screenplay pie. Writing credits for either story or screenplay are listed as Ted Griffin, Jeff Nathanson, Adam Cooper, and Bill Collage. This enables superficial references to chess and gold prices. Sequences involving pieces of gold being lifted easily would be heavier than shown. This tips over into the area of not giving the audience enough credit, but that doesn’t seem to phase director Brett Ratner who keeps the action rolling along.
The production values are good and New York looks crisp and inviting on Thanksgiving Day with shots of the floats and crowds at the Macy’s Day Parade.
Eddie Murphy has second billing but not a big role and not one that stretches his movie persona. The supporting cast has varying degrees of success with the stereotypical characters. Matthew Broderick is low key but comical as the bumbling and reluctant Mr. Fitzhugh who had lost all in the financial crunch. Casey Affleck as Kovacs’ incompetent brother-in-law is adequate. Judd Hirsch is wasted in a small part. Michael Peña as newly hired, then fired elevator operator Enrique Dev’Reaux, Téa Leoni as Special FBI Agent Claire Denham, and Gabourey Sidibe as the smart mouth maid Odessa, seem to be having the most fun pushing their characters over the top.
Tower Heist doesn’t live up to high expectations because the resolution is not exactly rousing, but is sufficient if you don’t take details too seriously. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| ANONYMOUS Rated PG-13 for some violence and sexual content. Drama 130 minutes
3½ stars |
Shakespeare scholars, historians, and those on the Stratford side of the argument are incensed over Anonymous. They believe William Shakespeare is getting a bum rap. Those on the Oxford side of this argument are equally vehement that Edward de Vere, (Rhys Ifans, pitch perfect in an outstanding performance) the 17th Earl of Oxford, and not Shakespeare, actually wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Those of us not tuned into this volatile topic are left to decide for ourselves because it’s not as clear as either side would have you believe. Although screenwriter John Orloff and director Roland Emerich obviously passionately believe in de Vere the playwright.
Aside from the veracity of the history it presents, the movie itself is entertaining. It begins on a stage with actor Derek Jacobi introducing the audience to the concept of a mystery playwright and then smoothly transitions into that time period. In fact, it will probably remind you of a Shakespeare play with all the political intrigue, bloody in-fighting, and drama of Elizabethan England. It also has flashbacks to Edward de Vere’s youth showing reasons he would not want it known he wrote the plays. For one thing, noblemen didn’t write plays as it was considered beneath them, even though the audiences of the time, and especially Queen Elizabeth (Vanessa Redgrave, as an unstable royal), loved to be entertained by them. From this important point it is reasoned that the Earl could not afford to have his identity known, especially since his plays were satiric and subversive. Also, as an orphan his guardian William Cecil (David Thewlis) is firmly against his writing considering it frivolous. He even managed to have de Vere marry his daughter.
Yet, in his youth de Vere is a poet and even has some published under his name. He is a man who has a breath of knowledge about things that often appear in the plays such as workings of court, bible verses, even falconry that is mentioned. Shakespeare (Rafe Spall) is presented as a buffoon; a grasping actor leering at the ladies and trying to grab any attention for himself. Of course, this is offensive to those who think it reeks of snobbism. Even though Shakespeare doesn’t have the advantages of being high born, it is explained by some that he was a genius and therefore didn’t need to be taught much since he learned volumes on his own.
de Vere contacts playwright Ben Johnson (Sebastian Armesto) and wants him to take the identity of the playwright. He financially backs the plays and watches the reaction to them with pride. Johnson is ambivalent about putting his name to the plays and explains his dilemma to Shakespeare who then jumps on stage at the end of one of the plays taking credit as the author to wild applause. Edward de Vere is not spared though, he is arrogant, condescending to those he feels are inferior, and is so involved in the plays he ignores family and court inttigue.
In the meantime, de Vere has an intimate relationship with the young Queen Elizabeth (Joely Richardson, Ms. Redgrave’s daughter) from their early years that contains more than enough intrigue on its own to color what happens over the next thirty or so years. de Vere is also mentor to the Earl of Essex, once a favorite of the Queen. The movie gets complicated with reverses and back stabbing that doesn’t become fully realized until near the end, and is admittedly hard to swallow.
I don't know who wrote the plays of Shakespeare, but there is an over-riding sentiment. If Edward de Vere wrote them and is unacknowledged for that, and for all the anonymous writers who never got their due, it is a truly painful lot. For that alone, the movie is worth seeing. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| TAKE SHELTER Rated R for some language. Drama 120 minutes
4½ stars |
At first glance, Take Shelter appears to be a small, independent disaster movie. However, once you get on for the ride what you will find is an intriguing, taut psychological thriller. Writer/director Joe Nichols teams up again with actor Michael Shannon (they formerly worked together in Nichols’ Shotgun Stories) to deliver a unique story that will hold your attention throughout.
Shannon plays Curtis, a seemingly everyman from a small town in Ohio. The opening minutes do a good job painting how good a life he has. That includes being married to the lovely Samantha, played by Jessica Chastain who is brilliant in this role. He has a good job and aside from his daughter (Tova Stewart) being deaf everything seems to be right with the world. This begins to change however as frightening visions and haunting dreams begin to envelope Curtis’ life. He begins to wonder if they are prognostications or merely his mental health going off balance.
He at first hides this from everyone around him. He focuses his time, energy, and eventually income on making additions to the family’s storm shelter out back. The supporting cast is terrific in producing the small town feel to the film and also in how they react to Curtis’ increasingly enigmatic behavior. After awhile Curtis can no longer hide his visions from his wife and friends. Shea Whigham plays Dewart, Curtis’ trusty best friend who wants to help his buddy but knows something is amiss. His performance was no doubt enhanced by having already worked alongside Shannon in Boardwalk Empire.
Everything comes to a head when Curtis is forced to confront his fears and trust that those around him have the firm holding on reality. Yet, Nichols includes some Inception-like ambiguity in the end. Shannon was absolutely terrific in this role. Known for usually playing darker roles, he does a great job portraying a simple man who is not a simpleton but knows his limits. His scene at a local community dinner in which Curtis loses control is sure to be the promo clip played at the Oscars if he is nominated.
The plot focuses on many themes we are familiar with; the difficulty of the economy, the paranoia of an impending disaster, and the power that fear can hold over us. Yet they are presented in such a unique and genuine manner that it reveals a side of those issues we have not necessarily thought of or perhaps don’t want to. The film will be released eventually into 50 markets nationwide. If you are fortunate enough to be in or near one of them, the film is worth seeing and will inhabit your thoughts in the days following. Review by Cleet
| MARGIN CALL Rated R for language. Drama/Thriller 105 minutes
4 stars |
While it does not glory in, or advocate, that “greed is good” (as per the retrospectively prescient movie Wall Street), there seems little doubt of that sentiment serving as the source, justification, or rationalization by those who caused, reacted to, and prospered in the 2008 financial crisis. While the movie (based on real events) makes an effort to present the participants in the calamity as mere humans susceptible to the power of the dollar, it ultimately justifies the anger and rage currently being expressed (verbally, in print, in the streets) by the many suffering in one way or another from the aftermath of their actions since they, the architects of the financial disaster, appear to have landed (both survivors and sacrificial lambs) on a lush bed of green (in large denominations).
The world presented in Margin Call is one of tin gods. Floating above the everyday workaday world (the picture opens with an aerial view of Manhattan followed by numerous shots, foreground and background, looking down upon the city), the denizens of an imaginary financial company play far from nice with each other starting with a staff cut (a common occurrence) affecting Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci). Though a senior member, he is treated coldly and escorted out of the firm. On the elevator out he hands one of his subordinate risk analysts, Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto, a convincing blend of smarts and innocence), a thumb drive and warns him to “be careful.” Studying the material from Eric, Peter is alarmed to discover the company has barely escaped going under due to faulty mortgage securities. (While the details aren’t entirely clear, it’s possible for a non-expert to garner a general understanding of the improprieties.)
The word spreads from level to level (almost the entire film takes place in the company’s Olympian headquarters) from Peter’s associate, Seth Bergman (Penn Badgley), calculating and unfeeling, to their new supervisor Will Emerson (Paul Bethany), a tough, realistic operator, to the sales force manager Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey), onto Jared Cohen (Simon Baker), an ambitious survivor, with a stopover at Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore), hard as nails and who perhaps authored the deficient scheme, and finally to the man on top, John Tuld (Jeremy Irons), a steely predator who claims there are only three ways to make money – be first, be smarter, or cheat. Though Tuld claims he does not cheat, the others settle for expressions of sympathy, empathy, remorse, and regret. What gives the lie to all the self-believing high and mighty players is the willingness, after much unscrupulous playing of cat and mouse, to finally sell out, thereby digging their own moral graves.
A great deal of credit for this entertaining film goes to its writer and director J.C. Chandler. The script is lucid and intelligent. The action, centered in words, is engrossing. The production is top notch in every way. The acting is uniformly high caliber and thoroughly convincing. This is Mr. Chandler’s first film. Nice job.
Margin Call – Fine eye/earful of the cause of our current financial malaise. Review by Charles Zio
| PUSS IN BOOTS (3D) Rated PG Adventure/Animation/Comedy 90 minutes
4 stars |
Puss in Boots of the fairytales created by writer Charles Perrault in the late 1600s is still a pop culture favorite centuries later. This Puss in Boots has the sensual voice of Antonio Banderas, so right away much is made of the suave cat with large feathered hat and sword, as well as those famous boots. Puss is a bit of a dandy, and contributing writers Brian Lynch, David H. Steinberg, Tom Wheeler, and Jon Zack have plenty of fun with a script full of witty references that adults will get more than the kids.
This is a prequel of sorts as the story explains how Puss became the cat he turned out to be before he met Shrek. As a kitty, Puss lands in an orphanage with none other than Humpty Dumpty (voiced by Zach Galifianakis who does a nice job). Yes, it’s strange, but you get used to it quickly since the story moves right along. Humpty turns out to be a bossy, resentful little egg who wants Puss to be as mischievous as he is, but of course, our hero resists. Yet he is blamed for Humpty’s wrongdoing and must flee.
Puss plans to steal magic beans from the meanies Jack (voiced by Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (voiced by Amy Sedaris) to pay back stolen money taken from his small town, but is thwarted by Kitty Softpaws (voiced by Salma Hayek). She is his match in every way and even gets a few over on him. When Humtpy comes back in the picture and swears he wants to reconcile, Puss agrees to work with him and Kitty to use the magic beans to get up the beanstalk and find the goose that lays the golden eggs. Is there any doubt they will succeed? Is there any doubt Puss will be triumphant?
As you can tell, nothing is sacred or off limits for the writers. It does get complicated, and at times seems more appropriate for parents who will like the snarky humor. For the kids, the animation is quite good and use of 3D, which is often superfluous in movies, has an impact, though is not absolutely necessary to enjoy the movie.
Mr. Banderas is smooth and fun to listen to as Puss, as is Salma Hayek as Kitty. Zack Galifinakis is a good fit for Humpty. What helps too, with the supporting cast, is that the voices are different enough to distinguish between the characters.
Overall, the movie offers plenty of action for adult and kid audiences, with fast pacing and a story that has a little bit for everyone. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE Rated R for disturbing violent and sexual content, nudity and language. Drama/Thriller 120 minutes
3½ stars |
The buzz about this movie has been strong and much of it is warranted. Writer/director Sean Durkin gives us a moody two-hour psychological drama that falls just short at the end. In some ways the movie is precise and economical; in some ways it is slow and a bit too vague. Yet it does expose the sinister effect abusive cults can have on fragile young minds.
An austere set of buildings in upstate New York houses a group of young men and women, with the small farming community seeming like a throwback to earlier times. The atmosphere is low key and no one raises his/her voice, yet there is no sense of joy or spontaneity either. The leader of the group is a middle-aged man named Patrick (John Hawkes, effectively creepy) who rules the younger more impressionable people through psychological intimidation. Just how ominous that becomes is revealed through flashbacks.
One of the women at the farm named Martha (Elizabeth Olsen, compelling) wakes up one morning and hurriedly leaves the community. She is followed out to a small downtown area but resists going back. She calls her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson, expressing conflicting feelings of confusion/anger/love for her sister) and she takes Martha back to the vacation house in Connecticut she shares with her husband Ted (Hugh Dancy, nicely controlled). Lucy is Martha’s only relative and it seems that “something” happened in the family that caused them to become estranged. We’re left to guess what that is, but Martha has been gone for two years without a word until she calls Lucy, who wants to help but doesn’t know how.
Martha has a strange affect and even stranger habits and behavior. She is like an alien from outer space who looks like a pretty young woman but who doesn’t understand customs and laws of a normal society. Her fractured psyche explains the title. Martha is renamed Marcy May by Patrick and called Marlene by someone else. As she dreams or remembers episodes from living in the cult she becomes increasingly paranoid, and as her behavior escalates it alarms Lucy and Ted even more. But given the history of the cult is she merely being real about what could happen, or is she seeing visions? This is one of the questions the audience is left to decide.
The director has created select shocking moments when dialogue or action suggests things that have happened previously that we don’t get to see, but nothing else needs to be said or done to understand the importance to Martha’s state of mind. Then there are times when slow repetition of similar scenes could be cut to take minutes off the running time. The result, though, is substantial when a crucial scene finally occurs. Mr. Durkin clearly wants the audience to come to their own conclusions. This often does make more of an impact on an audience, and though it is subjective, a few more details here would have added to the effect. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE WAY Rated PG-13 Action/adventure/ Comedy/Drama 115 minutes
3½ stars |
If ever there was a movie being more about the journey than the destination, it is The Way. And because we all lose our way at times in our lives, it shows that it may be too late for one situation/relationship, but not to change a life.
Tom (Martin Sheen) has lived the conventional life of a California eye doctor. He is on the golf course when he receives a call that his estranged son Daniel (Emilio Estevez) has died on the opening day while walking The Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James. This is a famous pilgrimage that begins in France and goes through Spain to a specific church. Tom travels to France with the idea of bringing his son’s body home, but once there decides to honor Daniel by finishing the pilgrimage himself.
One does not walk The Way alone, however. Tom finds himself surrounded by others from all over the world with various reasons for walking the trail to Spain. In the beginning, in Tom’s arrogance, he may think others have more superficial reasons for making the trip, but all are making the journey to recover some spiritual essence, some sense of themselves, they have lost. Not that the movie focuses heavily on the Catholic religion. Apparently people of all faiths make the passage. Each has a very personal reason that most chose to share with others and because of that by the end of the trip the travelers’ bond is very strong.
Tom prefers, and repeatedly states, that he wants to be left alone, but a Dutchman named Joost (Yorick van Wageningen) who is always eating though he’s trying to lose weight, a sassy Canadian named Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), and an Irish writer named Jack (James Nesbitt) suffering from "writer's block" tag along. The people they meet and the experiences they have do, in fact, turn out to be inspiring for them.
The movie tends to be sentimental at times, but never over-the-top maudlin. And there is enough humor to keep it from being too heavy or serious. The landscape is beautiful and the architecture of Europe is a remarkable sight, but it is the story of a man’s transformation before it’s too late that evokes empathy. Martin Sheen carries the movie in a classy understated performance with help from the supporting actors mentioned above as well as a large cast of character actors. Emilio Estevez’ directing is not extreme in any way, and could be more adventurous, but is effective in telling a sad, joyous, inspirational story.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| PORTRAIT FOR HELL Nosfilmatu Productions Horror Not rated app. 90 minutes |
There are good signs that Charlotte is being recognized as a welcoming place for filming movies/television. The Hunger Games, a big budget sci-fi movie from Lionsgate based on the best-selling novel by Suzanne Collins, wrapped after a summer of filming in the area. The original Showtime series Homeland, also filming in Charlotte, recently premiered to excellent reviews. These big money, studio backed projects are exciting for the city. Yet, local independent filmmakers struggle as they do in any community, and Charlotte audiences should support and encourage these efforts as well. It’s a long, hard road from wanting to make a movie to accomplishing that feat.
So, kudos to producer/director/co-writer Thorin Thompson for making an actual full-length movie. It’s one thing to make a short film where the commitment is not so complete, it’s another to have the endurance for an original feature when that takes every bit of your time, energy, negotiating for space/props, and asking for money. Being that it’s his first effort, Mr. Thompson admits there was a learning curve in the process. The horror genre is a place young filmmakers often start because, let’s face it, the characters are usually overtaken by forces beyond their control, rather than logic, when they should just get the hell out of wherever and get away as fast as they can. Ideas for the film were inspired by the eerie surrealistic art work of Katherine Blackwell that is shown throughout the movie.
Portrait from Hell begins as a young couple buys a pleasant-looking, though isolated, house. Kate (Michelle Harkness) sets up a studio for her painting, and her husband (Berry Newkirk) goes back and forth to work. But odd things begin to happen. She has moments where she sleep-walks and is in some kind of trance-like state. Her personality begins to undergo a transformation. He is worried but chalks it up to pressure from her upcoming gallery show. His friend (Jonathan Elliott Coarsey), providing some comic relief but also common sense, does some research and finds strange doings from the 1800s on the site where the house was built. The story plays out as Kate paints a “portrait” of a monstrous being and is fascinated by it. You can probably guess where it’s all going, yet the movie holds your attention, especially during the second half where the plot threads start coming together.
