Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid: New Reviews - March 2, 2012

2012-03-02T22:33:00.001-08:00

A couple of bits of good news today. First, a quote of mine was used in a new trailer for Battle Royale (one of thegreatest movies ever made). You can see it here. My name isin pretty small type, but my quote is "gloriously sick and twisted." Then, on Wednesday, I'll be moderating a Q&A with directorAndrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E, John Carter) at the Apple Store in San Francisco. (If you go, pleasedon't tell me. I'll be nervous enough!) I had a weird week, so I didn't get a chance to update Combustible Celluloid,but I'm still providing links to my blog and other sites. (I'll be updating Combustible later today.) On a side note, there are threegreat DVD and Blu-Ray releases this week: Scorsese's Hugo, Louis Malle's Vanya on 42nd Street, and Fritz Lang'sThe Spiders. Finally, happy birthday to my brother!

NEW MOVIES:
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax *** [SF Examiner]
Project X *** [SF Examiner]
Interview: the 'Project X' stars [SF Examiner]
Gone [Common Sense Media]
Project X [Common Sense Media]
Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie [Common Sense Media]
Jeff's blog with all reviews

NEW ON DVD & BLU-RAY:
Hugo ****
I Melt with You *1/2
The Spiders (Kino) ***1/2
Vanya on 42nd Street ****
Justice League: Doom [Common Sense Media]

RECENT FEATURES:
Interview: the 'Project X' stars [SF Examiner]
Interview: Oren Moverman
Interview: Rachel McAdams
Interview: Ti West
Interview: Elizabeth Banks
2011: The Year's Best Films
Interview: Dee Rees on 'Pariah'
Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
Interview: Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender
Interview: Simon Curtis
Interview: Werner Herzog
Interview: John Cho
Interview: Roland Emmerich

REFERENCES:
See above.
Links:
San Francisco Examiner
Common Sense Media
The Las Vegas Weekly
The San Jose Metro
Greencine Guru

MOVIE QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
"Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason." - Asa Butterfield as "Hugo Cabret," Hugo

ALEX QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
"Snorunt [the Pokemon] is 'versing' the ninja."

DVD OF THE WEEK

Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
Read Jeffrey's review
Buy DVD

[Note: Regarding DVD reviews, if I have placed the name of the distributor in parentheses after the link, that means Ireceived a review copy of said DVD.]

Review: Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

2012-03-01T23:02:00.001-08:00

For decades, the works of children's author Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, were adapted to cartoons, short films, and TV specials. Their concise size and specific rhythms seemed to resist the long form.Except one original feature screenplay written by Seuss -- The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) -- the first attempt to bring one of his stories to the big screen was the soulless, callous How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). Then came The Cat in the Hat (2003), which could well be the worst movie produced in the last decade.

Time passed, and some brave souls tried again. Happily, Horton Hears a Who! (2008) worked beautifully. This time the filmmakers seemed to understand the themes of the book, expanding upon them, rather than simply padding the story out to feature length.Now comes The Lorax, based on the 1971 book, and it's another happy success. It does have some slightly diverging musical numbers and chase scenes, but these still remain true to the story's spirit.

In the book, the "Once-Ler" (whose face is never seen) begins chopping down the beautiful Truffula trees to make "thneeds." A forest spirit, the Lorax, appears to protest, but the thneeds sell like hotcakes, and the Once-Ler continues chopping. When the trees all die, his business dies too.

Now the movie expands the story to the character of Ted (voiced by Zac Efron). He lives in Thneedville, a plastic place where people buy bottles of clean air, sold by corporate scoundrel Mr. O'Hare (Rob Riggle).On a mission to impress a pretty redhead, Audrey (Taylor Swift), he sets out to learn about the trees that once grew nearby.He meets the Once-Ler (Ed Helms), and we flash back to the story of the Lorax (Danny DeVito), now more slapsticky than the book, but with the same idea.Of course, O'Hare uses all his power to keep any pesky trees -- which (gasp!) generate air for free -- out of the city.

Writers Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul nicely incorporate Seuss' original text into dialogue and songs throughout the movie, and their new material is fitfully funny without being needlessly vulgar.Co-directors Chris Renaud ("Despicable Me") and Kyle Balda create effective textures and designs: the plastic feels plastic, but the trees feel refreshing.Even if it's a little too frenetic, The Lorax, with its themes of corporate greed and environmental destruction, still feels amazingly timely, perhaps more so now than when the visionary Seuss conceived it.

Review: Project X

2012-03-01T14:27:00.002-08:00

When the all-night party movie began, arguably with George Lucas's American Graffiti, the focus was on characters learning a lesson over the course of the night.As the genre became more common, the parties became more and more raucous, as in Sixteen Candles, Superbad, The Hangover and Take Me Home Tonight. But the focus was still on characters learning lessons and becoming better people.

Now comes Project X, which advances the genre to an entirely new level. Screen time that was originally devoted to the nurturing of characters has been set aside to make room for more chaos and destruction.The result is like a crazy experimental film, an exercise in physical filmmaking. In its almost complete embracing of the reckless, it has a weird kind of purity.

Thomas Mann plays "Thomas," the typical quiet, shy type who "needs" a big party to help him out of his shell. Costa (Oliver J. Cooper), who once lived in Queens, New York, is the anything-goes best friend who keeps saying things like "dude, don't worry about it!"Rounding out our trinity is "JB" (Jonathan Daniel Brown), the overweight, bespectacled nerd whose exterior belies a suave party animal.

In the usual setup, the parents leave for the weekend, allowing Thomas to have a couple of friends over for his birthday in his suburban, Pasadena home. The nervous Thomas, afraid of getting "crucified" by his parents, sets a maximum of 50 people for his party.The actual number will soon be over a thousand.Thomas begins by trying to sequester the party to the backyard, but it quickly spills into the house. There are broken windows, a dog dyed orange, roof-diving, topless swimming, a little person in an oven, a flamethrower, and much more.The music booms, the cops visit, the neighbors complain, and still the party rages ever larger.

As the movie progresses, the party devolves into snatches of crazed images, just one flash of nightmarish insanity after another, as if seen through a noisy, drunken haze. In essence, it moves from a giant, writhing mass to individual moments of primal, human contact.The fuzzy, hung-over morning after brings with it a message that viewers over 30 may disapprove of.

Meanwhile, Project X understands that the real function of a party isn't to learn a lesson. Going to a party involves turning off your brain and turning on your body; of all the party movies, this one comes the closest to capturing that switch onscreen.

Review: Gone

2012-03-01T14:22:00.002-08:00

Gone is a most unusual thriller. It's not particularly focused on the identity of the killer, and though it does drop in a red herring, the actual reveal means nothing. Likewise, the heroine is rarely in physical danger. Rather, the main theme here is the "girl who cried wolf" story, in which the girl is tough, capable, and cunning.

Several months back, Jill (Amanda Seyfried) survived a kidnapping. She now lives with her sister in Portland, works as a waitress in an all-night café, and constantly looks over her shoulder. When she arrives home one morning, her sister is missing, and Jill becomes convinced that the kidnapper has returned. Unfortunately, given her history, and the fact that she was checked into a mental hospital for a while, the police do not believe her. But Jill knows that she has roughly one day to save her sister's life, so she does everything in her power, including avoiding the police and conning just about everyone in town, to pull that off.

It's fun watching Seyfried bluffing and conning her way through scene after scene; no opponent can best her.Seyfried's amazing, oversized features help, and she plays the "crazy" card every so often, that she constantly ups the emotional ante. And, when we realize that the bad guy here is not necessarily the killer, but rather the cops, the movie begins to take shape. They are the ones that have labeled and cornered her, using underhanded tactics and slimy behavior. Her telephone conversation with the killer is the first honest, civil one she has in the movie.

Overall, Gone is an odd but appealing combination of flat and subtle, sturdy and loony.

Review - Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

2012-03-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

For this sequel, the Ghost Rider franchise has changed directors; now we get the demented team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the boys behind Crank and Crank: High Voltage. The result is a slight improvement in style, but unfortunately, the movie still lags behind in the script and character department.

In the last movie, former stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) made a deal with the devil and became Ghost Rider, a fearsome ghoul that rides a blazing motorcycle feeds on the souls of the wicked. Now, attempting to hide from the world, he receives an offer from a priest (Idris Elba). If he can help rescue a mother (Violante Placido) and her son (Fergus Riordan), he can get his humanity back. But what Johnny doesn't know is that there's something special about the boy and that the ultimate evil on earth won't rest until he is captured. Can Johnny save the world, and also himself?

The movie features some gleefully twisted stuff, such as Blaze trying to fight off the transformation to Ghost Rider, speeding down the street, screaming and cackling with the effort. He also switches from a flaming motorcycle to an enormous flaming crane in one shot (apparently it doesn't matter what vehicle he rides). But the story -- borrowed from Superman II -- is sluggish and uninspired, with several bald spots of logic, and it has a distasteful penchant for violence against women and kids. The cardboard characters never inspire any connection; Cage plays his character as a touch too crazy, though Violante Placido is genuinely appealing.