The problem issues in the opening sequences are mainly technical. The sound in the house echoes and is tinny. The lighting of the scenes, in particular the interiors, shows some contrast ratio issues. The hand held camera technique that is supposed to indicate agitation and/or fright, doesn’t always work to the benefit of the movie, often becoming a distraction. On the positive side, the special effects by makeup artist and co-writer Hanna Jett King are well done because they are not overdone. That type of realism helps with the believability factor. The original music and score by Alex Mauldin is particularly effective and creates suspense that adds much to the overall mood.
As for the acting, the principals are all in and obviously take direction well from Mr. Thompson. Michelle Harkness’ perky energy comes through on screen as Kate, yet her scary transformations show range. Berry Newkirk as the intellectual, doubting husband also connects with the audience as hapless witness to his wife’s descent into darker places. Jonathan Elliot Coarsey gives a credible performance and displays a certain charisma on screen. Allison Flanagan, Reginald Moser, and Alan C. Thompson, as well as others, round out the cast.
Portrait for Hell, like most first efforts, is a calling card for this young production company. The potential for bigger and better things from this group is wide open. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| FOOTLOOSE Rated PG-13 for some teen drug and alcohol use, sexual content, violence and language. Comedy/Drama/Music 113 minutes
3½ stars |
Teenagers of recent eras have had their own style, language, and outrage against their parents’ generation and the world. Parents’ reactions vary, but fear of losing their kids causes some of them to hold on ever tighter, while the kids rebel. In Footloose, a party atmosphere before a tragic car accident that results in the death of five teens leaves a small town in shock with the preacher Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid), who lost his son, and town council voting in some archaic laws to prevent loud music and public dancing.
Three years later Ren MacCormick comes to stay with his uncle and family in Bomont, Georgia after his mother’s death from leukemia. Ren is a tough kid from Boston who is now transplanted to this small town for his senior year of high school. His first friend is Willard (Miles Teller), a good-hearted but goofy kid. Ren is immediately attracted to Ariel Moore (Julianne Hough) the preacher’s daughter who is on a self-destructive binge with sexy clothes, a dangerous boyfriend, and careless attitude. The two get off to a rocky start. At first Ren has no idea that her brother died and Ariel has no idea that his mother died.
One of the better elements about the pacing of the movie is the revelation of the two main characters’ painful experiences, and how their understanding of each other’s losses eventually brings them together.
Those already familiar with the previous 1984 movie know the storyline, yet this remake is one that works with updated dance moves and music. There are some sentimental moments when dialogue really is not needed, but the likeable, talented cast provides more than enough to root for here. Though, actors well into their twenties can be a hard sell as teenagers.
Kenny Wormald does a respectable job as Ren, the rebellious Yankee transplant. His dancing is quite impressive. Yet, it’s Julianne Hough who is the real surprise. We knew she could dance, but she does an all-around good job as the troubled Ariel. Miles Teller, so touching in The Rabbit Hole, is fun to watch as Ren’s friend Willard. Dennis Quaid nicely underplays the over-bearing preacher, and Andie McDowell is well-cast as Vi, the silent suffering preacher’s wife. The supporting cast of actors/dancers all brings great energy to the dance routines and story. The music is an integral part of the movie and much of it still makes you tap your feet.
Footloose surpasses the original movie, and is worth revisiting for the new generation of talent. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE BIG YEAR Rated PG for language and some sensuality Comedy/Adaptation 90 minutes
3½ stars |
To most non-enthusiasts, birding (bird watching) appears to be a calm and leisurely pursuit. The Big Year has set itself the task of infusing the sport with competitive verve and a dash of the madcap. At its heart, both the activity and the movie are easy to enjoy. If a little bird were to whisper a word in my ear (yes, there’s a groan or two in the movie) it would no doubt be “pleasant.” It ain’t PBS, National Geographic, or Animal Planet but it’s real easy to watch.
The Big Year refers to the competition to log as many bird sightings (which can also include audible identification or even the mere attesting of a viewing) as possible in the course of one year (January-December) throughout the U.S. Although there’s interesting background, details, and stirring shots of birds (some CGI), it is the lives of the three men vying for the honor of claiming the most specimens that propels the action.Steve Martin plays Stu Preissler, a self-made (and rich) businessman who is constantly besieged by his top corporate team for help in running the company he wants to leave behind to pursue birding. Jack Black is Brad Harris, a bit of a sad sack, divorced, stuck in a job he hates, considered a failure by his tough father Raymond (Brian Dennehy, standard issue oblivious father) with a dream of fulfillment in birding. The opposition is the current title-holder Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson), clever and devious and near to obsessed with retaining his exalted position as the world’s best. All three men are sympathetic, even Wilson as a villain who can’t help himself. As they dash about (the time noted in titles on the bottom of the screen), they cross paths with more eccentric characters and hurry through many magnificent corners of the country.
After awhile, the movie slows. How many times is it possible to be amused by one or more of the men dropping everything to wildly run off to add a missing bird to his notebook? Plus, not to worry for all three birders will learn their life lessons and become better men.
A pat on the back to writer Howard Franklin whose script, based on a book by Mark Obmascik, manages to make birding palatable, even a bit enticing. There is an appeal to the thought of casting all aside and boldly going off to realize one’s dream. Lawrence Sher’s photography is grand, inspiring, and sweeping. Director David Frankel nicely handles the material, giving the actors full room to express their individual stories amid what, to many, is an arcane field. The actors (Martin, Black, and Wilson) do well by their primarily one dimensional characters, skillfully teasing out the humor and emotion. In this they are ably assisted by bit parts rendered by, among others, Anjelica Huston (as a crusty ship captain), Rashida Jones (as Ellie, Black’s love interest), Dianne Wiest (as Black’s mother), and the aforementioned Brian Dennehy (as Black’s father). All in all, a nice, informative look at a corner few of us have ever visited.
The Big Year – Agreeable mix of birding and men In crisis. Review by Charles Zio
| THE THING Rated R for strong creature violence and gore, disturbing images, and language. Horror/Mystery/Sci-fi 103 minutes
3 stars |
This movie is supposed to be a prequel, but it has the same name and basically the same premise. An isolated outpost in Antarctica is the scene of a supposed “amazing” discovery. Of course, the only reason anyone is in the frozen wasteland is because of research, but this seems way beyond what the scientists expect. Dr. Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen) convinces Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and several others to accompany him past their own research station, and they are flown in via helicopter by two experienced pilots Braxton Carter (Joel Edgerton), and Jameson (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). You get the impression they think the scientists are not only a bit soft, but too caught up in their work.
When they get to the site of the “find” it is amazing. It is some kind of creature encased in ice. The only form the audience can make out is a kind of three pronged claw. The group is able to remove The Thing and put it in a room where it begins to defrost, but soon enough it bursts out of its frozen coffin and escapes. As you may already know, The Thing can duplicate human cells so that it can take over the identity of those unlucky enough to be trapped with it.
This leads to the horror and the grotesque forms The Thing takes when it is discovered. It breaks out of the human body and starts to run around like a gigantic crab with some of the body parts still attached trying to grab other humans. Not only that but it makes this terrible screeching noise. Of course, this leads to much paranoia among the group. It seems that only burning The Thing will kill it along with any human parts. The number of people begins to dwindle as the thing is discovered one by one in the hapless victims.
I found it difficult to tell some of the actors apart. They seemed to be very similar. Mary Elizabeth Winstead does a nice job as the only young person who keeps her wits about her when fear overtakes the men. She is pretty and maintains her femininity yet the character can handle herself. Joel Edgerton, coming off Warrior, is appropriately tough as the common sense pilot, Ulrich Thomsen is good as the obsessive scientist, and Eric Christian Olsen, now appearing on NCIS: Los Angeles, is purposely vague as a research assistant.
The special effects and visual effects are stunning at times, along with the cinematography, editing, make up, and art design. It does have its horrifying moments. Yet, I don’t know why this prequel needed to be made. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE IDES OF MARCH Rated R for pervasive language. Adaptation/Drama 102 minutes
4 stars |
This taut, well-paced screenplay adapted from the play Farragut North by Beau Willimon is a political drama that is less about the political process itself and more about the way it corrupts so easily and completely. Ryan Gosling continues his string of standout performances as the naïve yet super-ambitious press secretary whose whole life is about politics. He plays Stephen Myers, a thirty year old wonder boy who believes in his candidate, the smooth Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney who also co-wrote the script with Grant Heslov and playwright Beau Willimon, and directed). The charismatic governor knows what to say and when to say. His populist viewpoints are crowd-pleasers, and he presents himself as a moral stand-up guy who is for jobs and against pollution. Yet, campaigning in Ohio in the wind-down to a primary vote, he’s in a tight battle with a Senator Pullman.
The movie is effective in showing the barren rooms with young people working late hours to get out the vote, manning the phones and eating greasy take out with little gratitude. Stephen and his boss Paul Zara (another stellar performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman) have an easy respectful relationship, though Paul is much more experienced and savvy. When Paul’s rival Tom Duffy from Pullman’s camp (Paul Giamatti, effectively smarmy) makes an overture to Stephen to “talk”, his ego can’t resist listening to what Tom has to say. This act sets in motion events that change the trajectory of the campaign.
Stephen flirts with a young intern named Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood, by turns seductive and fragile) who at first appears more sophisticated than she really is. Molly has a secret that complicates an already murky situation for Stephen. He also learns something about the intrusiveness of the press from Ida Horowicz (the always compelling Marisa Tomei) who plays him.
Some specifics of the story are never confirmed, and only vague answers at best given other times, but not everything has to be spelled out. Yet some audiences handle ambiguity better than others. Deals and double deals go down with unexpected twists, but Stephen is a fast learner. Let’s just say there are no romantic illusions left for him after this episode.
It’s a cliché to say politics is “dirty”, and no new ground is broken here. The title refers to betrayals in the political world. Yet, the fact that there seems to be no limit to what many political hacks will do, still shocks. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| REAL STEEL Rated PG-13 for some violence, intense action, and brief language. Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi 127 minutes
3½ stars |
This sci-fi movie about combative robots that in some not-too-distant future get in boxing rings and fight it out with each other is not what you might expect. It works as fantasy though some of the real emotions it wants to evoke are suspect. The father/son theme that is big in films right now is admittedly schmaltzy at times, but tends to redeem itself as the story goes on. Aside from the well done CGI this is basically about a painful separation and coming together of a biologically related father and son who barely know each other, but have a common fixation.
The father, Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman, playing against his nice guy image), is an irresponsible child-man and ex-fighter who goes around the country in an over-sized truck living a nomadic life with his massive robots. He tries to scrape money together to enter his mechanized pugilists in fights. It seems that in the future boxing has evolved to where now only robots fight each other. Charlie is a terrible businessman who keeps racking up bills and debts, occasionally getting knocked around for owing money. Never married to the mother of his son, when she dies he sees it a merely an opportunity to make a buck since he has no intention of parenting the eleven year old. Movies like characters to start from a low point so they have more room to “grow” and so can look more heroic. Yet Charlie is such an obnoxious character it takes a while to warm up to him. Apparently, he’s had trauma in his life. But who hasn’t?
He is humanized by his relationship with sometime girlfriend Bailey (Evangeline Lilly) who owns a gym inherited from her father who also trained Charlie as a boxer and was his father figure. Bailey is fed up with Charlie’s self-centered, reckless ways. His son Max (Dakota Goyo, natural and convincing) who is in some ways more mature than his father tricks his way onto the road and eventually finds his own robot named Atom, an earlier and smaller robot model.
The time frame is set not too far from the present so that people still dress and act as they do now, but the huge technologically advanced stadiums and robot fights give the movie the futuristic sci-fi feel. Each robot is controlled remotely by a human, and some accept voice commands and can at times imitate the actions of their “master”. The fights themselves seem realistic enough to cause the audience to wince, though they begin to get somewhat repetitive. The robots are not as complicated as the Transformer variety, yet the CGI is sufficiently convincing to get the audience rooting for them.
Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goyo have good rapport as father and son. Evangeline Lilly plays a tomboyish character who is both smart and feminine, but doesn’t really have much to do. Good support from Anthony Mackie as Finn. Real Steel is not on the same level as some recent or classic sci-fi movies, but it’s entertaining if you’re into this kind of spectacle.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| 50/50 Rated R for language throughout, sexual content and some drug use. Comedy/Drama 99 minutes
4 stars |
Movies about life-threatening illnesses tread a fine line: too maudlin and you walk out of the theater feeling depressed, too light-hearted and it doesn’t feel real. 50/50 strikes the right balance. It may be because the movie is based on screenwriter Will Reiser’s real life experience with cancer.
When 27 year old Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is told that he has a spinal tumor, the shock, disbelief, and terror of what that means all register on the actor’s face. Aside from being an appealing presence whenever he appears, Mr. Gordon-Levitt has developed into someone who can create empathy for a character. Here he is a mild-mannered radio producer just living his life with a self-centered artist girlfriend Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard, a bit too shrill), and crude but salt-of-the-earth best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen, real life friend of Will Reiser).
Obviously this is new territory for all of them, including Adam’s intrusive but loving mother Diane played expertly by Anjelica Huston. His father has Alzheimer’s and caring for him has the anxious woman is on the edge already, but this news is devastating. Adam gets assigned a brand new therapist to deal with all of this who, it turns out, is younger than he is and initially resists her help. Anna Kendrick is so good at playing Katherine, the insecure desperate-to-comfort therapist, that you end up rooting for her, too.
The medical establishment comes off looking rather stiff and unfeeling, especially when his diagnosis is first revealed, but then this is from Adam’s point of view. His chances, 50/50, cause Kyle to support Adam by jovially pointing out those who have recovered from cancer though he’s wrong in one instance. This and other inadvertent or purposely humorous occurrences, like trying to pick up girls by “playing” the cancer card, keep Adam from dwelling too long on his ultimate fate. But eventually the situation must be faced, and to the movie’s credit, it is not glossed over in any way. In a poignant scene Adam faces his mortality by mentioning all the things he has not had a chance to do in his young life, and now may never be able to do.
The movie is sensitively directed by Jonathan Levine, and well-acted with some fine support from Matt Frewer and character actor Philip Baker Hall who play fellow cancer patients. 50/50 is surprisingly not a downer, but it does make you acutely aware of the randomness and powerlessness of the human condition. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| MONEYBALL Rated PG-13 for some strong language. Biography/Drama/Sport 133 minutes
4 stars |
One thing is crystal clear after watching Moneyball, Billy Beane is fused to baseball as if his life depends on it and in a way, maybe it does. Moneyball is based on Michael Lewis’ popular book of the same name about the way general manager Billy Beane chose players for the Oakland Athletics’ roster, and in turn changed the game itself after the 2002 season.
Even with a minuscule budget the A’s have a good season in 2001, but other teams, notably the money-loaded Yankees, pick up his free agent star players leaving him with even less hope of having a winning team. He has no way of getting more money so he has to figure out how to get ball players who can help the team win. It doesn’t help that his scouts have old-fashioned ways of picking players. One scout objects to a potential pick because he doesn’t have a good-looking girlfriend!
Brad Pitt is terrific as Billy Beane, alternately inspiring, amusing, angry, and poignant as a man whose failure as a baseball player after great early promise has left him defensive and single-minded in his dogged pursuit of a winning team. Anyone who has suffered a devastating failure can relate. What is different about Billy is that he fights so hard to redeem himself (in his mind), and can’t seem to accept that he has been successful in his way, if not achieving the ultimate triumph he thinks will free him from the ghost of Billy Past. Though baseball is a sport, and by extension entertainment, it is also a business. Yet for Billy, it’s about that last game of the season. If you lose that game, he decides, the whole season is a bust no matter how well the team did. Billy is single-minded and only accepts his own assessment of his success or failure.
While negotiating for a player during a visit to another team, a young man in the room gets his attention. This is Peter Brand (Jonah Hill, at his understated nerdy best playing a character representing Paul DePodesta), a Yale economics graduate in his first job. He subscribes to the Bill James theory of “sabermetrics” based on statistics touting on-base percentages as being the most important stat. Billy hires Peter and together they decide that for the piddling amount of budget they have they can replace their stars with less spectacular players who can get on base, no matter how weak their other skills.
The baseball community thinks Billy’s lost his mind, including his manager Art Howe (wonderfully played by Philip Seymour Hoffman), and his scouts who think he’s messing with what has worked for years. Billy sticks to his plan and it’s only when he’s alone that doubt overcomes him. His daughter Casey (Kerris Dorsey, natural/sweet/good rapport with Brad Pitt) keeps him motivated when things don’t go well. Even his ex-wife Sharon (Robin Wright in a small part) sympathizes with him.
The screenplay by Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian presents a layered portrait of Billy that is well-handled by director Bennett Miller, but the movie is too long and begins to drag at times towards the end. The cinematography by Wally Pfister is affecting giving the feel of being right in the baseball stadiums. Film editing by Christopher Tellefsen is notable as well.
When it comes to sports, no matter the stats, there is an intangible quality that can make a player a champ or a loser. The point is made that some guys are just not going to make it, no matter what. So I’m wondering if going to a guy and saying “we want you, you can help us win” is motivation in itself to work harder and be better? But I’m probably over-thinking it. That 2002 A’s team did something incredible, and now everyone else is using the same system and beating Billy again. There is something touching, yet admirable about Billy Beane. He may have to settle for being the Don Quixote of baseball and keep tilting at those windmills in his mind. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| DOLPHIN TALE Rated PG for some mild thematic elements. Drama/Family 113 minutes
4 stars |
Dolphin Tale is an affecting and sweet family movie loosely based on a true story sure to touch parents and kids alike. You have a wounded animal desperately in need of help, and who comes by but a (psychically) wounded child and when they find each other—-an unexpected bond.
Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble, nice job here) is a withdrawn boy who feels abandoned by his father. His mother Lorraine (Ashley Judd) does her best trying to draw him out. Sawyer is failing all his subjects and is in summer school until the day he is passing a Florida beach and is summoned by a fisherman to help a beached dolphin who is entangled in a crab trap. Sawyer tries to remove whatever rope around the animal he can and the animal understands his kindness. When Dr. Clay Haskett comes from animal rescue with and his daughter Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) to pick up the animal she thanks Sawyer who is now invested in the animal's welfare.
When Sawyer skips school to see the young female dolphin now named Winter, she perks up and he is asked to help save her. Yet his mother finds out he is not going to school and threatens to pull him away from the only thing that makes him smile. Dr Haskett convinces her to let him stay. She supports Sawyer. Winter is saved but in trouble. The problem is her tail is so damaged it has to be amputated. In the meantime, Sawyer’s cousin Kyle, a champion swimmer, is going off to war. He comes back damaged, too.
Morgan Freeman plays a small but vital role as Dr. Cameron McCarthy who designs prosthetics for injured veterans. The wonderful Frances Sternhagen brings dignity to her part. Kris Kristofferson plays Dr. Haskett’s wise father. Cinematography by Karl Walter Lindenlaub is well done. Director Charles Martin Smith has drawn good performances from his actors, kept the story moving even at just under two hours.
The true story may or may not unfold exactly as it does in the screenplay by Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi; everyone is hurting, yet each one in turn helps the others, including Winter. The characters are all connected some way, truly caring for each other and showing that “family” does not always have to be the traditional kind. The movie doesn’t shy away from serious subjects, but they are handled in a very loving and practical manner so that each person is respected and helped to reach his/her full potential no matter what the limitations imposed by fate. The entire family will find something to like in Dolphin Tale.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| DRIVE Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence, language and some nudity. Action/Crime/Drama 100 minutes
4 stars |
An edge-of-your-seat modern noir thriller, there are many tense moments in Drive. This kind of movie does its job when you can only guess at the ending after a number of twists and turns. And you know the lead actor is good when he plays an incommunicative individual so that you can pick up the nuances of the character without much history or dialogue. Ryan Gosling plays Driver with a quiet rage, startling the audience with his moments of tenderness even more than his explosive violence.
Driver works for Shannon (Bryan Cranston, nice job)--a weaselly fringe player in the LA scene--in his garage, but is also a stunt driver for movies. He knows Shannon’s taking advantage of him but doesn’t care. In his off-time he drives getaway cars for any criminals who hire him. Early scenes show his icy disposition and smarts in evading capture that make him particularly good in that role. Yet, Driver’s lack of fear and anomie hint at a dark past that is never revealed in the movie, and doesn’t need to be.
Shannon is involved with a shady producer named Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks, in a good turn) who he convinces that with Driver at the wheel of a race car they will score big. In turn Bernie informs his partner Nino (Ron Perlman), a nasty piece of work, who is reluctant but goes along with the plan. Tensions between them over previous deals that have gone wrong provide additional dread.
Driver meets a neighbor named Irene (Cary Mulligan, touching) a young woman with a child and a husband in prison. She brings out the protective side of Driver and he seems to like the little boy, too. When Irene’s husband gets out of prison, he is already in trouble from incidents that happened before he was sent away. Driver tries to help him out not knowing the back story, but sets in motion a complicated situation among crime bosses big and small, and the unfortunate marginal people who get in their way.
Hossein Amini’s taut screenplay adapted from the book by James Sallis balances tense scenes with shocking violence and only moments of respite. Nicolas Winding Refn’s excellent direction takes every advantage of the edgy story and actor that are a perfect fit. Cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel and editing by Matthew Newman are also notable.
Drive is an unembellished look at a seedy underside of LA, where criminals are as grimy as the exhaust from the cars that dominate the highways and back roads. There’s no glamour even with proximity to the movie industry. It’s a place where anyone can be a “producer” and make that mean anything. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| WARRIOR Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense mixed martial arts fighting, some language and thematic material. Action/Drama/Sport 140 minutes
4 stars |
Like movies that use sport as a framework for a deeper story, Warrior uses the sport of MMA, mixed martial arts. What it’s really about is a family torn apart by alcoholism, abuse, and years of built-up anger and recriminations that have left two brothers estranged and their father a broken-down mess. Powerful performances by Tom Hardy (Tommy), and Joel Edgerton (Brendan) with support from Nick Nolte (Paddy) as the father they both hate, is the heart of the movie.
Mixed martial arts may be the most raw and brutal sport, eclipsing boxing, as two men slug it out in a ring or more commonly for big fights a cage. It’s a sport known for no-holds-barred combat, and is difficult for many to watch although it is extremely popular right now. There are a combination of techniques using boxing, kicking, wrestling, and martial arts. The rules seem rather loose at times, though in the movie when someone is knocked out the referees do intervene to pull the opponent off an unconscious man. The fighters risk their bodies, health, and possibly even their lives.
Brendan the older brother has managed to build a stable life as a high school physics teacher. He married his high school sweetheart and has two little girls. But the younger girl had medical problems and he refinanced his house, which he is now on the verge of losing. Tommy comes back to Paddy’s house with no explanation where he’s been or what he’s been up to, but is seething with anger. Both men find out about a winner-take-all MMA tournament in Las Vegas and begin to train, Tommy with his father and Brendan with a reluctant old friend named Frank (well played by Frank Grillo). Both men make it to the tournament and see each other there for the first time in the movie. Tommy not only hates his father, but blames his older brother for what he sees as abandonment.
Writers Gavin O'Connor, Anthony Tambakis, and Cliff Dorfman have done a good job with the screenplay, cleverly holding back information about Tommy, feeding it periodically almost right up to the end of the movie so the audience understands why he is so damaged. This is one of the most realistic depictions on screen of the volcanic emotions that can result from the ruins of alcoholism. Director Gavin O’Connor draws excellent performances from the two leads, Mr. Nolte, and the supporting cast, and directs the fight scenes with no hesitation or apologies. Only occasionally is the movie heavy-handed when it isn’t necessary. It follows the conventions of underdog sports movies, except for the amount of tearful emotions it will cause in the audience.
What is very clear is that for men sport is often a substitute for war, hence the name of the film, and the soldiers shown prominently throughout. Yet, family relationships can also be as bloody, violent and crippling as this dangerous sport. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| CONTAGION Rated PG-13 for disturbing content and some language. Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller 102 minutes
3 stars |
Contagion is a well-made movie technically, but it is emotionally flat. For that reason it is difficult to get too worked up about this somewhat familiar sci-fi story of a world-wide pandemic virus, or the characters’ plight.
It starts out with an interesting premise. An air borne infection spreads incredibly fast, infecting people as they touch objects others have touched, and multiplying literally by the second. The audience first sees Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) on the phone talking to husband Mitch (Matt Damon). She returns from a business trip and is ill as she arrives home. It doesn’t take long before there are outbreaks all over the world as people cough all over each other and there is chaos in the streets of America as people panic.
And it doesn’t take long before the movie is moving back and forth between personal stories, the personnel at the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) in Atlanta trying to find a vaccine, a kidnapping in Asia, and a slimy blogger who offers his own questionable “cure.”
The strength of the movie is in the dread it evokes because it certainly seems reasonable that at some point humanity will be faced with its own updated version of the bubonic plague. Only this time there are many more people on the planet, and trying to save even a fraction of them would be overwhelming. As usual, people behave badly when confronted with their own mortality, some worse than others. Yet, there are the few self-sacrificing individuals who are the heroes who come through for the rest of us. Here it’s the scientists who methodically work to find the vaccine. Regrettably, a swat at nurses is taken as they are said to go on strike during the crisis abandoning their patients.
Considering all the talent involved like those mentioned above as well as Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, John Hawkes, Jude Law, and Jennifer Ehle, this movie is a let down. Director Steven Soderbergh has a style that offers much to admire, as well as managing the cinematography. He handles the large crowd scenes especially well, evoking exactly how it would feel when events become truly chaotic and out of control. Yet with as impressive a cast as has been assembled, the characters’ stories leave you without much to care about. It’s all so grim and very earnest. With so many characters to compete for our attention, there’s scant time for emotional variation or depth to develop. There is even a child who dies and isn’t referenced by the parent for the rest of the movie. If this is added to get an emotional reaction from parents in the audience, it doesn’t work. So why is he even in the story? And what’s with Jude Law and that strange front tooth? The pacing is off. The resolution happens hurriedly. This is not only improbable, but leaves the audience wondering how it came together that fast. With so many people dead and dying, so much criminal activity, so many official types stressed to the max, how could it occur so quickly?
How much you like this film depends on what you to look to for in the movie-going experience. Personally, I’d rather have a less well made movie, less intellectually realistic, but one where I connect with the characters and one that moves me. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE DEBT Rated R for some violence and language. Thriller/Crime/War Adaptation/Remake 114 minutes
4 stars |
Several years after World War II the hunt for Nazi war criminals is on in earnest. Some of them managed to slip away from the Allies in the last chaotic days of the war, especially those who had means like Dr. Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), the so-called “Surgeon of Birkenau” who experimented on prisoners including children. Understandably, the Israelis want to capture him very badly and bring him to Israel for trial. The Debt, adapted from a movie by Assaf Bernstein and Ido Rosenblum by writers Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman, and Peter Straughan, and well-directed by John Madden is a taut, intense, absorbing thriller. I don’t say this lightly. Because the subject matter is familiar we tend to see similar themes and situations in these kinds of films, but The Debt is different because of the plot twists and moral ambiguities of the story and characters, so we’re never quite sure how it will end.
The movie goes back and forth in time between 1966 when three young Israeli secret police--Mossad agents, Rachel Singer (Jessica Chastain), Stephan Gold (Marton Csokas), and David (Sam Worthington) are sent to find out if a gynecologist in East Berlin is the infamous doctor, kidnap him, and return him to Israel. The mission completed, the three agents, now over thirty years older in 1997, Rachel (Helen Mirren), Stephan (Tom Wilkinson), and David (Ciarán Hinds), have been held up as heroes all this time. But then the word is that Vogel is still alive.
What really happened? At first it may seem confusing because of the time switches, but all eventually gets explained. In fact, that’s the strength of this film. It juxtaposes past and present together so that the power of the incident becomes more important over time as it affects the lives of the three agents. Suspense builds, and things you think you know, are not quite what they seem.
The acting is first-rate starting with Helen Mirren’s Rachel who has to live with the consequences of unwise youthful decisions. Her world weary demeanor, hardened by years of bitter regret is moving, and as the film progresses it’s difficult not to root for her as she becomes awakened and wrestles with her conscience. As her younger self Jessica Chastain is smart but fragile and frightened in her first Mossad assignment. She is immediately drawn to David, played by Sam Worthington, damaged by losing his entire family in the war, and trying desperately not to care for anyone for fear of more loss, while trying to keep his rage in check. His older self played by the talented Ciarán Hinds really doesn’t resemble him much and this may take viewers out of the moments when he is on screen, yet he does a serviceable job as the older David. Tom Wilkinson and Marton Csokas as the older and younger Stephan respectively both bring a disturbing edge to a character who lacks scruples. Jesper Christensen is menacing as the war criminal without being stereotypical.
There is a difficult-to-watch, blame-the-victim moment when Vogel psychologically outwits the young agents who are guarding him. Yet, many other circumstances contribute to final outcome. Is their need to avoid failing the mission for the good of their country, or is it a convenient way to become the heroes they wanted to be? To be human is to make mistakes; to admit mistakes and set them right is to be truly heroic.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| SEVEN DAYS IN UTOPIA Rated G Drama/Sport 98 minutes
2½ stars |
Seven Days in Utopia is an interesting mix of inspirational Christian dialogue and motivating sports movie, but it doesn’t always work. The contrived plot has a young golfer, Luke Chisholm (Lucas Black) crash through a rancher’s gate in the small town of Utopia, Texas after a very public meltdown during a golf tournament. The rancher, Johnny Crawford (Robert Duvall), just so happens to have been a fine golfer in his time, but demons got to him and he left the game to retire in Utopia playing golf on his very own golf course, and dispensing wisdom. Johnny guarantees that if Luke spends seven days in Utopia with him, he will set him on the right course to success. This doesn’t just mean a good golf game; it means he will have restored faith and trust.
With not even 400 people in the town, they all seem to be especially nice to each other and kind and nice to Luke (eventually). There is an innocent love connection with a strikingly pretty aspiring horse whisperer named Sarah (Deborah Ann Woll), but this is secondary to Luke learning to control his emotions. Johnny takes him through several life “lessons” to teach him to trust. It even includes taking him up in a plane and turning off the engine so Luke can learn to keep his wits about him and land the plane.
Luke has a complicated relationship with his father who got him started in golf and rides him pretty hard. Yet it’s obvious that this, too, can be solved if Luke grows up. As the movie moves to the second half, the Christian element becomes more evident. Only seven days seems like a short time to learn all these lessons, but Luke turns out to be a quick student.
Robert Duvall has become the resident older wise man of movies, and why not? He’s believable as someone who has been through hard times and come out a better man on the other side. Melissa Leo does a nice job though she has a small part. Some of the other actors seem stiff and not convincing.
Golf is not the most action-packed game, so when Luke plays another tournament after his time in Utopia there is a device used to prolong the suspense. Some might find it manipulative. If you like the message of the movie, you may be more tolerant.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| COLOMBIANA Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, intense sequences of action, sexuality and brief strong language. Action/Adventure/Drama 107 minutes
3 stars |
This is one of those action movies that doesn’t have much basis in reality. The plot is an excuse for the action. As a young girl in Colombia, Cataleya Restrepo (played as the child by Amandla Stenberg) witnesses the death of her parents. She manages to escape to relatives in Chicago, but her mission is revenge. When her Uncle Emilio (Cliff Curtis) takes her in she is determined to become an assassin.
Zoe Saldana, Cataleya as an adult, is impressive and is one of the few women in movies who can carry off being an over-the-top action hero of this kind. You know the kind that is a one-woman wrecking crew with almost super-human feats of killing groups of armed men all by herself. She is slender but graceful, yet looks like she can handle herself. But even though she can be admired for her physicality, the story is familiar, except the killer is a woman. You can pretty much figure out what’s going to happen.
When Cataleya is given an assignment to kill someone, bad guys of course, she leaves a calling card, a drawing of an orchid, which is what the name Cataleya means. Eventually, this is what brings her to the attention of the FBI, and the original killers of her family. We don’t get to learn much else about her except the she has a hot boyfriend named Danny (Michael Vartan) whom she visits periodically who doesn’t know much about her either. Most of the scenes are showing Cataleya making her daring killings and escapes.
The casting shows some good choices with Amandla Stenberg convincing as the young, agile Cataleya. (She has been cast as Rue in The Hunger Games which makes sense after seeing her in this movie), also Lennie James as FBI agent Ross and Jordi Mollà as her nemesis Marco.
Director Olivier Megaton and screenwriters Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen don’t spend much time on character development instead preferring to focus on the action sequences, many of which are quite good. But it would have helped to have some detail as she is less of a character and more of a character type. Action fans will probably get exactly what they are looking for, and there’s even a hint of a sequel. If bloody violence is not for you, you may want to look elsewhere for entertainment. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| ANOTHER EARTH Rated PG-13 for disturbing Images, some sexuality, nudity and brief drug use. Drama/Sci-Fi 92 minutes
3½ stars |
What would happen if you did something unforgivable but had a second chance to redeem yourself? That is the basic premise of Another Earth. Like most independent films, it takes its time getting to it, but the pay off is there. What this movie escapes is the problem of most indies: they have great ambition but little budget to back it up. But here the clever, though flawed, story by writer/director Mike Cahill, written with the star of the movie, Brit Marling, makes the film feel expansive rather than closed in.
Not that everything fits neatly in this screenplay, in fact, like many sci-fi movies there is a heavy convenience factor to it. That means that physics is only partially given a nod. Brit Marling plays Rhoda Williams a very bright student going off to MIT. She is apparently obsessed with space, and on the way home from a party where she drinks too much she hears a report that scientists have discovered another earth that had been hiding behind the sun. Excuse me? While looking up at that earth she causes a tragic accident.
Fast forward four years and Rhoda is released from prison. Still devastated at what she has done to her life as well as a man involved in the accident Rhoda works as a maintenance person cleaning a high school. She sets out to apologize to the man she has wronged. Instead, she becomes involved with John Burroughs (William Mapother), once a talented music composer, by trying to help him. He is even more devastated than she is and sits almost catatonic in a dirty house.