Review: Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

2012-03-01T10:24:00.002-08:00

It's embarrassing to think that Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie was made by grownups. To begin, it's very simply not funny. Comedy usually relies on very precise delivery, with special rhythms and beats, but Heidecker and Wareheim have completely ignored that concept. Instead they aggressively repeat punchlines, hammering them again and again in the vain hope that they will become funnier, rather than less funny. The dead space where laughter should be is like lead.

In Hollywood, Tim (Tim Heidecker) and Eric (Eric Wareheim) have just blown one billion dollars on an unreleasable movie that only lasts a few minutes. (In one of their many mistakes, they accidentally cast a Johnny Depp lookalike instead of the real Johnny Depp.) To escape their angry financiers (Robert Loggia and William Atherton), and to raise money, they agree to take on a job refurbishing a dilapidated and dangerous shopping mall. While there they meet a range of strange characters, and they learn about a ravenous wolf and the secret of "Shrim." But can they finish the mall before the their enemies track them down and take their revenge?

The characters of Tim and Eric are very simply vile, hateful, irritating, stupid, and worthless. In one scene, Tim steals a small boy from his father and "adopts" him as his own son. (This horrifying event is supposed to be funny.) Most other characters are one-joke types, such as "Taquito" (John C. Reilly), who is sick and keeps coughing up blood. Again, this is supposed to be played for laughs. The directing -- contributed by the two lead actors -- has a vaguely sick, sludgy quality; the entire movie leaves off with an uneasy, empty feeling.

For some reason, aside from Reilly, Loggia, and Atherton, Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell, and Ray Wise also appear, much to their detriment.

DVD Review: The Spiders

2012-03-01T09:09:00.003-08:00

Fritz Lang made a great career out of dark themes, such asobsession and fate, and the idea that bad things can happen to good people forno reason. However, at the tail end of his career, he made a pair of terrific,full-blooded adventure movies -- perhaps just for fun -- The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb (1959). And precisely forty years earlier, he madethe template for those movies.

Lang's earliest existing movie, The Spiders (1919), has now been re-issued on a gorgeous, newlyspruced up DVD (but no Blu-Ray), from Kino. The earlier DVD, released by Imagein 1999, ran 137 minutes, and this new release runs 173 minutes. As near as Ican tell, no new footage has been restored; rather, the frame rate has beenadjusted to a more comfortable speed.

The young Lang had originally been set to direct The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but wasre-assigned to this instead. Clearly influenced by Louis Feuillade's adventureserials of the same period, like Fantomas, Les Vampires, and Judex, The Spiders also has a Western influence, as the story begins in San Francisco; itwas possibly an attempt to spread German cinema into the world market. Howeverthe originally planned four-part serial was eventually capped at just twoepisodes.

The movie is packed with goodies, though. A yachtsman named"Kay Hoog" (Carl de Vogt) discovers a message in a bottle that leadsto a lost Incan civilization filled with treasure. The evil organization"The Spiders" (similar to "Les Vampires") gets wind of itand tries to beat Hoog to the treasure. But Hoog finds something more valuable:a princess who falls in love with him. Unfortunately, the leader of theSpiders, Lio Sha (Ressel Orla) has also fallen for Hoog. Heartbroken, she takesher revenge.

In the second chapter, both Hoog and the Spiders search forthe valuable Buddha's Head Diamond. A wealthy diamond man's daughter iskidnapped, and finding the diamond is the only way Hoog can get her back. Thetrail leads Hoog into a secret underground city and a booby-trapped cave.

This is clearly the work of a director that was stilllearning his craft. The storytelling is there, but the pacing and suspense arenot as tight as they could be, or would be on future Lang productions.Nevertheless, The Spiders has the kindof imaginative thrills that Indiana Jones would pick up on decades later.(Thankfully, "Indiana Jones" has a much better ring to it than"Kay Hoog.")

It's apparent that Lang was enjoying himself on this production,and the fact that he returned to the genre forty years later is also telling.Maybe he spent his entire career thinking about adventure, and found he wasonly able to make films about disappointment?

Kino's DVD looks amazingly good for a film that was oncethought to be lost. It has been digitally cleaned up and brightened, withscratches removed, so that it looks like a high-class, high-definition video.(Too bad about the lack of Blu-Ray... maybe soon?) The only extra is a stillsgallery, which is quite wonderful in itself.

Review: Chico & Rita

2012-02-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

Twenty years after Spanish director Fernando Trueba won anOscar for Best Foreign Film for Belle Epoque, his new Chico & Ritais nominated -- this time in the Best Animated Feature category.

It's a gorgeous, fluid movie, filled with rich textures anda genuine sense of place, whether it's Havana, Paris, New York, or Hollywood.It's even grown-up and sexy, which is rare for cartoons. It's also a good jazzmovie, depicting animated versions of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, andother legends, back on stage as if for the first time.

It's also an epic romance, spanning years, but notnecessarily a good one. Chico and Rita are mostly separated by their own mutualstubbornness, and it can get wearisome to root for characters like that.

Chico (voiced by Eman Xor Oña) is a great piano player inHavana, circa the late 1940s. He's great, but totally unknown. Out on the townone night, he and his best pal Ramón (voiced by Mario Guerra) spy an exemplarynew singer, Rita (voiced by Limara Meneses), who is gorgeous besides. Chico isnot only smitten, but also he is inspired to bring her into his act.

They spark in a grand romantic style, but due to a misunderstanding,Rita is soon out the door. Later, she gets an offer to go to New York; shewants to bring Chico, but another misunderstanding separates them again. Chicoeventually makes it to New York and finds work in the local jazz scene, whichbrings him to Paris, while Rita goes to Hollywood to make movies.

Occasionally the two meet up again for a quick kiss, a quickroll in the hay, or a quick argument, and then they disappear again. There isalso a strange, baseless betrayal that keeps them apart. The story is told inflashback from the present day. Will Chico ever find his true love again?

It's a bit hokey, but whenever this story stops for somemusic or for a particularly dazzling bit of animated wonder -- such as a dodgycar ride -- then Chico & Rita reallysoars. The animation looks a bit like some of the style invented for WakingLife, partly hand-drawn, with some computeraid to make it flow and feel a bit more dimensional. (Trueba worked with twoco-directors: designer Javier Mariscal and animator Tono Errando.)

Eventually, the movie is a feast for animation lovers andmusic lovers alike. The music in this film ranges from hot Cuban jazz to morefamiliar American bebop, and ranges from heartbreaking to joyous. The animationseems inspired by the music, and often takes flight by itself. If thefilmmakers had been similarly inspired by the story itself, they would have hada masterpiece.

Chico & Rita

*** out of ****

With (voices) Limara Meneses, Emar Xor Oña, Mario Guerra

Written by Fernando Trueba, Ignacio Martínez de Pisón

Directed by Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, Tono Errando

Not Rated

Spanish, with English subtitles

94 minutes

February 17, 2012

Review: This Means War

2012-02-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

Hollywood usually designs its love triangles more along thelines of Isosceles than Equilateral. It must be absolutely clear which twopartners the audience is supposed to root for, and the third is usually paintedas slimy or annoying.

If the partners are all equal, as they are in the new This Means War, it's problematic.

The movie therefore strives to solve problems of scriptrather than problems of character. Perhaps even worse, if the partners areequal, the middle character -- in this case product tester Lauren (ReeseWitherspoon) -- comes across like an indecisive idiot.

It begins as secret agents and best friends FDR (Chris Pine)and Tuck (Tom Hardy) make a mess of their latest assignment, leaving an angrygangster (Til Schweiger) seeking revenge.

Grounded and bored, the dreamy, romantic Tuck joins a datingsite. FDR, skilled a pick-up artist, scoffs as such devices.

Meanwhile, Lauren has one of those annoying movie "bestfriends" (Chelsea Handler), whose only concern is for the main character'sromantic and/or sex life. She signs Lauren up for the same dating site.

Tuck meets Lauren, and their date is a hit. Unfortunately,FDR also spies Lauren later the same day. She rebuffs him, and he's fascinated.

Both agents use all the technology and information at theirdisposal to begin spying on Lauren, and subsequently turn that information intocompetitive dating tips.

No one seems to care about the illegal and immoral side toall this, least of all director McG, a former music video maker.

McG (Charlie's Angels, TerminatorSalvation) is sometimes quite good at action sequences; he prefers aslick, swooping, single-shot style.

Unfortunately, only one good scene turns up here: bothagents secretly slip through Lauren's house, planting bugs while she cluelesslybounces around to a hip-hop tune.

Otherwise, the junky action scenes ignore all laws of spaceand time, jumping around like dizzy mosquitoes.

Conversely, McG's weakness has always been character andstory, and since that makes up about 80 percent of this movie, we're leftstranded.

The conversations in this movie are dreadfully forced andshrill, not helped by the off-kilter, arrhythmic editing.

It's a poorly made movie, to be sure, but worst of all isthe fact that Lauren is such a passive character, cheerfully andunquestioningly giving up her privacy and freedom in the name of"love."

And it's dismaying that Witherspoon, a once tough andpromising actress, plays her.