As the story progresses, we are fed information about this other earth. There is a contest where people can be one of those going on a planned trip to the other earth. It is postulated that this planet is a “mirror image” of our earth so that if you go there, you will meet an exact double of yourself. This intriguing idea is what pushes Rhoda to enter the contest. What would a conversation be like? How strange would it be and who would take the lead “this me or that me?”
Brit Marling’s performance is strong. She doesn’t mope so much as make you feel her pain. William Mapother also does a good job as a man destroyed by fate. The big other earth provides good scenery but is a bit scary being so close to us. The music by a group called Fall On Your Sword fits in with the tone of the movie.
If you can accept the set-up of the movie and just go with it for what it is trying to say, you will get something out if it. If there are too many inconsistencies for you, no amount of good writing or acting will get you there. But all sci-fi is a leap of faith in service to ideas, so going with the flow is really not so preposterous. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| ONE DAY Rated PG-13 for sexual content, partial nudity, language, some violence and substance abuse. Drama/Romance/Adaptation 108 minutes
2½ stars |
One Day is a character driven movie adapted from his book of the same name by David Nicholls. The film follows Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess) during a twenty year period from their graduation day from college onward. Emma’s dream is to be a writer, Dexter’s dream is to live la dolce vita and tomorrow be damned. Though they try to make Anne Hathaway look plain and frumpy it doesn’t entirely work. To his credit Jim Sturgess goes through some noticeable physical changes during the course of the movie.
Emma is smitten by Dexter. Dexter is intrigued because she is so likeable, but he wants to party, party, party. There are some secondary characters who enter the scene like Dexter’s mother Allison, played by the always wonderful Patricia Clarkson, and a geeky suitor of Emma’s, but the movie heavily rests on the relationship between these two.
That’s the problem. I didn’t feel particularly moved by either one of them. It’s like watching a couple dance around being involved with each other for years when you are only mildly interested in the outcome. The characters wear each other out. I was worn out, too, but not for the right reason. It tries the patience of the audience because this movie is so s-l-o-w. It takes its sweet time especially since there really isn’t anything unusual about either one of these people. They tend to be stereotypical. In fact, you might feel tempted to yell at the screen for these to go get to it already.
Director Lone Scherfig works well with the actors who you can see are committed to the script, but the pacing is off. By the time you get to the climactic scene, you are startled, but not necessarily moved by what happens. Some editing would help, though the sequence of events is not totally linear.
Ms. Hathaway’s English accent wasn’t distracting, and seeing shots of modern day Europe is good for a change of scenery. But the look of a film is no substitute for content if it isn’t there. The book was probably able to go into much more detail about the characters thoughts and feelings. They did come across here, but lacked depth. There was some amusing dialogue here and there. What do we come out of the movie thinking of these characters’ lives? Don’t waste precious time. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE HELP Rated PG-13 for thematic material. Drama 137 minutes
4 stars |
We are all a product of our time, but how well we adapt to the constant change around us shows the degree to which we are, or are not, tuned into life. The Help, going back some fifty years, is about a transitional period in Mississippi during the 1960s when the civil rights movement was just beginning to become a reality and would eventually change the South forever. Not that it was easy. It would be many years and take terrible losses to bring a measure of equality. This movie, based on the novel of the same name, attempts a time warp with a twist, and is mostly successful.
Amidst the card-playing junior league young ladies with their teased hair and prejudice intact, a more progressive voice, that of wanna-be writer Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone) finds a job with a small local newspaper. She went to college instead of marrying and immediately having children like her friends. But her dream is to go to New York and become an honest-to-goodness writer. New York editor Elain Stein (Mary Steenburgen) tells Skeeter she needs a story with some real impact, something different before she hires her. Skeeter gets the idea to write about being a maid from the view of the Help, something not done before and arguably extremely dangerous for the maids.
Skeeter forms an alliance with two of the reluctant African-American women who after being subject to years of unjust treatment, decide to tell their stories. The secret meetings also jeopardize Skeeter’s relationships with her well off family and childhood friends who are perfectly satisfied with the status quo. Why wouldn’t they be? They are like kings and queens of their own little kingdoms, ordering people around and living by long outdated rules.
There has already been some backlash about the film. Yes, parts of it are stereotypical, not particularly original, and it doesn’t realistically portray the extreme violence of the era, though Medger Evers’ murder is touched on tangentially. We’ve seen it before, and Hollywood can annoyingly tend toward self-congratulation when showing how progressive they are with their creativity. Yet, the earnest performances of the actors, mostly female, raise the movie to another level.
Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark, the first maid to be willing to talk to Skeeter, always brings a quiet dignity to any role she plays, and here seems totally authentic. Octavia Spencer is likewise outstanding as the likable Minnie who provides humor and justified anger. Emma Stone is the spunky Skeeter who is conflicted about what is seen by others as betrayal, but believes she is doing the right thing. Allison Janney, as her mother Charlotte, wants her to be successful and follow the rules as she understands them. This is Bryce Dallas Howard’s best performance yet in a movie as Hilly Holbrook the bullying leader of the young women. Jessica Chastain, recently in The Tree of Life, does a nice job as Celia the sexy outcast wife of Hilly’s former boyfriend. Also deserving mention are Cecily Tyson, Sissy Spacek, Ahna O’Reilly, and just about everyone else.
Writer/director Tate Taylor obviously does a good job casting the movie. His adaptation of the novel by Kathryn Stockett provides the audience with more than enough righteous indignation to give an impression of the times, though surely the situations were much worse. Everything in the movie is purposely kept understated so as not to make it more sensational than necessary. There are some things that don’t work, like the dinner where Celia gets drunk. That scene in the second half fizzles, as do some others.
Whenever movies about controversial social issues are made there are those who complain that it isn’t accurate enough. This is a movie, not a documentary. Though the movie may indeed have reality issues, generally speaking the emotions it portrays are genuine and give it credibility, and that carries the day. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| 30 MINUTES OR LESS Rated R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, nudity and some violence. Action/Adventure/Comedy 83 minutes
2 stars |
Here we go again. This is another raunchy comedy for those who can’t get enough gross-out material in their lives. The premise of the movie is slight though not terribly bad. Two jerks, Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson) decide to kill Dwayne’s father for the money. To get the money for the hit, they kidnap a pizza delivery guy named Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), hook a bomb to him and tell him to rob a bank to get the $100,000 they need to pay off the contract killer Chango (Michael Peña). He enlists help from his former best friend Chet (Aziz Ansari) and the two bungle along.
The filmmakers purposely make Dwayne and Travis over the top, but the tone of the movie is off. Even at the short run time, I don’t want to spend time with these characters any longer than necessary, especially Dwayne who is plain nasty and mean-spirited. Yes, this scenario could happen, and humor could make the movie work, but in this particular situation, it doesn’t.
Jesse Eisenberg is a sympathetic character, almost, and that is thanks to his acting, but the other characters either evoke disgust or stupidity. There are two female actors in the cast: a stripper, and Chet’s pretty, level-headed sister. Both are accessories to the men, though Dilshad Vadsaria as Chet’s sister Kate has potential as an actor.
Nick and Chet had a fight that severed the friendship, yet when Nick goes to him for help he conveniently joins in a crime spree. They are two guys forced by circumstances into crime, but have played too many video games.
The setting of Grand Rapids, Michigan is appropriately gritty. The car Nick drives is the kind you see pizza delivery guys, mostly young, driving around in. It’s not a particularly uplifting job given the customers they have to deal with most of the time. Yet, other aspects of the script are questionable.
There is certainly an audience for this kind of offensive, blatantly demeaning, over-the-top comedy, but it’s not funny except for minor bits, and if it’s not even funny why does Hollywood need to spend millions of dollars funding it? Review by Ann Marie Oliva
THE PLANET OF THE APES |
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES PG-13 for violence, terror, some sexuality and brief strong language. Action/Drama/Sci-Fi 105 minutes
4½ stars |
The original Planet of the Apes (1968) was a cautionary tale. So is Rise of the Planet of the Apes. As human beings when we try to control our fate do we deny and defend the immoral implications of our actions or just look the other way? This prequel takes place in present day San Francisco where genetic testing on apes is taking place to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. For the ruthless man in control of the testing, Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo), it is a business about the bottom line. For researcher Will Rodman (James Franco) it is more personal as his father Charles (John Lithgow) is suffering from the disease. He has a more humanistic approach and treats the animals as the living beings they are.
When one of the apes escapes and creates havoc the research is halted. She was taking the experimental drug 112 that made her exceptionally smart. By the way, her name is Bright Eyes, the name given to the Charlton Heston character in the original movie. This and several other homages to the first movie, and best, in the series are placed strategically in the film. It turns out she was acting out of protection for her newborn. Not wanting to kill the infant, as all the other apes have been ordered to be killed, Will takes Caesar (another homage) home and ends up raising him. When he is accidentally injured he is taken to a sympathetic vet named Caroline Aranha (Frieda Pinto) who becomes romantically involved with Will.
The methodical development and pacing of the story is one of its strengths, even though not every single issue is addressed. Enough information is given to understand what is happening from beginning to end. Starting with Caesar’s physical and mental growth, his love of his adopted family, then his anger and bitterness against humans because of maltreatment, and finally using his superior intelligence to bring other apes up to his level, makes sense in the world of this movie. But, the most awkward moment may be the use of the famous quote from the 1968 movie, though it's saved by what follows.
The CGI is amazing. Andy Serkis’ portrayal of Caesar is outstanding, especially his eyes. Every little gesture of the ape tells us all we need to know. The apes have more honest emotion than most of the humans who are often devious and cruel. The special effects are also excellent, though some may have wished for more death and destruction. The extra long list of credits at the end show how much it took to pull off the movie.
James Franco, Frieda Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, and David Oyelowo do a nice job with their characters, though Tom Felton is a bit over the top as a brutal animal keeper. The movie really belongs to the “ape actors” and technical folks. Director Rupert Wyatt and writers Rick Jaffe and Amanda Silver have balanced ethical questions of the havoc we create against the hope of progress to stop disease and death. Yet, there is an ironic twist that shows man is often the cause of his own downfall.
If you are a fan of the original Planet of the Apes, you will almost certainly be in awe of this prequel. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE CHANGE-UP Rated R for pervasive strong crude sexual content and language, some graphic nudity and drug use. Comedy 101 minutes
1½ stars |
You can’t say Hollywood isn’t consistent. If a movie works, translation-—makes a lot of money—-they will keep doing the same basic movie over and over until the audience says “enough.” I reached that point with gross, raunchy, male buddy movies long ago. You know the kind, where every imaginable bodily function is seen as hilarious. Adolescent boys live for them, and when they grow up, they still love them. The problem is, it is the lowest form of humor. I use the word “humor” loosely here.
This excuse for making money has Jason Bateman playing Dave Lockwood and Ryan Reynolds is Mitch Planko, two guys who have been best friends since third grade. They took very different paths into their 30s. Dave is a hard-working lawyer with a big house, feisty wife named Jamie (Leslie Mann), and three kids including young twins. Mitch quit high school to be an actor and lives a playboy life to soothe the inner emptiness.
One night on an outing they get drunk and use a fountain to relieve themselves. The lights go out all around them, come back on, lightning strikes, and poof, they have switched bodies. That’s when the hilarity really begins. They screw up each other’s life, especially Dave, who as Mitch has to "act" in a light porn movie, yuck. Apparently, CGI is used even for actors' breasts. Yet, they are not very convincing. The skin on these “breasts” and other body parts are so taut and shiny they don’t look real, and in one scene there appears to be a dividing line between real and fake skin. Very provocative, don’t you think? Of course, many men couldn’t care less if things are real or not, thus breast implants are still popular.
Mitch, is a smug jerk at Dave’s job and almost gets him fired, and pushes Dave (as himself) into a date with Dave’s gorgeous assistant Sabrina (Oliva Wilde). The always watch able Alan Arkin shows up as Mitch’s dad in a thankless role. In fact, the whole movie is superficial trying to sell us that this story says something about friendship and finding yourself.
Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds are both engaging actors and do their best with the little they are given, but not even their efforts can mask the vulgar, crudeness of this movie. But, if you like vulgar and crude movies with little redeeming merit, go for it. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| COWBOYS & ALIENS Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference. Action/Sci-Fi/Western 118 minutes
3½ stars |
If you go to a movie called Cowboys & Aliens don’t expect Shakespeare. What you should expect is a fun time at the movies. You get that here. The mixing of the western and sci-fi genres works for the most part. Who would have thought it? The basic premise is that aliens invade an area of New Mexico in the mid-1800s with their space crafts and kidnap some of the humans they are attacking. The cowboys don’t know why but don’t like it one little bit and decide to rescue them by following a wounded alien into the desert.
It opens as Jake (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the desert to find himself injured with some kind of strange mechanical device on his wrist. He can’t remember who he is or how he got there, but the scene shows him to be tough and ruthless when three robbers come by. He heads into the town of Absolution, a dry, dusty main street of buildings where Jake finds out he’s a wanted criminal.
When Sheriff John Taggart (Keith Carradine) realizes Jake is wanted he puts him in a wagon with Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), the obnoxious son of civil war hero Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) who accidentally shoots a deputy. But before they can leave the town is attacked by, you guessed it, alien space ships. These ships grab some of the town folk right off the street and take them into the sky and away. Only Jake with his wristlet that turns out to be a powerful weapon seems to defend against the creatures. He’s followed around by a mysterious woman named Ella (Olivia Wilde) who makes obtuse comments to him.
When they realize one of the aliens is wounded in the attack, the sheriff and Dolarhyde form a posse, including the Doc (Sam Rockwell), an associate of Dolarhyde, Nat Colorado (Adam Beach), and others to go after it into the dessert and destroy them all. They run into a nasty robbery gang, Indians, and more aliens then they, or we, could imagine.
The movie is long and some scenes seem to be extended beyond what is necessary. The CGI is good though the aliens are not especially original. The cinematography of the landscape evokes some of the ground-breaking westerns of earlier times. The cast does a fine job, especially Daniel Craig who seems to have the steely cowboy stare down pat. It has its share of violent scenes, but is enjoyable sci-fi silliness all the way. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE Rated PG-13 for coarse humor, sexual content and language. Comedy/Drama/Romance 118 minutes
3½ stars |
This movie surprised me. It’s better than the trailer leads you to believe. The script with its intertwining plots is clever, if a bit too long. Yes, there is some corn, and the requisite cringe-inducing speech, but overall it’s an enjoyable comedy with some darker elements thrown in. Part of what makes the story smart is that it doesn’t talk down to the audience. There are no perfect people here. Steve Carell plays Cal Weaver, a man stuck in a rut. He’s so numb that he barely reacts in a restaurant when his wife Emily, played by the always intriguing Julianne Moore, tells him she wants a divorce. He’s so removed from his life that he seems lost with or without his family.
Cal leaves his home and gets an apartment but wants to keep in contact with his two children. Jonah Bobo plays his lovesick thirteen year old Robbie who is madly in love with the babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton) who actually has a crush on Cal.
Now single, Cal makes his way to a bar and whines about the state of his life. A womanizing player named Jacob played by the cut Ryan Gosling decides to show Cal how to improve his luck with women. These scenes are funny and real enough to cause lots of laughter in the audience as the fumbling Cal gets a make-over but still strikes out to a depressing degree. Why? He’s too nice. It turns out Jacob tells him to insult the women then compliment them like you’re doing them a favor when you take them home. What does that say about women? Will they do anything for approval? There is one woman who turns Jacob down seeing through the shallowness. Hannah (Emma Stone), who is studying to take the bar, is in love with someone else, but has her own blind spots.
As Cal is trying to adjust to being newly single estranged wife Emily is dating an accountant at her firm named David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon) who doesn’t seem any cooler than Cal except he pays attention to Emily instead of taking her for granted.
The directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and writer Dan Fogelman bring all the storylines together in an ambitious plot. By the end of the movie we are surprised with some funny reverses. If it sags from the weight of a bit too much it’s forgivable since the cast keeps us interested. Nice job by all. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
THE FIRST AVENGER |
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence & action. Action/Adventure/Adaptation 130 minutes
4 stars |
It tells you a lot about the 1940s Marvel Comics character Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) soon to become Captain America, and the thinking of the time, that he tries over and over to enlist in the military during World War II. He’s rejected because he has the body of an underweight pre-teen boy (with the CGI excellent here putting the actor’s head atop someone else’s slight body). But that’s before he consents to an experimental procedure that turns him into a superhero, and the first avenger. The 1940s seem innocent and quaint; the “greatest generation” loyal, hard-working, self-sacrificing, and feeling obligated to save the world.
Steve participates in the experiment because German scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) sees his determination and decides this is the type of person who will be the first of the super soldiers that will win the war. The experiment works, but immediately afterwards evil Nazi officer Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) sends his forces to disrupt and destroy it. He is in possession of a magic “cosmic cube” which he uses to create his super weapons to fight the Americans. Yet, Steve Rogers is a superior human specimen and with help from inventor Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) he acquires an unbreakable shield that he can also use as a weapon. He doesn’t have super powers but he can leap, fight, and think faster than an ordinary human.
At first he is used poorly in the war effort and only travels around helping to gain support for the war by selling war bonds. Although SSR officer Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), also his love interest, believes in Steve, Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) does not until Captain American becomes an actual hero and saves lives. Of course, he faces the evil Schmidt again and his HYDRA forces which is his own private group apart from the NAZIS.
The movie has amusing self-mocking dialogue, yet is violent with many explosions and killings. The sci-fi aspect is an interesting mix with the World War II ethos. Overall the acting is good with Chris Evans an appealing, believable hero. Hayley Atwell is well-cast as the smart, tough female soldier. Tommy Lee Jones’ crusty colonel is not much of a stretch for him, but enjoyable all the same. Hugo Weaving makes a good villain, though his red skull is one of the few special effects that isn’t convincing.
Captain America is long at over two hours and sags in the middle, but is action packed enough with high-stakes episodes to keep viewer interest. The CGI and special effects are well done with the movie having high production values. Although it’s probably helpful you don’t need to be a fan of the comic book series to understand what’s going on. Captain America was created in a more innocent era and shows those good old-fashioned virtues. The ending is rather abrupt and slightly awkward, but that’s because Steve is meant to live on past this movie. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
WITH BENEFITS |
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS Comedy/Romance Rated R for sexual content and language. 107 minutes
4 stars |
The key to a successful romantic comedy is the chemistry between leading man and woman since the plot complications are likely repetitious or slight variations from many previous, similar genre films. But the right couple, equally matched, can make it more than tolerable, in fact quite enjoyable. Friends With Benefits has the magic formula embodied in two appealing young stars who seem to be having a great time and so we, the audience, do too.
Dylan, the graphic designer, portrayed by Justin Timberlake, and Jamie the personal head hunter, played by Mila Kunis, are attractive, bright, personable individuals. As are the actors. Timberlake has terrific comic timing while Kunis is masterful at suggesting the vulnerability behind her tough demeanor and their interplay between, and versus, each other is delightful and, more, convincingly believable. Not that the characters are perfect. They have their faults and griefs, not least of which is both have suffered, even recently, failed romances leaving them at a cynical stage in terms of the opposite sex and shy of entering into new relationships.
The possibility of Dylan and Jamie hooking up is remote at first. She is recruiting him to work at GQ and he isn’t particularly eager to leave his life and website in Los Angeles. It’s strictly business. Jamie knows that to get Dylan to accept the job she must sell him on New York and she takes him about the city which, to be honest, has looked much better in other films (Woody Allen’s for one). Still he accepts the job and moves east. Being alone, Jamie befriends Dylan and there comes the inevitable moment (as suggested, duh, by the title) when they agree to sleep with one another with no strings attached. They are, to put it mildly but not luridly, sexually compatible and it’s fun to watch them clinically directing and instructing one another on their individual preferences.
A dandy touch, thanks to writers Keith Merryman, David A. Newman and Will Gluck (based on a story by Harley Peyton, Merryman and Newman) is the larger awareness of Dylan and Jamie who comment and joke about the conventions of romantic comedies culminating in the incorporation of an overwhelmingly fake, clichéd, romantic comedy the couple watch on television. Also, entertaining is witty dialogue delivered in a staccato pace, all of it delivered with confidence and flair.
Of course, Jamie and Dylan are made for each other as the skilled and spot on supporting actors recognize – Patricia Clarkson as Jamie’s free spirited mother Lorna, Woody Harrelson as Dylan’s horny gay sports columnist colleague Tommy, Jenna Elfman as Dylan’s older and kindly sister Annie, and Richard Jenkins as Dylan’s insightful though Alzeheimer afflicted father. But there is time to fill, so Jamie and Dylan decide to date others. Things do not go well. Surprise and to console Jamie, Dylan takes her home to his family in Los Angeles. More complications to keep the pair apart ensue. But if not, how to justify the grand reconciliation and admittance that, yes, love has bloomed despite their initial and best intentions otherwise? And darned if we aren’t glad.
Will Gluck, mentioned above as one of the writers, as director here does an admirable job with the material making even the more familiar bits and plot devices palatable and he elicits fine, nuanced, sincere, and fun performances from his actors, one and all. As for Justin and Mila, they continue to impress. It’s easy to believe they will both have long, proud careers.
Friends With Benefits – Winning romance for the modern age (the 2010s). Review by Charles Zio
THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 |
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 Rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence & frightening images. Action/Adventure/Drama 130 minutes
5 stars |
It’s finally here, and what a payoff! The last movie is an excellent end to ten years of Harry Potter movies and fourteen years of the beloved book series. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I was literally a drag. So there was some trepidation that Part II would not be able to close out the series with any real impact. But it is a winner all the way.
As mentioned Part I dragged, but this movie doesn’t waste any time, and is exciting from the minute it opens, and that is 130 minutes of rapid resolutions to previous story lines that converge to a satisfying conclusion. If you read the books you know how it all ends, but that doesn’t take away from the electrifying presentation.
This is Harry Potter’s movie all the way. Harry Potter, as he was always meant to, finally grows up. When the first book was published Harry was more of a victim, and he continued to be unsure of himself and the world of wizards. Now Harry is a true hero. Daniel Radcliff has grown up, too. He looks more masculine and rugged here then even in the more recent films. He’s become a nuanced actor who can hold the screen, and makes you believe in his character. Emma Watson and Rupert Grint are solid as well and the emotional tug of this ending feels real.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron continue from Part I to try to find the Horcruxes and eliminate them so they can destroy Voldemort freeing everyone from his evil. It’s a fight to the death between Harry and Voldemort and only one can survive. Ralph Fiennes embodies the deadly wizard with great style. He sets his massive evil army against the good forces and a terrible, costly war takes place. If you don’t know already, you can guess that there are sad consequences to these vicious clashes. Alan Rickman brings Servius Snipe full-circle, too, in a touching, fully realized performance.
Director David Yates has done a fine job with both the live cast, and the CGI. The actors who added so much to the series have their final scenes and we’ll miss them: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Helen Bonham Carter, Gary Oldman, Emma Thompson, David Thewlis, Jason Isaacs, Julie Walters, and Richard Griffiths among other fine actors. A dark, almost gray, look adds to the ominous tone. A white dragon, huge stone soldiers, roller coaster-like travel, broken bridges, and deep drop offs from high places keep the audience involved in the brisk pace that doesn’t allow for any sagging of interest. Harry faces his demons finally and at last.
The resolution to the series is both satisfying and a bit sad. There is delight at the well-done conclusion, but there is also a feeling of loss. After so many years of Harry the young boy to Harry the great wizard, the investment by audiences has been considerable. How gratifying for loyal readers and viewers that the end has lived up to the beginning. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| WINNIE THE POOH Rated G Animation/Family 68 minutes
4 stars |
For those tired of slick high-tech, shiny, frantic animation Winnie the Pooh is a refreshing change of pace for the youngest moviegoers. Make no mistake, though, for those of all ages, including adults who loved Pooh as a child, this is a sweet movie. The beloved A.A. Milne bear comes to life in an animation that feels like it could have come from the past. Yet, the colors are vibrant and the gentle, sly humor gives it the touches of modern day. The characters are there: Christopher Robin (voice of Jack Boulter), the boy who talks to the animals in Hundred Acre Woods, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger (voice of Jim Cummings), and Eeyore (voice of Bud Luckey). Craig Ferguson adds to the fun as the voice of Owl, the not-so-wise bird. John Cleese is the narrator.
It seems Eeyore has lost his tail and can’t figure out where he misplaced it. Christopher Robin decides to have a contest to see who can find the best replacement. Winnie finds a note that Christopher leaves, but it is misinterpreted and “back soon” is thought to be the “Backson” a dreaded monster. As their imaginations carry them away, the group digs a pit to catch the monster only to create more problems for them.
A connection is made between the movie and the books as the letters of the words move and tumble as part of the images on-screen in a creative way. Also, the red balloon dances and lifts its way throughout the movie.
Though the movie is on the short side at 69 minutes, this is actually a good length for young children who are potentially the largest number of viewers of this Winnie the Pooh. Also, before the movie there is a short about Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster who needs to find a new home. This would probably be a good introduction the big screen for children (depending on the individual child) who may not be able to sit through an almost two hour movie.
Overall, this is sweet, delightful, thoroughly enjoyable Winnie the Pooh.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| HORRIBLE BOSSES Rated R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language and some drug material. 100 minutes
3 stars |
Who hasn’t had a bad boss? In difficult times, when people need to hold on as long as they can no matter how terrible the situation, leaving a bad job may not be an option. From that perspective, Horrible Bosses is a movie people may want to see. It’s yet another revenge fantasy, but with plenty of angst to back it up. Does it make you feel better to commiserate with others?
Three friends, Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale, (Charlie Day), and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) each have problem bosses. Nick’s boss Dave (Kevin Spacey) is an obnoxious tyrant who mercilessly taunts him. Dale’s boss dentist Julia (Jennifer Aniston) is sexually harassing him, yes, you read that right. Kurt’s boss Bobby (Colin Farrell) is a narcissistic coke-snorting bully. Their friendship seems cobbled together, like most of this movie. They complain to each other about their bosses more than once as desperation sets in for each of them.
The most unbelievable boss is Julia: Jennifer Aniston as oversexed boss. In a dark wig with bangs she certainly looks like a siren, but would she really go after someone like Dale? His reason for denying her his unimpressive body is that he’s engaged. Would many males let that stop them? Doubtful. Men apparently feel comfortable writing male fantasies in the midst of buddy comedies. Kurt tries to get any good-looking woman that moves and so doesn’t understand Dale’s dilemma. Jason Bateman is the likeable “normal” one whose lines are delivered in such an understated manner it is hard to hear him sometimes. Kevin Spacey, as his boss, is playing a variation of parts he has played before and one can understand Nick’s strong urge to do him harm and shut his smug mouth.
The men decide they are going to eliminate their “problems” but are totally inept. When they’ve bungled enough situations they decide to call in an expert. Their questionable tactics, and this movie, may make you groan as they go to a bar filled with scowling African-American men. But Jamie Foxx saves this part of the movie with a winning performance.
The Hangover this is not, it’s closer to The Hangover Part II in its idiocy. These buddy movies are crude and seem to have an adolescent obsession with bodily functions. Trying to out-gross previous buddy movies is not a reason for being. Yet, there are some funny lines and situations almost in spite of the low brow comedy . If you are not a delicate flower, this may be just your type of movie. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| ZOOKEEPER Rated PG for some rude and suggestive humor, and language. Comedy/Family/Romance 104 minutes
2 stars |
Talking animals in the movies is nothing new; the same goes for Zookeeper. Although that premise may still have potential, it’s not used to best advantage here. Kevin James plays Griffin Keys, a sensitive, lovable loser. This is a role he is quite familiar with and plays with ease. There is something likeable and non-threatening about his demeanor so it’s not a stretch to think animals would like him better than most humans.
As the movie opens Griffin the zookeeper is rejected by his beautiful girlfriend Stephanie (Leslie Bibb). Broken-hearted he retreats into his job and pours his heart into loving the animals.
Fast-forward five years. He and another zoo worker named Kate (Rosario Dawson, very appealing) have a good rapport, but he is suspicious of caretaker Shane (Donnie Wahlberg, who seems to enjoying playing against type as a jerk). Griffin’s brother Dave (Nat Faxon) comes to a zoo party to announce his engagement. Okay, kind of a stretch, but this is a fantasy so you go with it. Anyway, Stephanie shows up at the party and bats her eyes at Griffin who never got over her.
This is where the animals decide they must help Griffin find his inner animal to win back the girl of his dreams. Some cute and silly scenes follow as they give him advice from their own particular animal species play book. The filmmakers have famous people voicing the animals: Nick Nolte is the gorilla, Adam Sandler is the monkey, Sylvester Stallone is the male lion, Cher is the lioness, Judd Apatow is the elephant, Jon Favreau is one bear, Faizon Love is the other, Maya Rudolph is the giraffe, Bas Rutten is the wolf, Don Rickles is the frog, Jim Breuer is the crow, and Richie Minervini as the ostrich. It’s difficult to say what prompted these well-known people to be involved in voicing the animals, but it was not easy to identify many of them.
Nick Nolte has the most lines as Bernie the Gorilla who has been confined to a small space and is depressed. Of course, Griffin and he form a special bond, and though the gorilla itself looks realistic you may still be surprised by their adventurous night on the town. But most of the movie is about Griffin’s attempts to win back the beautiful, but superficial woman he lost, when the perfect woman is right under his nose all along.
The movie is uneven and once you get used to the talking animals, the rest of the movie is clichéd, and not especially funny. It’s mild enough for children who will understand the simple plotting, and like to see the animals, though with some of the spectacular children’s movies out there this may have trouble competing. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
DARK OF THE MOON |
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON Rated PG-13 for intense prolonged sequences of sci-fi action violence, mayhem and destruction, and for language, some sexuality and innuendo. Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi 157 minutes
4 stars |
Once again and all in good fun, it’s Autobots versus Decepticons with a feisty hero, a showcase girlfriend, some eccentric characters, and a valiant military culminating in an extended, bursting, fiery duel between good and evil transformable motor vehicles with, naturally, the fate of the world and mankind in the balance. It’s a summer movie. And it works very, very well.
The “Dark of the Moon” subtitle refers to an escaped airship from the planet Cybertron that would have afforded the Airbots victory against the Decepticons if it had not crashed on the far side of earth’s moon. This occurrence, monitored by U.S. intelligence, is the reason John Kennedy initiated the race to the moon. Further, the astronauts, sworn to secrecy, find the giant ship and bring back some materials that are kept under lock and key. It doesn’t matter that this exposition, or just about any of it, is coherent or makes sense. It’s pretext for the big battle to come and, let’s face it, that’s why viewers are paying for admission.
Though Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBoeuf, better than ever) is on hand, he has been marginalized by not being able to find a job after college and by being financially supported by his new girlfriend Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, whose limited rote acting is secondary to her full lips and long legs in very short skirts). Fortunately, an entertaining group of actors appear in the first half of the film and their eccentric and comedic bits provide nourishment through the dry patch of plot points. Among those in attendance – Kevin Dunn and Julie White as Sam’s parents, Ron and Judy (equally delightful); John Malkovich (savoring every second) as Bruce Brazos, the wacko boss who finally hires Sam, believably for the mail room; John Turturro (stealing every scene) as Simmons, an author expert on bots; Alan Tudyk as Dutch, Simmons’ barely contained right hand; and most especially Frances McDormand as Mearing, the hard as nails head of intelligence, a pleasure to behold in action. The human villain (come on, you know there had to be at least one) is Dylan (Patrick Dempsey, nicely done). In the opposite camp will be found the heroic, too good to be true, Josh Duhamel (Lennox) and Tyrese Gibson (Epps). There’s even a cameo by a Fox network star and Leonard Nimoy is the voice of Sentinel Prime, a major player in the action.
The payoff of the various bits and pieces to which those named above contribute is an epic, elongated, shifting balance, conflagration of forces in the streets of Chicago. Even if it’s often implausible and at times hard to follow, it’s a rollicking show. The 3D is interesting here and there but, frankly, is not essential to one’s viewing pleasure.
The script by Ehren Kruger has light moments of genuine humor and leavens the movie seemingly just when it’s needed most, even if logic is not always evident. Michael Bay has proven a master of loud, flashy, steamroller action movies and he succeeds admirably here. The tech elements are topnotch, every single one. There isn’t much to disappoint. So, as one movie chain advises – “Sit back and enjoy the show.”
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Not brilliant but shines neat and bright. Review by Charles Zio
| LARRY CROWNE Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some sexual content. Comedy/Drama/Romance 99 minutes
2 stars |
In these times of down-sizing, it’s not a stretch to believe that an employee can be let go, but when the employee is fired for not having a college degree yet he works in a minor sales job where he doesn’t need one, it becomes suspect. This right after we learn he has been named as an outstanding employee eight times. It is one of those small annoying points in this movie that doesn’t quite make sense.
Yes, it’s sentimental. Yes, it's too saccharine. Yes, it’s slow. But the most damage is done by a script (co-written by Tom Hanks and Nia Vardalos) that is only mildly funny at times, and worst of all, is rather dull and uninteresting.
Tom Hanks is, as always, the likable every man actor who plays the title role. He is also the co-writer, co-producer and director. His good guy image is not in jeopardy in any way here. Yet, what would have helped the most is lacking: there is no edginess to make his character convincing or out of the ordinary. It’s more like he’s your amiable Uncle Bill who is big-hearted, but more than a little bit square. Larry loses his job, and despite being a Navy veteran, is out of money because of a divorce. He buys a scooter from his neighbor Lamar (Cedric the Entertainer) and travels to the community college to take courses. On the way to the first class he meets a fellow scooter rider named Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, pretty and vibrant), who for some unknown reason takes a shine to the old guy and decides to do a make-over on him. Another unbelievable corny moment.
In class viewers meet assorted types who are there instead of more lofty college institutions. (For actual original, funny bits about community college filled with peculiar characters, the television show “Community” offers more than this movie.) The first teacher is an unhappily married lush named Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts). Since it’s a speech class we are subjected to silly speeches by her students about various inane subjects. George Takei plays an economics professor in a rather embarrassing performance. Bryan Cranston's character is so obnoxious he seems to be in another movie.
Julia Roberts still looks good, although a dazzling smile is not a substitute for acting. She and Mr. Hanks try hard to create some chemistry, but this pairing would be very doubtful even in the real world.