This Means War

* out of ****

With Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, TilSchweiger, Chelsea Handler, Angela Bassett, Rosemary Harris

Written by Timothy Dowling and Simon Kinberg, based on astory by Timothy Dowling and Marcus Gautesen

Directed by McG

Rated PG-13 for sexual content including references, someviolence and action, and for language

98 minutes

Opens February 17, 2012

Review: The Secret World of Arrietty

2012-02-16T09:03:00.000-08:00

It's all about the ladybugs.

The animators at Japan's Studio Ghibli have been makingchildren's movies since the 1980s and have earned the adoration of young andold, worldwide.

They have done this not by making breakneck, slapstickmovies full of fart jokes, but by focusing on the flow of life. These moviesactually take the time, once a scene is over, to linger in the moment and watcha ladybug crawl across a leaf and take to the sky.

The studio's other trademarks -- richly detailed backdropsand sounds, strong, brave, young characters, and hugely imaginativestorytelling -- are evident in classic works like Grave of theFireflies (1988), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), and Spirited Away (2002).

Their latest is the beautiful, gentle The Secret Worldof Arrietty, directed by first-timer Hiromasa Yonebayashi. The legendaryHayao Miyazaki co-wrote the screenplay and co-produced.

The new movie is based on Mary Norton's 1952 novel The Borrowers, which was previously adapted to the big screen in 1997 as avisual effects-ridden, live-action comedy.

The Secret World of Arrietty couldn't be moredifferent, or more refreshing. It's even gentler than Miyazaki's last outing, Ponyo (2009).

Arrietty (voiced by Bridgit Mendler) is a"borrower," a tiny person living with her mother and father (voicedby Amy Poehler and Will Arnett) underneath the floorboards of a beautiful housein the countryside.

Her father takes her up to the house for her first"borrowing," a sugarcube and a piece of tissue. Unfortunately one ofthe full-size human "beans" spots her.

But this "bean" is different. He's Shawn (voiced by DavidHenrie), a sad, sickly boy that has come to stay with his aunt and her snoopinghousekeeper Hara (brilliantly voiced by Carol Burnett).

Shawn and Arrietty's blooming friendship is jeopardized byher father's mistrust of humans and Hara's zealous determination to catch thelittle people long rumored to be living in the house.

The movie conjures many magical moments, ranging from a crowstuck in a window screen to a tubby, short-tailed cat forever stalking thelittle folks, and an awe-inspiring first glimpse of a beautiful dollhouse.

Even the way water is poured -- in large drops -- in this tiny world shows the care and attention that went into the movie.

Burnett is the movie's unexpected secret, however. Shethrows herself into the loony Hara and comes up with some big laughs, creatinga memorable villain.

Indeed, the movie is so serene and patient that someAmerican kids may find themselves squirming a bit like ladybugs. But most willbe caught up in its beautiful spell, immersed in great storytelling at itsfinest.

Note: For some reason, an entirely different voice cast -- including Saoirse Ronan and Mark Strong -- was recorded for the UK version, as if US viewers were completely unable to understand British. Hopefully viewers will get to see all the versions on DVD and Blu-Ray.

The Secret World of Arrietty

***1/2 out of ****

With the voices of Bridgit Mendler, David Henrie, WillArnett, Amy Poehler, Carol Burnett

Written by Keiko Niwa and Hayao Miyazaki, based on the novelby Mary Norton

Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Rated G

94 minutes

Opens February 17, 2012

Late Review: The Help

2012-02-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

I just caught up with The Help, after it earned $169 million at the American box office, and scored four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It's also the thirteenth highest grossing movie of the year, and the #1 movie of the year that's not a sequel, prequel, remake or franchise of some kind. Here are some quick thoughts.

It reminds me of a Mark Twain quote: "A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read." The Help is something in-between. It makes people feel as if they've really seen something, but in fact it goes down easy and painlessly.

Like so many other American, Hollywood movies, it tells a story of black culture through the eyes of white characters, and it celebrates white characters that are brave and wise enough to open up to African-Americans.

On the other hand, it does offer some meaty (not just fried chicken) roles for African-American actresses. Viola Davis even scored a Best Actress nomination, while the movie's actual star, Emma Stone, wasn't even considered. Davis is excellent here, but I wouldn't swap the whole movie for her great monologue in Doubt, for which she was also nominated.

Two actresses are competing against one another in the supporting category, and Octavia Spencer is the front-runner. Jessica Chastain was recognized with a nomination for her stellar year: aside from The Help, she was in The Debt, The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, and Texas Killing Fields. Aside from being the biggest hit, The Help was also her showiest role.

But the whole cast is great, comprising some of the finest actresses working today: Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Allison Janney, Cicely Tyson, and even Bryce Dallas Howard, who, though she's not very popular or acclaimed, is very effective in the key villainous role. (She was an equally horrible character in another movie this year, 50/50, which may convince people to be afraid of her.)

Writer/director Tate Taylor, who adapted the best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett, concentrates heavily on the performances, but otherwise shoots in a picture-postcard gloss, like a gooey TV movie nostalgic for simpler times. The Help rambles on nearly two and a half hours, and it feels like it could have lost some fat, or ended a good deal sooner. It's notable that, despite the movie's general acclaim and strong word-of-mouth, and constant awards buzz, Taylor's name was never mentioned as Best Director.

Some scenes feel like rather a waste of time, like Skeeter's relationship with some bland pretty boy, or her practical joke of the commodes on the lawn. But there are some effective girl-bonding moments, and some lovely food moments (though modern day nutritionists are probably choking at the amount of fat and sugar used).

Overall, The Help is a minor movie, one that perhaps reached out to a few people that otherwise might not have heard. But it's not daring enough to really stand up to multiple viewings, or the test of time. Mostly it's a movie of the moment, a flavor of the month that will probably be forgotten.

The Top 25 Animated Shorts

2012-02-08T23:34:00.000-08:00

This is hardly a list of the 25 best animated shorts evermade; there are far too many to make any kind of definitive statement. But these25, listed in alphabetical order, are the ones that I like best, the ones I remember most, and the ones I liketo re-watch. For the sake of clarity, I'm eliminating cartoons made fortelevision, such as Rocky and Bullwinkle, Scooby-Doo, The Simpsons, and SouthPark. I've also tried to balance things fairly: not too many entries by Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, or Walt Disney. Some of these, by copyright, are not allowed to be posted online, but whereverpossible I've included a link to watch the actual cartoon.

Balance (1989)

This brilliant short haunted me from the moment I first sawit at a Spike & Mike festival. Not only does it have a mathematicallybrilliant zinger of an ending, but its creepy use of empty space and echo-y,droning sound gives the impression of a bottomless pit, of absolutenothingness. (Watch it here.)

Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969)

I watched this many times with my friends as a teen, and thename "Marv Newland" is now burned in my head forever. It's arguablythe greatest 90-second movie ever made. (Watch it here.)

Bunny (1999)

It's hard to believe that the maker of this remarkable,heartbreaking short went on to make the crappy Ice Age features. I think I like best the way that a bunny'snatural movements are incorporated into this sad old character. Of course, TomWaits' music helps the mood a great deal. (Watch it here.)

The Cat Concerto (1947)

Produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at MGM, this isby far the best Tom and Jerry cartoon; it won the Oscar for Best Animated Short.It's the most brilliantly contained and endlessly inventive of all their catand mouse chases. And, of course, no dialogue. (Watch it here.)

Creature Comforts (1989)

I'm sure my jaw hit the floor when I first saw thisstop-motion film, Nick Park's debut (made the same year as the first Wallace& Gromit short). The use of raw sound is absolutely amazing, making it look andfeel as if it were an impromptu documentary. The hilarious little bits ofbackground business are great too. (Watch it here.)

Day & Night (2010)

This may not be a popular choice, but Day & Night -- shown in front of Toy Story 3 -- is my favorite of all the brilliant Pixar shorts.Some of them have been technological breakthroughs and many others focus onhumorous, twisty endings, but this one strikes me as the most perfectcombination of form and content, a truly imaginative idea used with creativityand beauty. (Watch it here.)

Duck Amuck (1953)

One of the best of all the post-modern cartoons, this onehas Daffy Duck endlessly humiliated -- in some truly bizarre ways -- by anunseen cartoonist. It doesn't even have a plot; it's totally immersed in itsmeta-ness. And it has a great ending. (Watch it here.)

Fast and Furry-ous (1949)

If I could only choose one character or series to take to adesert island, it would probably be Wile E. Coyote and his constant nemesis,the Road Runner. Chuck Jones created them and directed each of theinstallments. Many of them are great, and they all make astounding use of huge,open spaces and surreal sight gags, but this one was the first. (Watch it here.)

Fast Film (2003)

Austrian-born filmmaker Virgil Widrich is probably bestknown for Copy Shop, made two yearsearlier, but I like this one better; he transfers old movies and movie clips topaper and films them a frame at a time, telling new stories and forming newthemes by physically manipulating the paper. Then, on top of this intricateprocess, the movie begins to charge ahead at breakneck speed. It's hard todescribe, but you won't quite believe your eyes. (Watch it here.)