A movie doesn’t need car crashes, explosions, or violence to be exciting, but then it absolutely must have compelling characters and a well-written script. Sadly, both are missing here. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| CARS 2 Rated G Animation/Adventure/Comedy 113 minutes
3 stars |
The real test of a beloved movie, despite how much money it does or does not make, or the critics, is those who love it. In the case of Cars that’s mostly little boys and many parents. In the case of Cars 2 that would be---less people I’m guessing. At first it seems fine, but as with many sequels it goes off course. When I reflected on it I realized it’s not for the same audience as Cars and here’s why: it has too much emphasis on Mater (the tow truck voiced by Larry the Cable Guy), the plot is too complicated for small kids, and it’s not nearly as sweet and cozy as Cars. It’s a bit surprising that cars actually crash and “die.” On the good side, the animation is well done, although again, as in so many movies lately, the 3D is not really necessary.
Where Cars was folksy, Cars 2 goes for an international flavor. Oh yes, and there’s a subplot about big oil, and spies. Really? Do we need this in a children’s movie when younger children will have no idea what that is supposed to represent?
While in Radiator Springs Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) is challenged by an Italian car named Francesco Bernoulli (voice of John Turturro). Lightning McQueen heads overseas to race in the Grand Prix. Mater wangles his way to go along and that’s where the character of Mater pretty much takes over the rest of the movie by his naïve behavior. He makes mistakes and even Lightning McQueen gets frustrated with him. He’s not the only one. I’d rather they left him as a supporting character.
Quite a bit goes on with the various subplots and Finn McMissile (voice of Michael Caine) and Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) provide the “good guy” back-up support for Mater.
There are some clever touches like announcer Brent Musburger becoming Cars 2 announcer Brent Mustangburger. Also in the voice cast: Eddie Izzard, Joe Mantegna, Thomas Kretschmann, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, even Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave among others. Among the racing set voicing characters: Darrell Waltrip as Darrell Cartrip and Jeff Gordon as Jeff Gorvette.
Pixar has dazzling animation and always provides a visual banquet for viewers.
Yet, European locations and witty casting doesn’t make up for the lack of familiarity and folksy simplicity that is something Cars 2 has to contend with this time around, and which Cars had in abundance.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| BUCK PG for thematic elements, mild language and an injury. Documentary/Biopic 98 minutes
4 stars |
Documentaries about hero-type loners don’t usually come across as good as this one about Buck Brannaman. He’s considered the original “horse whisperer” that there has been so much talk about. It got him a job as consultant to Robert Redford’s 1998 movie based on the Nick Evans novel “The Horse Whisperer”. But actually, in some ways Buck’s story comes off as more compelling than the movie.
As a boy Buck’s father, a raging, abusive alcoholic pressed his two young sons, Buck being the younger, into the limelight by making them appear in rodeos and shows doing tricks. When their mother dies, Buck and his brother are severely beaten on a regular basis. Buck’s coach at school sees the welts one day resulting in he and his brother taken from the father and put in foster care. The couple that raised him are true heroes and his foster mother appears in the documentary.
What does this have to do with training horses? Everything. Because of Buck’s past, he decides to go the opposite of his father’s brutal ways and respect and preserve the dignity of all living things. Buck takes a firm, but gentle approach with the animals, never beating them but understanding that fear is what drives most bad behavior. He also calls out owners of problem horses telling them they are the cause of the animals’ misbehavior.
This is illustrated best by an incident that stuns the audience, which I won’t reveal here. Yet it shows that sometimes so much damage has been done that there is no coming back. This incident makes the documentary all the more powerful.
Robert Redford is interviewed and adds authenticity to Buck’s outstanding skill with horses by describing what happened in the making of the movie. We meet his wife and his youngest daughter. The family closeness is very apparent. Though Buck lives a solitary life on the road traveling forty weeks a year to various camps, farms, and ranches, his family is clearly his priority.
It would have been easy for Buck to make excuses for being a damaged adult with his sad past, but he exemplifies that we all have choices. He states this in the movie so there’s no mistake where he stands. Even with a bad start, most horses and people can come around and be saved. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| BAD TEACHER Comedy Rated R for sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use. 92 minutes
3 stars |
Some parts of this movie made me cringe, though admittedly I did laugh. This is a fun cast, and if the story had not been so determined to be raunchy it could have been a pretty good comedy, but the crude elements tend to wipe out the gains. Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) is the teacher from hell and opposite everything a good teacher should be, especially after her rich boyfriend dumps her. She has to return to teaching, but her one goal is to land a rich husband. She thinks she finds that in the person of Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake) a nerdy rich substitute teacher who is more attracted to rival teacher Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch).
Elizabeth shows her class movies like “Stand and Deliver” for about half the school year. In the meantime, she lets the shy teacher Lynn Davies (Phyllis Smith) in on her plans to save enough money to have a breast enlargement. The gym teacher Russell Gettis (Jason Segal) has a thing for Elizabeth but takes her continued rejection good-naturedly.
Of course, this is a very unusual middle-school. The principal Wally Snur (John Michael Higgins) is oblivious to everything except his dolphin collection, and doesn’t believe Amy when she tries to tell him of Elizabeth’s shenanigans. For instance, there is a 7th grade car wash. When Elizabeth finds out they made thousands of dollars, she shows up in a sexy outfit and pockets some of the money. The most outlandish scenes in the movie take place when she finds out the teacher with the highest standardized test scores gets a bonus. She finds the address of the test-making location and uses outrageously brazen actions to get key information.
I know this is supposed to be broad comedy, and Elizabeth is a character who says what everyone is thinking but afraid to say, but she has absolutely no filter and the filmmakers don’t know when to pull back from the coarseness of the material. Excessive drinking, drugs, sex, stealing doesn’t seem to phase anyone, including the parents. By the time we get some humanity out of the character, who cares?
Cameron Diaz brings a special twist as the pretty, if over the top, decadent teacher in the lead role. She and hilarious Lucy Punch show that feminine can be funny, and that is a plus for the movie. Justin Timberlake plays against type as a downright weird and unlikable character, whereas Phyllis Smith is totally likeable. The younger actors service the plot, but this isn’t their movie.
I can’t resist. Bad Teacher should have had better supervision and should stay after school for detention. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE TREE OF LIFE Rated PG-13 for some thematic material. Drama/Action/Adventure 138 minutes
4 stars |
Writer/director Terrence Malick is not one to spoon feed audiences. He presents his unique vision and lets you decide what you take away from it. Only Mr. Malick would attempt this kind of movie, and you probably have not seen anything like it. This is a film that you interpret through the prism of your life experience. The visuals are beautiful, yet the story is non-linear, and may even be frustrating and confusing. It comes across more like impressions and memories of an unhappy childhood. But if you can deal with ambiguity you may find it very intriguing. It starts from the beginning of time when there are spectacular explosions and eruptions and takes us to a modern day city where a man named Jack (Sean Penn) suffers with existential angst over his meaning in the universe.
The main storyline takes place during Jack’s childhood in 1950s Texas. His father Mr. O’Brien (Brad Pitt) looms large in his life. Yet his father is a frustrated, gloomy man who wanted to be a serious musician but had to work at factory jobs he considered beneath him. Mr. O’Brien believes he is teaching his sons the correct way a man takes care of his family, but he is actually a bully to his three children and his wife (Jessica Chastain) an ethereal goddess to her sons. Being the oldest son Jack (Hunter McCracken) is the most rebellious and prone to fighting with his father. The middle son R.L. (Laramie Eppler who looks so much like him he could be Mr. Pitt’s real life son) is the sensitive one who seems to have inherited his father’s talent for music. The youngest son is overshadowed by everyone else in the family.
As Jack grows he becomes angrier and questions everything his father says and does. He watches him trying to understand this man who has such a hold over him. His father can be loving and sincere one minute and insensitive and distant the next. His mother seems like a trapped animal, loving all the males in her life, but helpless against her husband’s abusive power over the family. She exists partially in a fantasy world that she creates to relieve the dread of her life.
The movie is long, over two hours. Brad Pitt is very good and quite frightening as the father. Jessica Chastain is lovely and fragile, both physically and emotionally.
What does it all mean? That’s exactly the question this film asks. For me, it seems to be about the inter-connectedness of life. We are unique yet part of a continuum that has existed for millions of years. There are aspects of religion and other symbols that probably have meaning for the filmmaker, but I can’t say I understand what they mean. Maybe in the end it is about a son finally forgiving his father, since the father does the best he can given the circumstances of his life. Or maybe not. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| GREEN LANTERN Rated PG-13 for intense sequencesof sci-fi violence and action. Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/ Fantasy/Adaptation 103 minutes
2 stars |
This movie goes wrong in a number of ways. The animation has a cold look to it with the bright green lights and neon not helping, and sometimes even looking ugly. 3-D does not help. The pacing is off and the screenplay doesn’t take time to develop the characters so those not familiar with the Green Lantern are left to fend for themselves. Since the characters are not developed, there is no empathy or sympathy. Ryan Reynolds is fine and tries hard, but this is in a no-win situation, as good-looking and physically well-muscled as he might be. His chemistry with Blake Lively is slight at best even as attractive a couple as they are together.
Hal Jordon (Mr. Reynolds) has father issues that have tortured him since childhood and have put him in the position of being a total screw-up. He’s a pilot, but resists following any rules so he’s a handful to deal with because he is so good at flying. He is “chosen” by the ring from a dying alien that turns him into the Green Lantern. What’s missing here is any excitement at all. Sure he gets plenty of super powers. Then why does it feel so ho-hum?
This is where the movie really begins to go down a distasteful path. An old acquaintance of Hal’s, Professor Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), gets pricked by outer space matter and begins to change into a grotesque being. He is a mean, detestable nerd who treats everyone poorly including his father Senator Hammond (Tim Robbins). I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cringe at this casting, as is the case with most of these roles. It doesn’t help that the cinematography shows most of the actors in unflattering light. Supposedly, Hector has always loved Carol Ferris (Ms. Lively) but his love and longing for her is not moving or believable in the least.
Hal has been up in space now and then trying to learn to be the best lantern he can be. Intergalactic space police, the group he now belongs to, try to teach him but Hal is a slow learner. Even the giant heads who supposedly hold all kinds of wisdom (and look like they have big clear light bulbs over their skulls) are not impressed by him. Yet we are told over and over the ring doesn’t make mistakes.
Sure, efforts were made to be amusing here and there and to make points about good and evil. You just know what’s going to happen and who is going to be a hero, don’t you? But getting there should be fun/interesting/something, and this wasn’t. The main reason? You don’t care about these characters. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
PENGUINS |
MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS Comedy/Animation/Adaptation Rated PG for mild rude humor and some language. 94 minutes
3½ stars |
Sometimes when you are not expecting much you can be pleasantly surprised. Mr. Popper’s Penguins turns out to be a pleasing children’s movie. As proof the kids behind me and in front of me giggled the entire time. Credit goes to the director Mark Waters for helping to keep Jim Carrey from being too manic, and to writers Sean Anders, John Morris, and Jared Stern for a well-done adaptation of the novel by Richard Atwater and Florence Atwater.
As a child Mr. Popper’s (Jim Carrey) father was off to exotic places. They kept in touch via radio and letters but it was a lonely childhood. In the present Mr. Popper is a high-powered businessman, though more of a “snake oil salesman” as he is called by another character. He has an assistant named Pippi (Ophelia Lovibond) who likes to illiterate p’s, and is the divorced dad of two children Janie (Madeline Carroll) and Billy (Maxwell Perry Cotton). Mr. Popper misses his children and seems to keep striking out with them and his former wife Amanda (Carla Gugino).
After his father dies he gets his inheritance – a live penguin. He tries to return it, but ends up with five more of the frisky animals. When he realizes his kids think it’s the greatest thing he decides to keep them in his apartment which becomes their personal winter landscape. Two complications are the animal control man from the zoo Nat Jones (Clark Gregg), who wants to take the penguins away, and Mrs. Van Gundy (Angela Lansbury) who refuses to sell him the Tavern on the Green restaurant that his bosses want for the valuable land it’s on in Central Park.
The animation and special effects are well done. The penguins look pretty realistic, and thanks filmmakers—they don’t have them talking. The humans do that here. What makes the movie work is that Mr. Popper is a really nice guy under all the fast talking, just sort of clueless in the beginning, but he learns.
Jim Carrey still has that manic craziness at times, but is not so over the top that he blocks out everyone else. He has a nice rapport with the other actors especially Ms. Gugino. The kids are natural, Mr. Gregg funny but never threatening, and Ms. Lansbury is a treat as always.
It's not the perfect children's movie, but it is appropriate for younger children. Mr. Popper’s Penguins is a feel-good movie that parents and kids can enjoy together. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
GETTING BY |
THE ART OF GETTING BY Rated PG-13 Drama/Romance 84 minutes
2½ stars |
This coming of age story is an earnest movie, too earnest. A bit more humor would have helped. George Zinavoy (Freddie Highmore) is a high school senior who has been attending class but not doing any homework all year. He is depressed and fatalistic about life, so why try—-we’re all going to die anyway? He lives with his mother Vivian (Rita Wilson) and step-father Jack (Sam Robards) in a small New York apartment, and drifts along until one day he talks to Sally (Emma Roberts) who he helps out in an awkward situation. They become friends, but as usually happens one person starts getting romantic feelings for the other, though George has been very good at resigning from his life so far. Since George is pretty much friendless, this introduces him to a group of other seniors.
George is a good artist and a graduate named Dustin (Michael Arangano) of the private school he attends comes to talk to the class one day. Dustin invites George to his art studio and he brings along Emma. Dustin is obviously interested in Emma but says he won’t make a move because he knows George likes her, setting up a triangle.
Meantime Vivian and George’s teachers are totally frustrated with his lack of motivation. Principal Martinson (Blair Underwood) tries to talk sense into him, and his teachers scold him, but with little results.
This movie has a very similar feel to another one called It’s Kind of a Funny Story, and it’s kind of a funny thing but Emma Roberts is the muse of the teenage boy in that one, too. It’s easy to see why. Ms. Roberts is not only pretty, but can play the sensitive muse. Freddie Highmore is a likable slacker, but haven’t we seen this before?
The subplot with George’s mother and step-father is understandable yet doesn’t evoke much feeling. His one meaningful conversation with his mother, when she’s not screeching that he needs to do something with his life, comes late in the movie.
Writer/director Gavin Wiesen’s story is not all that original, and towards the end, very contrived. Either George is going to graduate or be a total loser. New York City is not really a character like in some other movies. It’s used more as a backdrop which doesn’t take advantage of some good visuals it has to offer. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| SUPER 8 Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and some drug use. Mystery/Sci-Fi/Thriller 112 minutes
3 stars |
In the 1979 lingo of small town Ohio, “mint,” used by the teenage boy director, is the ultimate superlative. Unfortunately, the word is not applicable to Super 8 which obviously borrows from remembered and beloved films of lead producer Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters and ET) as well as hints of Stephen King (IT). Though the production values and acting are first rate it’s not enough to save a story that plods along predictably and uninterestingly for almost two hours.
The period touches have moments of fun (walkie-talkies, “My Sharona”) but the film centers on the Super 8 technology that decades ago was the entree to the filmmaking experience. Here it is the bond uniting a group of pre-teen boys: director Charles (Riley Griffiths), pyrotechnic and zombie actor Cary (Ryan Lee), the big kid Martin (Gabriel Basso), nervous Preston (Zach Mills), and makeup artist and model maker, and the focus of the film Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) – all of whom are believable and entertaining – engaged in making a zombie film “The Case” to be entered in a film festival. The film opens with Joe having just lost his mother in an industrial accident and somewhat estranged from his sheriff’s deputy dad, Jackson (Kyle Chandler, more than respectable). Several months later he is perked up when Charles has managed to recruit the acting services of Alice (Elle Fanning, excellent and moving in her big scene) who happens to be the daughter of the dissipated Louis (Ron Eldard, good job) who inadvertently caused the death of Joe’s mother. Yeah, add a little Romeo and Juliet to the mix.
One night, filming at the lonely, solitary train station (Charles’s invoking of “production values” is neatly illustrated by the excellent ones in the overall film), Joe witnesses a truck running into the engine of a passing train causing a full out, spectacular, exploding, metal-tearing, booming, fire breathing wreck. In response, the Air Force, lead by bad guy Colonel Nelec (Noah Emmerich, suitably evil), appear in large numbers searching for something-or-other that has a penchant for metal. There is a take over of the town by the military, Deputy Lamb being heroic, Joe and his pals going to the rescue of Alice, a comeuppance for the villain, reconciliations, forgiveness, young love and, get ready, a metallic, spidery, misunderstood alien monster.
If the movie sounds predictable, unexciting, and disappointing, that’s because, sadly, it is. Writer/director J.J. Abrams with so much going for him (great photography by Larry Fong, fine editing by Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey, spot on production design by Martin Whist and costumes by Ha Nguyen) and, one assumes, a free hand, somehow forgot about originality. The story elements are all so familiar it’s hard to be caught up in the situations being presented. The viewer is more likely to be recalling another movie (which was, in fact, innovative in its time) instead of engaging in the one being presented. By the way, the Super 8 movie the guys are making within the movie runs in its entirety through the closing credits. It doesn’t save the movie but it’s short and fun and gives a sense of how filmmakers once got their start.