Feed the Kitty (1952)

Many cartoonists could make us laugh, but Chuck Jones couldmake us laugh and choke us up in the same cartoon. This is amazing one-shotshort has Marc Anthony, the bulldog, falling in love with a tiny kitten andfinding that protecting it is not such an easy job. (Watch it here.)

Felix in Hollywood (1923)

Felix the Cat was one of earliest of all cartoon stars andone of the only ones to make the transition from silent to sound, though thissilent era short is arguably his best. Even before sound came in, this one is acanny and clever take on Hollywood dreams. The simple, black and white linedrawings are almost inspiring to look at today. (Watch it here.)

Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)

Gloriously detailed and nearly psychedelic, Winsor McCay wasone of the greatest of all newspaper cartoonists, and was one of the first tobegin making animated cartoons. Only a handful of his short works exist today,but they're far more than just historically relevant. Gertie the Dinosaur features a unique and funny melding of real-life andanimation. (Watch it here.)

Hell's Bells (1929)

Disney is still known for being cute and sweet, but thisvery early Silly Symphony short, directed by Ub Iwerks, demonstrates his darkside. It's rather astounding to even describe it: Satan and some demons have aparty in hell. Yep. It's Disney. And kids probably saw it on the big screen. (Watch it here.)

Motor Mania (1950)

I'll never forget seeing thisGoofy short, directed by Jack Kinney, in traffic school of all places. The creators of theGoofy series hit upon the brilliant idea to use their dog-like star in a seriesof "instructional" films, and this one -- about remaining calm behindthe wheel -- is arguably the most socially astute of the series. (Watch it here.)

Northwest Hounded Police (1946)

Droopy is one of my very favorite characters; the otherwisemaniacal Tex Avery was smart enough to create him almost totally as a stilllife. He barely moves and when he speaks, he speaks slowly and calmly. Hesounds sad, but he's really happy. And he seems to be everywhere withoutactually racing around. He drives the bad guys insane, but Droopy alwaysremains in his zen place. (Watch it here.)

The Pink Phink (1964)

When Friz Freleng left Warner Bros., he developed amemorable animated title sequence for the Peter Sellers movie The PinkPanther (1964). It was so popular that anentire series of cartoons came of it. This first entry, a simple, but surrealcontest of pink paint versus blue paint -- with no dialogue -- won the Oscarfor Best Animated Short. (Watch it here.)

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)

Once upon a time, Max and Dave Fleischer were seriouscompetitors for Walt Disney. They lacked Disney's business sense, and they alsolacked the vision to move into feature films like Disney did, but their shortfilms remain proof of their exceptional talent. This super-deluxe Popeye short,twice the length of a normal one and shot in color, shows off their rich,smooth movement, and jaw-droppingly detailed, 3D backgrounds. (Watch it here.)

Rejected (2000)

Don Hertzfeldt makes all other animators look healthy andnormal. This series of bizarre segments, which grow increasingly strange,disturbing, and violent, was supposedly developed for rejected by "TheFamily Learning Channel," which is fake, of course. Somehow, thishilarious thing was nominated for an Oscar! ("My spoon is too big!") (Watch it here.)

Santa's Workshop (1932)

No list of great cartoons is quite complete without aChristmas short, and this beautiful Walt Disney Silly Symphony is wonderfullywarm, fuzzy, and nostalgic; it even depicts a workshop full of old-fashionedtoys. It's almost the cartoon equivalent of "Twas the Night BeforeChristmas." (Watch it here.)

The Skeleton Dance (1929)

A companion piece to Hell's Bells, this is another dark, spooky Silly Symphony, fromWalt Disney. Basically, skeletons dance, take off their heads, climb in and outof graves, etc. It's a weird mixture of beautiful, unhinged and nightmarish --perfect for Halloween viewing. (Watch it here.)

Snow-White (1933)

Max and Dave Fleischer started in the silent era with their"Out of the Inkwell" and "Koko the Clown" cartoons, butthey perfected their craft with Betty Boop; these sexy, surreal, jazz agecartoons are still ahead of their time. Betty's take on the Snow White tale hasto be seen to be believed. Cab Calloway sings a song, first as a creepy clown,then as an even creepier ghost. (Watch it here.)

Superman (1941)

After cutting their teeth on Betty Boop and Popeye andtrying their hand at a couple of features, the Fleischer brothers ramped uptheir budgets to make this amazing series of exciting, full-color Supermancartoons, just 17 of them. I was lucky enough to see this first one on the bigscreen in a restored film print. (Watch it here.)

What's Opera, Doc? (1957)

Widely considered to be the best Bugs Bunny cartoon -- andin some quarters, the best cartoon ever made -- and even if it's not quite thefunniest, it's still absolutely amazing. Chuck Jones went all-out with shadows,space, shapes, sound, motion, and colors to make this operatic, emotionalroller coaster that's almost too good to be a mere comedy. (Watch it here.)

Who Killed Who? (1943)

If you want proof of Tex Avery's genius, it's here in thistruly mind-boggling spoof of "whodunit" pictures. It's hilarious andpointed, but also moves with a kind of slippery dream logic that is far betterseen than described. And yes, Santa Claus is in it. (Watch it here.)

Your Face (1987)

Bill Plympton's twitchy line drawings have graced dozens ofshorts and a few features, but this Oscar-winner truly captures all that'sbeautiful and terrible about him. Your Faceis mesmerizing and often quite eerie, with its slowed-down vocals. But it'salso a groundbreaker for its uninhibited stretching and morphing of matter, andit's unforgettable besides. (Watch it here.)

Please feel free to post your own favorites!

Overlooked by the Oscars

2012-02-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Every year, the Oscars overlook some of the year's best films. Some people chalk it up to "politics," but I have come to realize that it's mostly a matter of consensus. You can't get 100 people to agree on much, let alone 6000. If they do agree, the result is likely to be something in the "lowest common denominator" realm. Not to mention that this mob is easily influenced by whatever the trend of the moment is. If a film is hot for about a month and it's hot right at voting time, you can bet it has a good shot, even if it has a short shelf life.

So here's a list of this year's best overlooked items, culled from actual critics awards, critics' mentions and other year-end accolades.

Most Overlooked Best Picture: Drive

Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive was among the top five most mentioned films on critics' ten best lists in 2011. Additionally, Refn won the Best Director award at Cannes. But it's clear why it wasn't nominated. It's a pure genre film with no other real "message," and it's exceedingly violent, which probably turns the stomachs of the Academy's older voters.

Other overlooked Best Pictures: Melancholia, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Shame, A Dangerous Method, Margaret, Take Shelter, Meek's Cutoff.

Most Overlooked Best Director: Nicholas Winding Refn, Drive

See above.

Over overlooked directors: David Cronenberg (A Dangerous Method), Steven Spielberg (War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin), Lars von Trier (Melancholia), Abbas Kiarostami (Certified Copy)

Most Overlooked Best Actor: Michael Fassbender, Shame

Fassbender received the most votes and awards of those not nominated for an Oscar. Again, it's fairly easy to see why. Shame is not focused on a plot, or on a resolution or redemption. It's a fairly harsh depiction of sex addiction, with graphic nudity. It's the type of movie that safe, stodgy voters would not even bother to watch, much less vote for.

Other overlooked Best Actors: Michael Shannon (Take Shelter), Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar), Ralph Fiennes (Coriolanus), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50), Brendan Gleeson (The Guard), Owen Wilson (Midnight in Paris), Woody Harrelson (Rampart)

Most Overlooked Best Actress: Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

I hate this film, but I concede that Swinton is a superb actress and does some startling things in her role. The film is a quasi horror movie about a "bad seed," though wrapped up in a message about Columbine-style school slayings. It's an uncomfortable mix, as seen through the eyes of an unreliable narrator, and the cross of over-the-top, unrealistic horror and the very real Columbine theme is somewhat appalling. There's no doubt as to why Oscar voters did not buy into this.

Other overlooked Best Actresses: Elizaebth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia), Anna Paquin (Margaret), Juliette Binoche (Certified Copy), Kirsten Wiig (Bridesmaids), Yun Jung-hee (Poetry), Vera Farmiga (Higher Ground), Saoirse Ronan (Hanna)

Most Overlooked Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive

This was a most bizarre omission. Brooks won more critics awards than any other actor in this category, and he's absolutely astounding. It's one of those performances that changes the direction of an entire career. Could the voters have hated Drive that much? (Its lone nomination is for Best Sound Editing.)

Other overlooked Best Supporting Actors: Patton Oswalt (Young Adult), Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Brad Pitt (The Tree of Life), Jeremy Irons (Margin Call), Kevin Spacey (Margin Call), John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene), John C. Reilly (Cedar Rapids), Ryan Gosling (Crazy Stupid Love), Colin Farrell (Horrible Bosses), Viggo Mortensen (A Dangerous Method), Alan Rickman (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)

Most Overlooked Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

I'm not a huge fan of this movie; I think that while many scenes are satisfying in themselves, it doesn't add up to a whole, and the balance is off. But Woodley, who is just 20, gives a remarkably intuitive performance opposite a major movie star (George Clooney). She's wise, wounded, and funny. Otherwise, there was very little consensus in this category this year, mainly because Jessica Chastain had all the good parts, and because The Help got all the nominations.

Other overlooked Best Supporting Actresses: Carey Mulligan (Shame), Vanessa Redgrave (Coriolanus), Cate Blanchett (Hanna), Rachel McAdams (Midnight in Paris), Marisa Tomei (Crazy Stupid Love), Amy Ryan (Win Win), Judi Dench (My Week with Marilyn)

Most Overlooked Best Original Screenplay: Will Reiser, 50/50

In the other categories, it's easy to see why things were overlooked, but 50/50 seems tailor made for Oscars; it's a cancer story, based on a true story, and with a happy ending. Not to mention that it's a really good, well-made movie, and actually quite funny. Maybe it was too much of a tough sell; perhaps Academy members didn't want to see it? (Or perhaps it was too funny?)

Other overlooked Best Original Screenplays: Tom McCarthy (Win Win), Jon Raymond (Meek's Cutoff), Kenneth Lonergan (Margaret), Lee Chang-dong (Poetry), Diablo Cody (Young Adult), Abbas Kiarostami (Certified Copy), John Michael McDonagh (The Guard), Mike Mills (Beginners), Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene)

Most Overlooked Best Adapted Screenplay: Hossein Amini, Drive

One more time, shall we? What happened to Drive? Even weirder, this category has been clearly dominated by two powerhouse scripts: Moneyball and The Descendants. Any others are distant dark horses. So why couldn't Drive have snuck into this category?

Other overlooked Best Adapted Screenplays: Tate Taylor (The Help), Moira Buffini (Jane Eyre), Christopher Hampton (A Dangerous Method), Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller (The Muppets).

Review: Underworld Awakening

2012-01-20T16:24:00.000-08:00

After the boring nonsense of Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans (2009), the filmmakers behind the new Underworld Awakening were smart to distance themselves from that dud, and to bring back Kate Beckinsale -- though that was arguably the last smart move they made. This new movie is definitely gory, but someone forgot to also make it scary, exciting, sexy, and/or fun. The entire movie consists either of bloody fight scenes, or dialogue scenes in which characters argue and try to further the feeble plot.

Following the events of Underworld (2003) and Underworld: Evolution (2006), humans discover the existence of vampires and lycans and begin "cleansing." Selene (Kate Beckinsale) is captured, and her lover Michael is presumably dead. When she wakes up, she's shocked to find out that it's 12 years later, and that the few surviving vampires and lycans have gone underground. She's even more shocked to discover that she has a daughter, Eve (India Eisley), a natural-born vampire-lycan hybrid. Eve has now come of age, growing up in a lab without knowing her mother. Unfortunately, after escaping, the disappearance of the girl draws the unwanted attention of angry lycans. With the help of Detective Sebastian (Michael Ealy), Selene must figure out why.

Beckinsale still looks amazing in her black vinyl & leather suit, but her character has no depth; in one scene she says, "my heart isn't cold... it's broken," but we can't tell the difference. Other characters, such as the human police detective, don't seem to belong at all. The visual effects are below average, which renders the digital lycans/werewolves completely ineffective. On the plus side, the Swedish co-directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein (Storm) have at least ordered up a nice-looking set design.

Note: Screen Gems elected to open the film without screening it for the press.

Underworld Awakening

** out of ****

With Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, Theo James, India Eisley, Sandrine Holt, Charles Dance, Kris Holden-Ried, Jacob Blair

Written by Len Wiseman, John Hlavin, J. Michael Straczynski, Allison Burnett, based on a story by Len Wiseman, and on characters created by Kevin Grevioux, Len Wiseman, Danny McBride

Directed by Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein

Rated R for strong violence and gore, and for some language.

88 minutes

Opens January 20, 2012

New DVDs & Blu-Rays: Tuesday, January 17, 2012

2012-01-18T22:20:00.000-08:00

This week's DVDs and Blu-Rays offer some treasures and some trash. First up is the beautiful Criterion Blu-Ray release of Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour (1967), a great, bizarre masterpiece about marriage and sex, starring Catherine Deneuve (pictured above). This was already available on a pretty good Miramax DVD, but sadly, the new commentary track isn't much better than the old one. Couldn't they have hired Martin Scorsese to do it?

Next up is a film that made my ten best list for 2011, the 4-1/2 hour Mysteries of Lisbon, which was originally made for TV and won't lose anything on the small screen. The final film of the Chilean-born director Raul Ruiz, it's also a film that deserves to be watched at leisure. Two vintage Robin Williams features -- Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poets Society -- are now on Blu-Ray from Touchstone, and they both feature the comedian at his best, even if the movies are not always on par with him.

Rounding out the week, we have the overrated Oscar winner Traffic (2000), the forgotten Oscar contender The Ides of March, the disappointing Dirty Girl, and the outright terrible Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star. Following is the list, with links to reviews.

Review - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

2012-01-18T22:06:00.000-08:00

Fullmetal Alchemist began as a popular manga series, then became a TV series in Japan, followed by a 2005 feature film. Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos is the first sequel, and the first to be released in U.S. theaters. That's exciting for fans, but not so exciting for others, as the new movie does little to bring newcomers up to speed. For example, since the heroes -- The Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse -- have already been established elsewhere, they are not very deeply developed here; most of the time is spent on the convoluted plot and supporting characters.

Ed and Al are alchemist heroes, trapped in different bodies after an accident. After a mysterious prisoner breaks out of prison with only a short time left on his sentence, the brothers attempt to solve the puzzle. Their investigation leads them to a beautiful alchemist named Julia, who lost her parents and her brother years earlier. Before long, they find themselves in a valley inhabited by the Milos, a repressed people struggling against exploitation. Julia hopes to lead the Milos in a revolution, and she's even prepared to use the deadly power of the Philosopher's Stone to do it.

The plot is ridiculously complex, but also sometimes simplistic, as when basic dramatic turns and arcs occur. Its big, outsized themes and end-of-the-world dramatics are fairly familiar to this type of anime. However, the movie is gorgeously animated and has many powerful images and ideas, and what little we do get of Ed and Al is enough of a sampler to spur viewers on to find more in this series.

For Bay Area readers, the movie opens Friday, Jan 20 at San Francisco Film Society Cinema.

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos
*** out of ****
With (voices) Romi Pak, Rie Kugimiya, Maaya Sakamoto
Written by Yûichi Shinbo, based on the manga by Hiromu Arakawa
Directed by Kazuya Murata
Not Rated
In Japanese with English subtitles
110 minutes
Release Date: January 20, 2012

Review: Haywire

2012-01-18T21:59:00.000-08:00

Though director Steven Soderbergh has a wide-ranging filmography, it can be argued that his fun, genre entries (Out of Sight, The Limey, Ocean's Eleven, etc.), are overall better than his "serious" movies (Traffic, The Good German, Contagion, etc.). His new Haywire is a pared-down, almost simplistic action movie, mostly designed to showcase the beauty and power of his new star, the female mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano.

Mallory (Carano) is a super-cool secret agent with impeccable mixed martial arts fighting skills. After finishing up a job in Barcelona freeing a hostage, she looks forward to relaxing a bit. Unfortunately her employer (Ewan McGregor) has an emergency: an easy two-day job wherein she must pose as the partner to agent Paul (Michael Fassbender). It's not long before Mallory realizes that the whole thing is a setup designed to get her out of the way. Now, escaping in a borrowed car with a civilian (Michael Angarano), she has only one chance to clear up the loose ends and set things right.

The movie features many fine, recognizable actors in small roles; their dialogue is spare, and never divulges too much information or panders to the audience. The story itself is a fairly old one in this genre, and aside from the fact that Haywire is told in a non-linear fashion, it doesn't have much to add. Soderbergh presents the fight scenes cleanly and simply, often without a music score, though he uses a funky brass score for chase scenes. However, in stripping away the fat, Soderbergh has also taken away some of the movie's emotional content; though it's a thrilling experience, it's also a somewhat surface one.

Haywire

*** out of ****

With Gina Carano, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Mathieu Kassovitz, Bill Paxton, Michael Angarano, Julian Alcaraz, Eddie J. Fernandez, Aaron Cohen, Maximino Arciniega, Anthony Brandon Wong

Written by Lem Dobbs

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Rated R for some violence.

93 minutes

Opens January 20, 2012

Review: The Divide

2012-01-12T13:37:00.000-08:00

Though nuclear holocaust movies are a grim, depressing genre, it's certainly possible to make good movies in it, like The Road or The Book of Eli. The Divide, however, aims for a dark, cutthroat tone, focusing on exploitation elements, but without the thrills that are usually involved. The result is both extremely dismal and extremely uncomfortable.

As a nuclear bomb drops, a band of humans race down to the basement of an apartment building, where the super, Mickey (Michael Biehn), has prepared a stockpile of food and survival tools. At first they hope for survival, but instead they get an attack by men in radiation suits, who kidnap a little girl. After that, the group falls apart, slowly turning on one another and slipping into degradation, chaos, and violent struggles for power. Only one among them, Eva (Lauren German) seems to have enough heart to survive.