Super 8 – Not super. Okay, at best. And not an 8 but, as above, a 3. Review by Charles Zio
| MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Rated PG-13 for some sexual references and smoking. Comedy/Fantasy/Romance 94 minutes
4 stars |
This is a charming movie, and so much more intriguing because in takes place in Paris. Writer/director Woody Allen has lovingly photographed the city in such a way that many of the shots look like postcards, and as if Paris is bathed in shimmering light adding to the fantasy element. It’s been years since one of Allen’s movies has been this good.
Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a successful screenwriter visiting Paris with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her parents. Gil longs to write something with more import than the screenplays he’s been churning out, though Inez holds his money and status in higher regard than he does. He tries to explain the book he’s writing and his feelings about it to her, but she is caught up with being important and spending time with her parents and a former pompous instructor named Paul (Michael Sheen) and his wife Carol (Nina Arianda).
As Gil becomes more entranced with Paris, he walks around the city at night drinking in the atmosphere while Inez is out partying with others. One night when the clock strikes 12, an old-fashioned car pulls up and Gil gets in. He is taken back in time to the 1920s, a time he thinks of as one he would have liked to live in. The great writers F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), as well as Zelda Fitzgerald (Alison Pill), Cole Porter (Yves Heck), and Pablo Picasso (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo) are among those he interacts with over the course of several days. Gil even shows his book manuscript to Gertrude Stein for evaluation.
Gil is amazed also when he meets a beautiful woman named Adriana (Marion Cotillard) who reads some of his book and says she is hooked and wants to read more. (More writer fantasy.) He wants to pursue her and it looks like it may come about until they end up in another car taking them to yet a different place.
Owen Wilson, who can be mannered, is a natural for this part. Thankfully, there’s less stammering dialogue than you would expect from the actor and director. Rachel McAdams plays against type as the grasping fiancée. The famous writers and artists of the era are perfectly cast even looking like those they are playing, especially Tom Huddleston as partying F. Scott Fitzgerald, and a brooding Corey Stall as Hemingway who has some very funny dialogue. Also enjoyable is Adrien Brody as an eccentric Salvatore Dali.
Paris obviously stimulates Gil’s imagination and we get all the benefits. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
FIRST CLASS |
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Rated PG-13 For intense sequences of action and violence, some sexual content including brief partial nudity and language. Action/Adventure/Drama 132 minutes
4½ stars |
This X-Men; First Class prequel is surprisingly good. Though it is over two hours long, it moves fast and engages the audience. The screenplay by Ashley Miller, Jack Stentz, Jane Goldman, and Matthew Vaughn with story by Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer is easily understandable even if you are not familiar with the X-Men series. They have given the characters complexity. This is missing from most superhero stories or that of their arch enemy villains. In particular, the character of Erik Lehnsherr, (Michael Fassbender) who becomes Magneto is first seen in a very sympathetic light as he is taken to a concentration camp as a child during World War II.
Also seen as a child is Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) who will eventually become Professor X. His life of privilege doesn’t detract from his superpowers or his kindness towards mutant life forms, one showing up in the person of Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) who has blue scaly skin and will become Mystique in her grown up years.
Fast forward to 1962. Charles gathers mutants in an effort to combine their powers. He meets Erik when they are both chasing Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). The evil Shaw is responsible for Erik harnessing his powers, but also for the most terrible moment of his life. Erik’s chase is personal, Charles has a wider world view of the havoc Shaw can have on the planet. He’s right because Shaw wants to create a world war then take over as the United States and Russia fight each other. The Cuban Missile Crisis becomes a plot device, and even though the audience knows how it is going to turn out, the action makes it suspenseful.
The acting is a cut above what you usually see in comic-type movies. James McAvoy especially anchors the cast with a modulated performance. Michael Fassbender excels as the good/turned bad Magneto except he does have a tendency in the second half of falling back into an Irish accent. Also notable are: Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, Zoë Kravitz, January Jones (frosty as ever), and all the supporting cast.
The technical elements are impressive, too, including cinematography by John Mathieson, editing by Eddie Hamilton and Lee Smith, original music by Henry Jackman, art design and makeup, not to mention the special effects and CGI.
X-Men: First Class is a perfect example of what every summer movie should aspire to. It is a winner. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
PART II |
THE HANGOVER PART II Rated R for pervasive language, strong sexual content including graphic nudity, drug use and brief violent images. Comedy 102 minutes
2 stars |
This highly anticipated sequel to The Hangover is a disappointment. Not only is it beyond crude, it is not nearly as funny. That is its biggest problem. Where people were laughing out loud many times during the first movie, the most heard at this screening, in a crowded theater, were more like chuckles. The prevailing wisdom that if a movie works let’s do more of the same, seems firmly entrenched here. So what we get is almost the exact storyline repeated and recycled except in Thailand instead of Las Vegas.
Stu (Ed Helms), the nerdy dentist is getting married while fully conscious this time. His lovely bride Lauren (Jamie Chung) has an insulting and disapproving father, but this doesn’t matter to Stu. He doesn’t want a bachelor party despite the protests of Phil (Bradley Cooper). He just wants to make it to the day of the wedding with no hitches, especially since his future genius 16 year old brother-in-law Teddy (Mason Lee) is tagging along. Yet, Doug (Justin Bartha) convinces Stu to invite his own disturbed brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis) the innocent/demonic man/child from the first movie. In one scene they are having a bonfire on the beach, in the next they wake up in a seedy hotel in Bangkok. Of course, they remember nothing. What they have is a monkey, Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong), and a severed finger.
They realize Teddy is missing. What to do? They try to reconstruct what happened the night before which leads them to a silent monk, a couple of criminals on motorcycles, drug deals, a car chase, and a Thai strip joint. Unfortunately, the element of surprise, and escalation and exaggeration of the characters warped thinking takes away from the overall effect rather than add to it. Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Tambor, and Mike Tyson show up with little effect.
Lapses in logic also don’t help. The first Hangover made backward sense given the cause of the event; here it’s just an excuse to get them in deep trouble. The raunchy “charm” of that movie is gone as this one tries too hard to trump it. Zach Galifianakis is naturally funny, yet even he seems to press too hard and is ultimately adrift in the dirty waters. The credits at the end fill in the blanks of their wild night like the last time, if you still care. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| KUNG FU PANDA 2 Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action and mild violence. Animation/Action/Adventure 90 minutes
4 stars |
This is a sequel that works. It is a continuation of the animated story of Po (voice of Jack Black), a panda who becomes a mighty Kung Fu warrior, not an easy turn of events since his father is a goose that makes noodles. Plenty of humor comes through, but this time around there’s also a more serious storyline by writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. Children often wonder where they come from and here Po has the realization that the goose is not his real father.
The master Shifu (voice of Dustin Hoffman) realizes that Po still has a way to go to achieve inner peace. Po’s clumsy attempts are met with patience by his fellow warriors Tigress (voice of Angelina Jolie), Mantis (voice of Seth Rogen), Monkey (voice of Jackie Chan), and Crane (David Cross). But this is Po’s story all the way.
A peacock villain, Lord Shen (voice of Gary Oldman, who else?), is told a prophecy by The Soothsayer (voice of Michelle Yeoh) that a black/white creature will take away his power. He ties to kill all the Pandas in the land, and so is banished by his distraught parents who rule China. He vows revenge and creates weapons that will help him reclaim power. In the meantime, Po has nightmarish flashbacks to when he was a baby. Eventually these are explained and Po and Lord Shen have a spectacular showdown.
The animation is very good with the 3D used more effectively in this movie than most. The colors, backgrounds, and characters make for appealing visual images. The voice work by the actors is more affecting than usual as you can distinguish between them even if you are not looking at the screen. The music of Hans Zimmer supports the story but doesn’t overwhelm it. Nice overall job by director Jennifer Yuh.
Po remains naïve in some ways, but matures during the course of the movie and gains an understanding of his origins. Nasty characters abound but get their comeuppance, especially after a rather intense battle between Po and Lord Shen. Yet points made during the story about what makes a family are touching and tender. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
ON STRANGER TIDES |
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure violence, some frightening images, sensuality, and innuendo. Action/Adventure/Fantasy 137 minutes
3 stars |
Johnny Depp is having a jolly old time playing Captain Jack Sparrow. And why wouldn’t he? He gets to play dress up, run around, and talk weird. Hasn’t every little boy at some time or another wanted to be a pirate? So now we’re on the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and though it’s more of the same--so much more of the same—-this plot has been trimmed down by writers Ted Elliott and Terry Russio and is an improvement over the overly convoluted plots of #3. Yet, by the time you get this far along in this series you shouldn't expect logic.
It seems these movies must start with Jack in "danger" but he’s not one bit worried because he always manages to escape even though no one thinks to just shoot him already. Keith Richards shows up for an amusing little cameo as Jack’s father which works out better this time around. We get a chase through the center of London with Jack being more acrobatic than usual. He escapes with a recurring character called Gibbs (Kevin McNally, a watchable actor, but not given much to do) who seems to be around mostly so Jack can be the captain of somebody.
This adventure centers on trying to find the Fountain of Youth. Blackbeard (Ian McShane, now this guy is believable as a pirate), the ruthless killer needs to get there in a hurry as a prophesy says a one-legged man is going to kill him. As the script would have it, Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush, wasn’t he killed off earlier?) has one leg because of Blackbeard. Angelica (Penélope Cruz, lovely but the role is thankless) is Blackbeard’s daughter and blindly loyal to him. She and Jack have a history, but who doesn’t have some kind of history with him?
So the race to find the Fountain is on and it seems Jack knows where it is and must be taken along. There are more dangers along the way the main one being the mermaids they encounter. Most of the sailors are intrigued by their beauty but know they are killers. Blackbeard needs to capture one so he can get a tear (don’t ask), and much time is spent on this part of the movie. Phillip (Sam Claflin) is on Blackbeard’s ship mainly to quote scripture and be a conscience which all ignore, and to provide a love interest with the captured mermaid Syrena (Astrid Berges-Frisbey).
On Stranger Tides has the requisite grand finale with a sword fight and everyone getting what’s coming to him/her. Jack is more heroic in this installment, an effort to keep fans interested in the sequels, no doubt. The 3D is used sporadically, but on the whole is unnecessary. It keeps the screen dark which is highly annoying if you want to see details.
Fans of Johnny Depp and the franchise will probably be pleased with this installment. But, the whole thing has become more tiresome than strange. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
EVER SOLD |
THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD Rated PG-13 for some language and sexual material. Documentary/Comedy 88 minutes
3 stars |
The premise of this documentary/comedy points out an element that moviegoers may be vaguely aware of when watching movies. The subtle and not so subtle art of product placement. Director/writer Morgan Spurlock, along with writer Jeremy Chilnick decide to make a movie using money from advertisers to show how you to raise money from advertisers to make movies, if you can follow that.
Mr. Spurlock gives us tongue-in-cheek humor if not in-depth coverage of this state of affairs. He spends much of the early part of the movie being rejected by product brands, yet he good-naturedly carries on. He is on camera after all. He finally begins to make some in-roads with POM Wonderful, a juice drink that becomes his main advertiser. The executives seem to like the idea of helping to finance a movie, and showing off their product which they promote as a healthy one.
What is interesting to me is how very little advertising people are star struck. Even though they are being filmed they are mostly all business. What’s best for their product? How much placement will they get? How will this help their bottom line, or create good will with their customers. In other words, what’s in it for us? And, of course, that’s their job. If you’re looking at this as a filmmaker, though, it’s got to be a bit discouraging. A documentary is one thing, but if you are passionate about making a certain film, and you are desperately in need of money, how much do you have to compromise to get that money? Even here, at least one advertiser wanted final say about what’s in the movie. Mr. Spurlock said no and maintained control, but it’s chilling.
Various people are interviewed as he tries to get different points of view. Ralph Nader, Noam Chomsky and others give their take on the meaning of such quid pro quos of movie making. Product placement has been going on for a long time now, but it’s getting more pervasive. I don’t know how interested movie audiences are in this particular type of issue. Fans want to be entertained, not necessarily exposed to filmmakers problems. Give them a good product (the movie) and they are happy to let the filmmaker figure how to get there. How much the audience is influenced by the products they see in movies is still an open question.
No answers are forthcoming. Is product placement one way to help solve the financial problems of filmmakers, or just another assault on our already overloaded circuits?
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| BRIDESMAIDS Rated R for some strong sexuality, and language throughout. Comedy 125 minutes
4 stars |
We love watching Kristen Wiig screw up because basically, to a greater or lesser degree, we all screw up. At one time in movies women could be tough, funny, ambitious, dark, and make foolish mistakes, but then somehow they and their stories became the second class citizens of film. Chick flicks are still a tough sell, but give us more like this and women will prove they will buy tickets. These characters are so much more interesting and real than those Sex and the City babes.
I have to say up front that I’m not enamored of producer Judd Apatow’s convention of having bodily fluids spewing from various orifices. It’s too much of a bad thing even though it can be funny. But by the time that is all over, the movie starts getting to the good stuff. It comes more than halfway through when Annie (Kristen Wiig, simply wonderful) is at the lowest of low points.
Annie has lost her bakery and along with it her boyfriend and money. She is at the call of a handsome but narcissistic guy (Jon Hamm) who uses her for sex. She feels like a failure and pushes away everyone who is kind to her except her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) who asks her to be her maid of honor at the worst possible time in her life. Shall we just say she’s got major issues?
The Bridesmaids of the title are the Motley Crue of bridesmaids and are a deliciously amusing group. Helen (Rose Byrne, very good) is the perfect rich wife of Lillian’s fiancée’s boss. She outdoes Annie at every turn and Annie is no competition for her because Annie’s jealousy gets the best of her. Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey, a riot) is the malcontented wife who regurgitates anything nasty that comes into her mind. Becca (Ellie Kempler, a good counterpoint to the others) is the innocent co-worker. Megan (Melissa McCarthy, my favorite because her character is the least perfect version of female beauty but has the best self-esteem in the movie), will be Lillian’s loudmouth sister-in-law. These comediennes don’t mind looking silly or less than attractive. Annie also meets a down-to-earth cop named Rhodes (Chris O’Dowd, appealing) who is obviously so right for her that she rejects him.
Nice job by director Paul Feig with the cast, and writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo for a movie that really gets women, even if some scenes go on a bit too long, and the movie takes a long time to get to the part that saves it.
Annie messes up everything she touches, but this endears her to the audience, and we know that until she accepts that she needs to change and look at life differently, nothing good is going to happen. Just when it seems her life is beyond redemption she comes roaring back. The best of her emerges and she saves/supports her friend. This is the true heart of the movie and why it works. If there’s salvation for Annie in her screwed up life, maybe there is for all of us. It’s a relief to see women on screen being genuinely funny, supporting each other, and being people we can root for. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| EVERYTHING MUST GO Rated R for language and some sexual content. Drama 96 minutes
3½ stars |
Writer/director Dan Rush’s adaptation of writer Raymond Carver’s short story “Why Don’t You Dance” is mostly a success. This is especially surprising with comedian Will Ferrell in the seriously dramatic role of an alcoholic loser. Although there are several moments of mildly ironic humor, there is nothing like the over-the-top shenanigans we are used to from Mr. Ferrell.
Here he is Nick Halsey, so far into his alcohol addiction that as the movie opens he loses his job, only to come home and find his belongings on the lawn of his house. He is locked out and proceeds to live on the lawn until he can sell everything and get out. As miserable as he is, he never tries to break into the house.
Several characters round out the small cast. Rebecca Hall is Samantha, the pregnant neighbor who moves in across the street. She tries to give comfort to Nick, but nicely portrays confusion and hurt in dealing with her own situation. Christopher Jordan Wallace does an excellent turn as Kenny Loftus, a middle school age kid on a bike, left mostly alone by his working mother and ill grandmother who shows up and hangs around until Nick allows him to help sell his memorabilia.
Nick at first resists his fate, but his wife has even stopped him from getting money from their joint account. Michael Peña plays Frank Garcia, a local cop and Nick’s AA Sponsor, who gives him a few bucks and a few days to sell the items or lose everything. Laura Dern has a small role as Delilah a high school classmate of Nick’s. Through her we see the kindness of the high school kid he once was, and what he might have become. Yet, Nick has hit bottom.
The pace of the movie is slow, and you may get somewhat impatient watching Nick sink lower and lower. Nothing blows up, nothing violent happens, but if you have ever known an addict much of Nick’s self-destructive behavior rings true. Something strange, too, you begin to root for him to somehow come through. It’s not immediately obvious how that’s going to happen, and that’s one of the good things about the script. Though there is an incident towards the end that is a little too convenient.