The characters consist of a bunch of types that are easily manipulated into conflict without much challenge or depth. Only Rosanna Arquette as a grieving mother seems to go the extra mile. Director Xavier Gens lets his camera restlessly roam the basement corridors without much else to do, and the effect is like pacing; it's tense, but in a bad way. Finally, at 122 minutes, the movie is needlessly, relentlessly, torturously long. Avoid this at all costs.

The Divide
* out of ****
With Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Michael Eklund, Ashton Holmes, Rosanna Arquette, Courtney B. Vance, Iván González, Abbey Thickson, Jennifer Blanc
Written by Karl Mueller, Eron Sheean
Directed by Xavier Gens
Not Rated
122 minutes
Opens January 13, 2012

Review: Contraband

2012-01-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

The plotline in Contraband -- a remake of a 2008 Icelandic thriller -- is pretty creaky, but the execution, by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur (101 Reykjavik), is scrappy and alive.

In New Orleans, Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) is a brilliant former smuggler that has gone straight for the sake of his wife (Kate Beckinsale) and his two sons. But when his wife's younger brother (Caleb Landry Jones) gets himself in trouble with a local thug (Giovanni Ribisi), Chris must go back into business with his best friend Sebastian (Ben Foster). Their plan is to ship out to Panama, pick up a huge, truck-sized pile of counterfeit bills (Chris refuses to smuggle drugs) and bring it back. Unfortunately absolutely everything goes wrong, from bad bills, to a temperamental drug lord (Diego Luna), and a betrayal.

The movie begins at ground level, with a real urban, working class feel around Chris; it's similar in this regard to the atmosphere of The Fighter. (Perhaps Wahlberg, as a producer, has some say in the way his character is portrayed?) Using this as a basis, Baltasar very simply keeps raising the stakes.

The story grows more and more absurd, but each new wrinkle generates even more suspense. Baltasar isn't particularly good at subtle things, like revealing a secret twist or creating a moment of discovery, and the action could have been cleaner and sharper, but most of the movie is based around big events and these are very satisfying. It's more about guts than brains, and generating supreme tension. The high quality cast also includes J.K. Simmons as a cranky ship's captain and Lukas Haas as a nervous helper.

Contraband
*** out of ****
With Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Lukas Haas, Giovanni Ribisi, J.K. Simmons, Diego Luna, Caleb Landry Jones, Kevin 'Lucky' Johnson, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson
Written by Aaron Guzikowski, based on a screenplay by Arnaldur Indriðason, Óskar Jónasson
Directed by Baltasar Kormákur
Rated R for violence, pervasive language and brief drug use
110 minutes
Opens January 13, 2012

New DVDs & Blu-Rays: Tuesday, January 10, 2012

2012-01-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 10, 2012: It's a fairly slow DVD and Blu-Ray Tuesday, but there are some very good things this week. First up is the long-awaited American release of Bela Tarr's The Man from London, made in 2007 and shown in festivals in 2008. It's a weird, black-and-white mystery made less for suspense and more for contemplation. Tilda Swinton stars, but has been dubbed! Then, if you missed Moneyball, definitely see it now. I wasn't kidding when I called it my new all-time favorite baseball movie. (It also made my list of the ten best films of 2011.) Many of my colleagues and other viewers had trouble with it since it was based on non-fiction, but took many liberties with the truth. My argument is that all baseball stories are part truth, part tall tale, and part legend, and this one is no exception.

From Romania comes Aurora, the latest from director Cristi Puiu, who also gave us TheDeath of Mr. Lazarescu. It's long, and like The Man from London, it's a new take on the crime genre. But though this one is definitely fascinating, it's also more than a bit baffling and even a tad annoying. Then we get a more traditional crime movie, Killer Elite, which sort of pretends to want to make audiences think, but in the end just gives up and throws in tons of fight/chase scenes.

Lastly, since Christmas I have been struggling to catch up with my pile of screeners, and I have at last reached the bottom. My late reviews this week are Tuesday, After Christmas (also from Romania) and Lionsgate's Blu-Ray release of Velvet Goldmine. Enjoy!

This Week's New DVDs and Blu-Rays

Tuesday, After Christmas

Velvet Goldmine

Movie Review: The Devil Inside

2012-01-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

The fake documentary horror film seems to have totally run its course; the genre re-uses the same ideas again and again, such as trying to fool the audience into thinking the events are real, etc. The Devil Inside is fairly lazy on most counts. It barely cooks up any kind of character or dramatic arc, even though Fernanda Andrade has wonderful screen presence, and the two priest characters share an interesting moral conundrum.

When Isabella Rossi (Andrade) was a child, her mother went crazy and killed three priests during an exorcism. Now as an adult, Isabella wants to visit her mother in Rome and try to unravel the mystery of what happened, hoping to prevent the same thing from happening again. She learns that her mother may be possessed, but that the Church probably won't help her. Accompanied by her cameraman, Michael (Ionut Grama), she turns to a couple of young priests, Ben (Simon Quarterman) and David (Evan Helmuth), who specialize in cases that the Church has ignored or turned down. Unfortunately, her mother seems to have more than one demon inside her, and these demons are looking for a new home.

However, this fairly young subgenre is still able to cook up some good scares, mainly through a lack of incidental music and through the long takes of the hand-held cameras. The rhythms are unpredictable, and it's never quite clear when something is going to suddenly jump up or switch gears. And indeed, this movie has a few decent tricks up its sleeve. But it leaves off in an unsatisfying manner, having left a several stones unturned and several ideas untapped.

The Devil Inside
** out of ****
With Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, Ionut Grama, Suzan Crowley
Written by William Brent Bell, Matthew Peterman
Directed by William Brent Bell
Rated R for disturbing violent content and grisly images, and for language including some sexual references.
87 minutes
Opens January 6, 2012

Movie Review: Coriolanus

2012-01-05T09:29:00.000-08:00

Like Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, and Kenneth Branagh before him, Ralph Fiennes now takes on the daunting duty of directing and performing in a big screen Shakespeare adaptation. Even more daring, he tackles one of Shakespeare's lesser-known works, Coriolanus, and then adapts it to modern times, using guns, war, and CNN-style TV coverage. It all works extremely well -- with the exception of the ugly hand-held cinematography designed to make the war footage look more chaotic, but instead only looks jerky.

When Caius Martius Coriolanus (Ralph Fiennes) returns home from the war, he is treated as a hero, though he doesn't feel like one. Nonetheless, he reluctantly agrees to run for Roman consul. Two tribunes, Brutus (Paul Jesson) and Sicinius (James Nesbitt) denounce him and encourage the Romans to cast him out. Left with nothing, Coriolanus joins forces with his greatest enemy Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler) and plans an attack on Rome. After Menenius (Brian Cox) fails to coax him home, Coriolanus' aged mother (Vanessa Redgrave), his pretty wife (Jessica Chastain) and young son (Harry Fenn) brave the dangers of the front lines to try and appeal to Coriolanus' humanity -- and hopefully save Rome.

Oddly, the dialogue fits well into the modern setting, and the TV pundits sound perfectly natural. Even the questionable casting of Gerard Butler pays off, as he plays the bloodthirsty bad guy with all the arrogance and gusto he usually brings to his heroic roles. Fiennes is especially magnetic, though he can't keep his scenes from being stolen by the magnificent Vanessa Redgrave; For her, it's a crowning achievement in an already great career.

Coriolanus
***1/2 out of ****
With Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Chastain, Brian Cox, Vanessa Redgrave, James Nesbitt, Lubna Azabal, Ashraf Barhom, Dragan Micanovic, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Paul Jesson, Harry Fenn
Written by John Logan, based on a play by William Shakespeare
Directed by Ralph Fiennes
MPAA Rating: R for some bloody violence
Running Time: 123 minutes
Opened December 2, 2011; opens wider January 20, 2012

Movie Review: Rampart

2012-01-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

Two years ago, screenwriter Oren Moverman made his directorial debut with the surprisingly subtle, intelligent, and graceful The Messenger. Now he returns with his two stars from that film, Woody Harrelson in the lead and Ben Foster in a smaller role, but the result is a good deal heavier.

Los Angeles cop "Date Rape" Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson) lives with an ambiguous mark on his record: the slaying of a serial rapist. Now, in 1999, two more incidents happen in rapid succession. First, he is captured on video beating a motorist that crashed into Dave's squad car. Later, when he tries to profit from a dirty card game, he becomes involved in a robbery and shoots and kills a man. Now, while being investigated, he tries to hang onto his family, especially his two daughters. But he also tries to lose himself in anonymous sex, alcohol, smoking, and drugs. Is there any hope for Dave, or is he lost?

Looking at this study of a dirty cop, it's hard not to think of the two great Bad Lieutenant films -- Abel Ferrara's 1992 release and Werner Herzog's 2009 version -- and how they were anguished, operatic, and completely loony. Moverman's movie is the opposite of its lead character, sober and serious, and with an eye on some kind of social commentary. Moreover, since every scene is intently focused on the main character, the supporting characters -- and the amazing cast that embodies them -- never get a chance to shine. However, Harrelson is given a great challenge and he more than rises to the occasion. And the screenplay, co-written by Moverman and novelist James Ellroy, often has an appealingly poetic rhythm.

Rampart
**1/2 out of ****
With Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster, Robin Wright, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Bernthal, Ice Cube, Brie Larson, Anne Heche, Ned Beatty, Cynthia Nixon, Jon Foster, Michael Whittaker, Robert Wisdom, Don Creech, Stella Schnabel
Written by James Ellroy, Oren Moverman
Directed by Oren Moverman
Rated R for pervasive language, sexual content and some violence
108 minutes
Opened November 23, 2011; opens wide January 27, 2012

Blu-Ray Review: Design for Living

2011-12-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

Long before there was an auteur theory, there was the "Lubitsch Touch." Viewers could watch nearly any Ernst Lubitsch film, ranging from his silent comedies to his Hollywood talkies, and sense a certain kind of... touch. That was the best way to describe it since no one could really define -- or repeat -- this specific thing. But it was so powerful that even when Lubitsch filmed a play by Noel Coward, he still made it his own. Design for Living doesn't feel like a celebrated play; it feels like a Lubitsch movie. (The screenplay, adapted by the great Ben Hecht, didn't hurt.)

Miriam Hopkins, who already worked with Lubitsch in two of his best movies, The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) and Trouble in Paradise (1932), stars as Gilda Farrell, an American commercial artist traveling in France. Her greatest contribution thus far was an ad featuring Napoleon wearing non-wrinkling underwear. She winds up in a train compartment with two struggling American artists. In a wonderful sequence, they try to communicate with one another for a while until one of them says "nuts." That's when they all realize they're Americans.

These two buffoons are writer Tom Chambers (Fredric March) and painter George Curtis (Gary Cooper). (Incidentally, March had recently starred with Hopkins -- and won an Oscar -- for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). Both men fall for Gilda, and she falls for both of them. It makes sense; they each have qualities that the other does not have. She vows to help them both in their careers: under the condition that there's no sex. (And by sex, the movie actually means sex.) Unfortunately, Tom's play turns into a hit and he travels to America for an extended stay, leaving George and Gilda alone, both missing their friend.

Earlier this year I reviewed Tom Tykwer's 3, a movie that took a great deal of time and pain to justify a three-way relationship between two men and a woman. Lubitsch does the same thing in far less time and with far less pain. His attempt is silly and sexy and far subtler.

But Design for Living has a fourth key character, played by another Lubitsch veteran, Edward Everett Horton. He plays Max Plunkett, Gilda's boss, who is also in love with her, though to him she is more of a business deal than a lover. Horton is remarkable at intuiting Lubitsch's rhythms, as in the scene where he watches Tom's play in New York. He thoroughly enjoys himself until he hears a line on the stage that originated with him (he spoke it to Tom). His befuddled look is worth a thousand lines.

Indeed, Lubitsch's touch is primarily visual, though audio cues can set it off. One of the touches involves a couch in the men's bachelor pad. The couch is dusty, and every time anyone sits on it, a cloud of dust is raised. Gilda flops down on it several times, in a fit of indecision over which man to choose. The way she flops, and her ignorance of the dust is hilarious. But the poofs of dust are also like drum beats in the comic rhythm of the scene. They break up the constant flow of dialogue with something else, something fresh.

Hopkins and Horton are perfectly tuned to Lubitsch's touch, Cooper and March less so. Andrew Sarris pointed out that critics of the 1930s complained that the men were miscast in this movie, while Sarris argued that Lubitsch's skill overcomes any miscasting. The men use their leading man status to up the ante in the struggle for Gilda's love; they each deserve her. But there's still something about them that holds back the production just a hair; they can't completely let go.

No matter. This is the first Lubitsch available on Blu-Ray, from no less than the Criterion Collection, and it's a matter for celebration. It looks exactly like the 1930s should look: black-and-white trains, and artists' flats, and theater lights. I hope that more Lubitsch movies follow; since he made his final film all the way back in 1943, he has been somewhat forgotten in the annals of American film, which is a shame.

Extras on the Blu-Ray include Lubitsch's short segment -- starring Charles Laughton -- from the anthology film If I Had a Million (1932); this little film clearly demonstrates the "Lubitsch Touch" in the form of opening and closing doors. Film scholar William Paul provides a "scene-select" commentary track, and there's a 1964 TV production of Coward's play, introduced by Coward. SFSU professor Joseph McBride provides a new interview on Lubitsch and screenwriter Ben Hecht. Critic Kim Morgan writes some sexy liner notes.

Design for Living (1933)

**** out of ****

With Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins, Edward Everett Horton, Franklin Pangborn, Isabel Jewell, Jane Darwell, Wyndham Standing

Written by Ben Hecht, based on a play by Noel Coward

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

Not Rated

91 minutes

December 30, 2011

Review: A Separation

2011-12-29T09:51:00.000-08:00

Longtime and loyal readers know that I am a fan of Iranian cinema. I saw my first Iranian film, Gabbeh, back in 1997 and I have been seen some 50 of them since then; in a culture of repression and censorship, certain filmmakers have found amazing ways to express personal and poetic visions. I'm always happy when one of these films goes beyond a small circle of cinephiles. For example, the great director Abbas Kiarostami's latest film, Certified Copy, recently won the Best Foreign Language Film award from my group, the San Francisco Film Critic's Circle. (Although, to be fair, it was not made in Iran.)

Now another Iranian film seems to be getting plenty of mainstream critical notice, including the coveted #1 spot on Roger Ebert's top ten list of 2011 as well as a Golden Globe nomination. Asghar Farhadi's A Separation is a fine film, but to be perfectly honest, it's not one of the better examples of Iranian cinema I've ever seen. It has an external layer that comments upon Iran's complex and seemingly unfair divorce system, as well as other social customs, but underneath it's not much more than a standard potboiler. It could have been ripped from the pages of a dime store novel.

The movie begins with a single shot, a court appearance between a husband, Nader (Peyman Moaadi), and a wife Simin (Leila Hatami, also in the excellent Deserted Station). She wants to leave the country to find a better life for them and their 11 year-old daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi). He wants to stay, mainly to look after his aged, senile father. Too stubborn to agree, they separate. Nader must hire someone to look after the old man while he's at work, and he finds Razieh (Sareh Bayat). She's a poor woman whose husband, Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini), is desperately in debt.

Nader comes home one day to find his father fallen on the floor and Razieh nowhere in sight. She turns up, making vague excuses. Enraged, he throws her out, and she tumbles down the stairs. It turns out she was pregnant and has now lost the baby. The husband blames Nader, and thus begins a complicated mystery of who knew what, and when. Iranian pride and cultural leanings prevent certain characters from disclosing certain information, but Farhadi tips his hand with a clumsy scene that ends abruptly and for obvious reasons.

I have seen one of Farhadi's previous films, Fireworks Wednesday (2006), which I like a great deal better. It, too, is a kind of mystery, but smoother and leaner; it unfolds over the course of one day, with less social commentary and more emphasis on visuals. With A Separation, Farhadi's skill is still apparent; he's good at doling out details a little at a time and never giving away too much at once. He's also good at giving each of his characters genuine humanity. Even the angry, poor husband Hodjat gets a reasonable point of view. He's not just a crazy villain.

I suppose my real hangup here is that, while this good film gets plenty of notice, genuine masterpieces are going unseen. The fact is that A Separation has real distribution, and a lot of critics were given chances to see it, whereas Fireworks Wednesday did not enjoy that same advantage. That's sad, but it's certainly not the fault of A Separation; if you've never seen any other Iranian films, this will be an excellent first choice. If you like it, definitely seek out more.

A Separation
*** out of ****
With Peyman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini, Sarina Farhadi, Merila Zare'i, Ali-Asghar Shahbazi, Babak Karimi, Kimia Hosseini, Shirin Yazdanbakhsh, Sahabanu Zolghadr
Written by Asghar Farhadi
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
PG-13 for mature thematic material
Persian with English subtitles
123 minutes
December 30, 2011

Review: The Iron Lady

2011-12-29T09:22:00.000-08:00

Growing up listening to lots of punk music, I've heard the name "Margaret Thatcher" spit out of the lips of many angry punk rockers. Knowing only this, and that she was Prime Minister of England during the 1980s, and not much else, I needed Phyllida Lloyd's new biopic The Iron Lady to do a little extra work. I needed to be convinced that she was someone that deserved a biopic.

This movie doesn't do that. It marches straight ahead on the assumption that, just because she was England's first female Prime Minister, she's a pioneering feminist. After that, Lloyd simply ignores Thatcher's politics, instead applauding her for being so bold and ballsy in rooms full of men. Amazingly, the writer of this shallow, short-sighted stuff, Abi Morgan, also co-wrote one of this season's deepest and most sensitive character studies, Shame.

In The Iron Lady, Meryl Streep plays Thatcher, and it's a spectacular impersonation. It must have been easy for Streep, who is arguably the greatest living cinema actor, but because the material isn't there, her work never achieves any depth. It remains on the surface, like a long, unfunny "Saturday Night Live" sketch. It's also similar to her Julia Child from 2009, but without that movie's lightness. (The Iron Lady is, conversely, very heavy.)