Raymond Carver wrote about sad, damaged people. Nick is certainly that, but he finally sees that everyone around him is damaged in one way or another as well. Yet, people carry on doing the best they can, trying to find meaning in their lives. He finds compassion for them, and then for himself. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THOR Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi violence and action. Action/adventure/Drama/Fantasy 114 minutes
4 stars |
On first thought Kenneth Branagh might seem an odd choice to direct a large scale visual 3D extravaganza based on the comic book about Thor, but after seeing the movie it’s not so surprising. Thor is like an elaborate costume drama with kings, princes, battles, and enemies except these are gods instead of men with a few common people thrown in. But the themes are classic and Shakespearean in nature, and we know how familiar Mr. Branagh is with Shakespeare. The rambunctious son challenges the wise father. The younger brother is jealous of the older, more powerful brother who will inherit the throne. Evil, deceit, betrayal, redemption are in evidence.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth, an imposing physical specimen if ever there was one) the god of thunder, is an arrogant being who is inclined towards doing battle because of his superior weapon, a hammer that is impossibly destructive. He is ready to be made king but commits an infraction. His father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) realizes Thor doesn’t have the wisdom to rule and to punish him, sends him to earth to learn a little humility. In the meantime, his younger brother Loki plots to take over from Odin while his brother walks the earth with humans.
At first Thor doesn’t realize he doesn’t have the same powers as he had on Asgard, his home, but through a series of mostly unpleasant experiences with humans he gets the picture. He first meets a young scientist named Jane (Natalie Portman) in the desert when he lands there from the heavens. With her is a father-like figure and scientist named Erik (Stellan Skarsgård), and a misfit helper/comic relief provider named Darcy (Kat Dennings). They don’t know what to make of this hulk but eventually become believers and understand who he is. Of course, a chaste romance develops between Thor and Jane. Will they get together? Will Thor defeat the bad beings and save his realm?
The mixture of mythic beings and earthlings provides some cheeky humor, and the pacing between what’s happening in the heavens and on earth is well done.
Thor is visually striking with stunning graphics, though most of the time the 3D doesn’t make a huge difference. The art direction, special effects and CGI are impressive as are the stunts, cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos, and editing by Paul Rubell.
Director Branagh does a first class job with his actors and is smart enough to choose the right ones. Chris Hemsworth is a good fit as Thor, able to be arrogant and humbled, yet looking every bit the part of a god. Though Anthony Hopkins does a version of many characters he has portrayed before, he is more measured here to better effect. Tom Hiddleston is effectual as Thor’s brother Loki expressing emotions and suggesting layers not usually seen in this kind of movie (though there is some odd make-up going on with his eyebrows). Natalie Portman is all right, and she and Mr. Hemsworth do have a certain mild chemistry even if it doesn’t knock your socks off. The supporting cast is capable across the board, even the creatures from other realms.
Thor learns valuable lessons, painful as it might be. Yet, the heavens must be made right.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| JUMPING THE BROOM PG-13 for some sexual content and language. Comedy 101 minutes
2½ stars |
Class differences in the African-American community are not a widely covered subject, but Jumping the Broom attempts to touch on some of the issues. The problem is that it seems like two different movies are going on in the same film. There’s the serious movie with top notch actors like Angela Bassett and Brian Stokes Mitchell, and the lighter, fluffier one with some of the other cast members.
A beautiful young woman named Sabrina Watson (Paula Patton) finally finds the love of her life in handsome Jason Taylor (Laz Alonso). She is from a wealthy family while he is from a working class single-parent household. The mothers, Mrs. Watson (Ms. Bassett) and Mrs. Taylor (Loretta Devine), both possessive of their children, decide to do battle on the supposedly happiest weekend of Sabrina and Jason’s lives, but end up alienating them instead. Jason’s family travels from working class New York to Sabrina's luxurious family compound on Martha’s Vineyard where they will be getting married. It’s impressive. So, there are plenty of jokes about bringing the snooty people down to their level.
Twists and turns, almost too many, cause what happens to be diluted. Some of the characters are more important than others, but just about everybody has to have a back story that is superficially addressed. Trying to do too much shortchanges the major plot and results in clichés we’ve seen many times before.
The acting is uneven. Paula Patton and Laz Alonso have a good rapport, and carry off the young couple well. As mentioned, the heavyweight acting is left to the experienced Angela Bassett and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Valarie Pettiford plays the eccentric aunt that breezes breaking taboos; every family seems to have one. Although it’s not an original character, Ms. Pettiford is fun to watch. As Jason’s overly involved mother Loretta Devine provides much of the comic relief. The character is over-the-top, but the script tries to say something about how many sacrifices a single mother has to make for her family. Yet, there is one plot point where the character does something so despicable, that it’s difficult to believe. Gary Dourdan, formally of CSI, shows up as the sexy chef whose sensual description of food enraptures a bridesmaid.
The term “jumping the broom” is explained by Mrs. Taylor as a custom used by slaves to cement their union when they weren’t allowed to marry. She wants Sabrina and Jason to do this to carry on a tradition and symbolically remember her family. Mrs. Watson steadfastly refuses and this ongoing disagreement causes tension among the many other issues going on.
Audiences like movies about weddings, but as with certain real life weddings, you have to wait too long for the good stuff. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
BORROWED |
SOMETHING BORROWED Rated PG-13 for sexual content including dialogue, and some drug material. Comedy/Drama/Romance 103 minutes
2 stars |
Something Borrowed occassionally has some amusing dialogue and a circumstance that many can probably relate to: you love someone, but he/she belongs to someone else. The problem is that after an okay start, the premise has to be compelling enough to carry through to the end of the movie. Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) is the doormat to her best friend Darcy (Kate Hudson). When she goes to law school and meets Dex (Colin Eggleston) sparks fly but neither one has the gumption to tell the other. So when she goes out to dinner with Dex and Darcy shows up and she pushes herself on him, Rachel says nothing. Is this really believable?
Fast-forward and Darcy and Dex are getting married. Guess who’s the maid of honor? It’s just all so cozy. Darcy is so narcissistic that she doesn’t have a clue about Rachel’s feelings.
Rachel’s friend Ethan (John Krakowki) is childhood friend to both Rachel and Darcy. He tries to encourage Rachel to speak up before it’s too late, but she is so terribly conflicted and all. Oh. There are trips from New York City to the beaches at the Hamptons on Long Island, and bars, and bedrooms. But honestly, these are pretty vapid people. Marcus (Steve Howey, fun to watch) is a fun-loving man-child who hangs around just to bed whoever is available. Another of the crowd is crazy for Ethan. He’s crazy about someone else, and so on and so on.
Ginnifer Godwin is a natural and appealing actor, but you become impatient with her character. That she is a lawyer and acts this way is hard to swallow. Colin Eggleston is handsome in the extreme, but as an actor conveys little excitement. Kate Hudson plays a party girl not unlike others she’s played and is close to getting into a rut. John Krakowski provides what little comic relief there is available.
It’s difficult to have empathy for someone so lacking in good sense that it takes ten years to actually be able to express her real feelings. These characters are eye candy, but have no depth.
Too many of the situations feel contrived. Complications ensue or there would be no movie at all, but it doesn't feel real or even interesting. Characters who claim they are in love, move on pretty quickly. You can see the ending coming. I was not amused, in fact, I didn’t feel much of anything. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| FAST FIVE Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, sexual content and language. Action/Crime/Drama 130 minutes
3 stars |
If you like your movies filled with cars that run fast and furious, sexy women, sarcastic one-liners, outlandishly buff men, and criminals you can root for, you will get your money’s worth out of this one. It is total nonsense, of course, but fun for those who don’t take it seriously. Vin Deisel is back as Dominic Toretto, the laconic thief with a heart. Fast Five opens where the last one ended; Dominic is on a bus going to prison. You can guess how he gets away. Also along for the rides are Paul Walker (never more good-looking or wooden) as Brian O’Connor, the once straight lawman who fell in love with Dominic’s sister Mia played by Jordan Brewster and so went over to the dark side.
The fugitives plan to meet in Rio de Janeiro but arrive at different times. Brian and Mia have had a rough trip down but finally meet up with Vince who is one of the “family.” They decide to help him pull off a car theft, and what happens is major stunts and stunt driving, as well as Dominic’s appearance to save the day.
Acting is not the strong suit here, but you know that going in though Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs, another law enforcement type sent to bring Dominic, Brian and Mia in, brings a certain “weight” to his part. I mean, the guy is massive, truly. His biceps are probably bigger than most people’s thighs. This is a good move on the part of the filmmakers because you have to think there’s at least a credible threat against the group. Yes, a group is formed around Dominic to take down the top dog criminal in Rio de Janeiro named Reyes played by Joaquim de Almeida who has been the bad guy in other movies before.
How the movie gets to making a plan to take down Reyes is by sliding sideways into it, but then logic is pretty much beside the point anyway. The stunts are impressive, but no one could survive some of them in the real world. What is surprising is that there are not more car sequences given that the movie is over two hours long. Though the ones they do have will probably satisfy fans. The audience seemed to love every minute clapping, laughing, hooting, and was in general good humor throughout.
And don’t worry too much about the franchise coming to an end. A prominent actress shows up in the last scene talking business indicating there are more fast cars to come.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| PROM Rated PG for mild language and a brief fight. Comedy/Drama 103 minutes
3 stars |
This is strictly for the middle school set. Even for a Disney movie it’s simplistic and clean and tidy. The kisses, what there are of them, are sweet and chaste rather than romantic. What’s interesting, though, is that the kids are dressed stylishly. Everyone is well-groomed, even the bad boy whose mother works in a diner. His hair is long, but it swings when he walks.
The big day is coming up and almost everyone is excited about the prom since it’s the end of one phase of their lives and on to another. Class everything Nova Prescott (Aimee Teegarden) has been working on the prom decorations with a group of kids, but an unexpected event causes her to be stuck with long-haired, rebellious outsider Jesse Richter (Thomas McDowell) to replace lost items. You know immediately what’s going to happen with these two as this and every other storyline is telegraphed long before it happens.
In the meantime, there are plenty of subplots about standard high school characters like the cheating jock, the nerd who surprises everyone, the boy in love with the girl in love with another guy, the shy senior who is encouraged to ask someone to the prom, but now it’s too late, the long-time couple who don’t agree on what’s next, etc. Parents are rarely seen except as plot devices.
I’m not really sure why this is a feature movie. It might have been better suited as a television movie especially considering the screenplay’s lack of complexity. The acting is uneven with Aimee Teegarden appealing, but Thomas McDowell, Danielle Campbell, and DeVaughn Nixon the more interesting performers.
This is not movie you would have to worry about if you have tweens, but the real high school prom, it isn’t. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
ELEPHANTS |
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Rated PG-13 Drama 122 minutes
2½ stars |
Even the sentimental moments (pictorially and aurally obvious) can’t prevent this movie from being as flat as the ground upon which its tents are erected. Forget the romantic old saw about running away to join the circus. In this instance, the best course would be to avoid the box office altogether. (Those who have read the book will be addressed later.)
The opening few minutes are promising, thanks largely to the ever-great Hal Holbrook, as the feisty, elderly Jacob Jankowski. As he recalls the past, the movie flashes back to the day of his final veterinary exam at Cornell during the Great Depression. The young Jacob now enters in the person of Robert Pattinson, and the movie begins to falter as we are given a hero who seems to have just two expressions (first, an occasional misty eye to hint at sensitivity; the other a uniformly blank stare indicating all other emotions, happy, sad, angry, thoughtful, etc.). Due to circumstance, Jacob hits the road, jumping on a passing train, and into the arms of some of the personnel of the Benzini traveling circus. These fellows, and a few women, are kept peripheral to the main story (sadly as they’re far more colorful than he) and only hints are given of the actual workings of the circus. Too bad on both counts because we are relegated to considering a clichéd, unconvincing romantic triangle.
The blonde at the center of desire is Marlene (Reese Witherspoon, doing her best with what little she’s been given) as the female, equestrian star. Her husband is the friendly yet sadist owner August (Christoph Waltz, ably dual natured). Jacob is immediately smitten with Marlene and she grows to feel likewise. Problem is, there’s nary a believable spark between them. They’re romantic scenes are uncomfortable and certainly don’t look enjoyable. If this duo have any passion it’s not for each other but for Rosie, the elephant. On the other hand, August’s feelings are totally credible. It’s undeniable he adores Marlene and can’t control his jealousy and bullying. For her part, Marlene is not a passive goddess but can manipulate and often get the upper hand on her husband. For a setup like this to be effective, the three members must be equal and here, unfortunately, Pattison is outdone by his fellow actors. He’s simply not in their league.
Rosie the pachyderm is a delight and easily wins one over by being more than a big clod. She is bright and surprisingly personable and even saves the day, most predictably, in a hard-to-swallow finale that is altered from the text, though not to its advantage.
For those who have read Sara Gruen’s original, skip the movie. Robert LaGravenese has weakened what was a pleasant old-fashioned romance that came across as a completed movie novelization. What he lost, probably inevitably, were quirky historical, circus, and personality bits.
What this film needed, all but cried out for, was some twists and turns. Director Francis Lawrence offered no surprises, nothing to make the audience sit up and take notice. There was no payoff in a movie that was relentlessly straightforward, predictable, and humdrum. Even the brief, welcome return of Holbrook wasn’t enough to stifle a yawn.
Water For Elephants – Boredom for viewers. Review by Charles Zio
| RIO Rated PG for mild off color humor. Animation/Adventure/Comedy 96 minutes
4 stars |
Rio is loads of fun for kids and parents. The animation is good and also very colorful with lively music that makes you feel like moving in your seat. It’s a pretty standard story, but it moves quickly, sometimes frantically. It does tend to feel stretched towards the end.
It seems Blu (voice of Jesse Eisenberg) is taken from the jungle when he is a very young bird, and before he learns to fly. He finds a loving home with Linda (voice of Leslie Mann) in Minnesota, obviously out of his element. One day an ornithologist from Brazil named Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) shows up and asks Linda to come back to Brazil and have Blu mated with Jewel (Anne Hathaway) since they are the last two blue macaws in existence. Though Linda is timid, not having much experience with life, she decides this is the right thing to do and goes with Blu to Rio de Janeiro. However, he is kidnapped along with Jewel to be sold since they are worth a small fortune.
With the help of a young boy, other talking birds, and a bulldog, during the week of Carnivale, Blu, who can’t fly because he never learned, tries to find his way back to Linda. The chase seems endless as everyone seems to be after Blu.
The voiceovers are more distinctive than usual in Rio. Jesse Eisenberg’s unique delivery suits the nervous Blu. Anne Hathaway suits the more experienced, free-spirited Jewel and the fact that she can sing is a plus for the role. Also adding to the fun is an unexpectedly varied cast: Jamie Foxx, Will.i.Am, Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes, George Lopez and Tracy Morgan among others.
The music of Sergio Mendes is upbeat and infectious. The visions of Rio and the jungle are entertaining in themselves. By the time it gets to Carnivale, the audience is firmly in Blu’s corner, and the lush animations, colors, and dancing and singing are engaging. The joy of the occasion is contagious. Once again, the 3D in the movie, even this one where there is plenty of frantic activity, seems unnecessary. It isn’t noticed except for a few times throughout the entirety of the movie. Audience members must add the extra cost against how important those few scenes are to them. Review by Ann Marie Oliva
| THE CONSPIRATOR Rated PG-13 for some violent content. Drama 123 minutes
4 stars |
One hundred and fifty years after the start of the Civil War, it still evokes tremendous emotions. In The Conspirator, the war is essentially over from the opening scene when a wounded Union soldier named Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) tells medics to save his friend Nicholas Baker (Justin Long) first. This is an indication of the character of the man, a young lawyer.
As victory is at hand, President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated in Washington D.C. by actor John Wilkes Booth. After years of the most terrible neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother fighting, this is a stunning catastrophe for the entire nation.
Just when healing might begin, a man so revered, who wanted to bring the country together, is killed. Had Lincoln lived, there might have been a chance, but the years of bitter, bloody war, and hate, continued to play out for many years, and some argue, to this day.
The assassination plot is quickly unraveled after Booth breaks his leg as he leaps onto the stage of Ford’s Theatre after shooting Lincoln and brazenly shouts, “Sic semper tyrannis,” translated from Latin meaning, “thus always to tyrants” and also official motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He makes his getaway with another assassin, but gets trapped in a barn and is shot and killed.
With Booth gone, others are arrested, among them Mary Surrat (Robin Wright), the mother of another supposed assassin. She owns the boarding house where Booth and the others met. The accused are to be tried by a military court and Frederick Aiken is pressed into representing Mary Surrat though he believes her guilty.
Robin Wright and James McAvoy are outstanding. It is early in the year, but I hope when Oscar nomination time comes around, her performance will be remembered. As for Mr. McAvoy, not only does he acquit himself well with his most mature performance to date, but his American accent is close to perfect. The entire supporting cast of actors is good as well including: Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Kline, Danny Huston, Evan Rachel Wood, Colm Meaney, and Alexis Bledel. Production values are excellent with cinematography especially notable.
Some may accuse director Robert Redford of making this movie as an apology for Mary Surrat and of trying to persuade us of her innocence. Yet I found the movie more even-handed than expected with a balanced screenplay by James D. Solomon with story by he and Gregory Bernstein. The facts are presented, and she does admit to certain knowledge. If anything, perhaps it is her degree of guilt that should be on trial.
Since the movie is from Frederick Aiken’s point of view, as a man of conscience, who loved the law and his country, we as audience members question, along with him, how this happened. Besides, the movie is not necessarily all about her guilt or innocence, but the unfair way she was tried and convicted. Feelings were running high and those close to Lincoln, as well as soldiers who suffered tremendously, wanted revenge. But is that what our system of justice is supposed to be? Review by Ann Marie Oliva