Lloyd, the director of the abysmal Mamma Mia! (2008), was probably not the right person for this job. It's a surface work, relying on way too many little goofy montages to fill in the blanks in Thatcher's career. It also cooks up the annoying gimmick of focusing on an aged, doddering, retired Thatcher, who speaks to the ghost of her dead husband Denis (Jim Broadbent).

In this, the movie very nearly plays with the idea of the unreliable narrator, which Clint Eastwood used so much more cannily and cleverly in J. Edgar. But from the look of The Iron Lady, it's unclear whether Lloyd even realized that the unreliable narrator was a possibility. It would suggest that her hero was less than a hero, which she probably did not want to hear.

As in most biopics, all the other characters get lost. I remember seeing Richard E. Grant from time to time, and it made me wish I were watching Withnail & I instead.

The Iron Lady
** out of ****
With Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Iain Glen, Anthony Head, Richard E. Grant, Harry Lloyd, Roger Allam, Olivia Colman, Teresa Mahoney, Alexandra Roach, Nicholas Farrell, John Sessions, Susan Brown, Julian Wadham
Written by Abi Morgan
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
PG-13 for some violent images and brief nudity
105 minutes
December 30, 2011

Interview: Dee Rees, Writer and Director of 'Pariah'

2011-12-27T21:37:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most outstanding debut film of the year, Pariah, written and directed by Dee Rees, hits theaters December 28.

Though the film looks effortless, Rees has been working on it steadily since 2005.

The 33 year-old, Tennessee-born filmmaker wrote the script as a film student at NYU, taking advantage of access to her teacher, filmmaker Spike Lee, for advice.

Then, needing to make a short film to graduate from NYU film school, she filmed only the first act of her screenplay. The short film became a hit on the festival circuit in 2007. This led to an invitation to the Sundance labs to develop the feature.

By the time cameras rolled, Rees had planned everything, all the way down to the lights and camera movements. For example, the main character is seen in silhouette when she's not being truthful, and more frontally as the story goes on.

The color palette uses "the colors in-between the colors, not red, blue, and green, but turquoise and magenta. She's painted by the light around her," says Rees, who recently visited San Francisco to discuss the film.

"We wanted it to be very lyrical and expressive, not tied to the way things are but the way things feel. It works when you have five years to think about it," she says.

All this was nothing, however, compared to writing a semi-autobiographical story of coming out as a black lesbian.

"The hardest part was being honest about the characters," she says. "The instinct is to protect your characters in certain ways."

Rees' own story isn't as dramatic as that of her lead character, Alike (wonderfully played by Adepero Oduye). "I didn't come out until late in life," Rees says. "My parents had an intervention and tried to troubleshoot the situation. But I didn't experience any physical violence."

Rather than coming out, Alike's biggest problem is finding her identity. A friend wants her to be more "butch," while her mother wants her to wear pretty dresses. "Really her struggle is to be who she is, and not check a box," Rees says.

This kind of confidence runs all through Pariah. It's clearly a film that trusts its audience to find the universal qualities in its characters.

Only the film's poster takes a moment to pander, providing the dictionary definition of "pariah" just below the title.

"Yes," Rees smiles at the addition. "It's not a film about a carnivorous fish."

October 11, 2011

Review: Pariah

2011-12-27T21:34:00.000-08:00

Along with Margin Call, Pariah is the year's most impressive debut film, coming from NYU graduate Dee Rees (see my interview). It's the story of a teen girl in Brooklyn coming to terms with her sexuality. Most coming out stories involve characters trying to find their identities, and as a result, end up having none. The main character here, Alike -- played by the remarkable Adepero Oduye -- knows who she is. She's already a grounded, complete character. She just has to figure out where she fits. And what to wear.

Alike's best friend is Laura (Pernell Walker), a butch lesbian who dresses her in baggy pants and baseball caps and drags her to raunchy clubs to pick up potential lovers. But Alike is a more poetic soul. Her parents don't want her hanging out with Laura, and would rather she spend time with Bina (Aasha Davis). Alike balks, but finds that she genuinely likes Bina; Bina listens to different styles of music and even seems to be open to... other things.

Alike's parents are a big part of this story too. Rees suggests an entire history between them simply by showing food. Audrey (Kim Wayans) cooks homemade meals for her husband Arthur (Charles Parnell) and leaves them in the refrigerator, covered in aluminum foil. However, they stack up as Arthur eats nothing but take out food. Audrey fusses over Alike's wardrobe, while Arthur seems more open-minded, but neither parent can handle the eventual news of Alike's sexual preference for women. A wonderful young actress named Sahra Mellesse plays Alike's spunky younger sister, providing another corner of tension for Alike's complicated life.

Aside from a full-blooded, nuanced story, Rees has also perfected the film's visual style. It's a combination of Brooklyn street realism and dreamlike poetry. The color palette suggests subtle emotional movements, and the framing, music, and use of shadows and light are faultless, logically shifting with changes in character and mood. It's unusual to see this much sheer confidence and command in a debut film. Yet it does not show off. Everything is done in support of the character and her emotional journey.

It's perhaps a bit awkward that Alike uses writing to break out of her particular little prison, and that a big poem at the end -- however beautiful -- is the device by which she frees herself. This is a partially autobiographical story, and it makes sense that Rees would include her artistic ambitions as part of the story; they can be forgiven.

From an early glance, I assumed that this movie would be 2011's version of Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. But this movie is far more subtle and powerful -- it's less of a blatant soap opera -- and as a result will probably be seen by far fewer people. Still, I hope it establishes a foothold for Rees, as I hope to see what she can do when she truly spreads her wings and flies.

Pariah
***1/2 out of ****
With Adepero Oduye, Pernell Walker, Aasha Davis, Charles Parnell, Sahra Mellesse, Kim Wayans, Shamika Cotton, Ray Anthony Thomas, Afton Williamson, Zabryna Guevara, Kim Sykes, Rob Morgan, Nina Daniels
Written by Dee Rees
Directed by Dee Rees
R for sexual content and language
86 minutes
December 28, 2011

Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

2011-12-27T11:12:00.000-08:00

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has one of the worst coming attractions trailers I've ever seen. From the looks of it, the movie is totally unchecked, sentimentality run rampant, like a cute puppy rushing around at top speed giving wet kisses. Digging a little further, we find that the director is Stephen Daldry, a man that has been inexplicably nominated three times for the Best Director Oscar (for Billy Elliot, The Hours, and The Reader). Worse, the screenwriter is Eric Roth, who specializes in goopy, sentimental -- and very long -- movies like Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He, too, is an expert at landing Oscar nominations, pleasing Oscar voters with movies that seem tasteful without risking anything at all.

But the most wonderful thing about movies is that anything can happen, and so it's a huge, warm surprise that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is quite touching in a good way. It's not a masterpiece, mind you, and I'm not calling for any new Oscar nominations here, but it's worth seeing and might brighten up a wintry afternoon a bit.

Nine year-old Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) lives in New York City, circa the autumn of 2001. That's a perfect way to get Oscar nominations, by the way, is to set your movie in and around the 9/11 attacks. Oskar is a smart, imaginative, but timid kid, and his unbelievably amazing dad (Tom Hanks) encourages all this. Unfortunately, dad is killed in the World Trade Center, leaving Oskar and his mom (Sandra Bullock) on their own. Oskar finds a key in his father's closet, and sets out on a quest to find out what it fits. His only clue is the last name "Black," of which there are hundreds in the Five Boroughs.

On his quest, he meets lots of character actors, and finds himself more closely connected to the city. But things get really good when he enlists the aid of a mysterious, meaty old man (Max Von Sydow), who does not speak; he has "yes" and "no" stamped on his right and left hands, and otherwise scribbles notes on a pad. Von Sydow does remarkable things with his eyes and hands, and also manages to rein in some of the movie's sentimentality. Oskar gets the bulk of the movie's dialogue -- adapted from the book by the clever Jonathan Safran Foer -- and the young actor Horn does a fine job of balancing its playfulness with a sense of humanity.

In retrospect, the movie can't help but feel calculated, like a collection of ingredients assembled to win hearts and awards. But while watching, it has some undeniably powerful moments, such as the scene in which Oskar describes and plays his father's final answering machine messages left. Or the lonely, quiet, late-night scene in which he finally does meet the owner of the key. In short, I approached Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close with my heart firmly closed, but the movie delicately pried it back open again. For that it deserves a measure of admiration.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
*** out of ****
With Tom Hanks, Thomas Horn, Sandra Bullock, Zoe Caldwell, John Goodman, Max von Sydow, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, Hazelle Goodman
Written by Eric Roth, based on a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer
Directed by Stephen Daldry
PG-13 for emotional thematic material, some disturbing images, and language
120 minutes
December 25, 2011

Review: In the Land of Blood and Honey

2011-12-26T22:27:00.000-08:00

Angelina Jolie makes her feature writing and directing debut with In the Land of Blood and Honey, and she makes a critical error. In her deep desire to send a message about the atrocities committed in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995, she forgets to spend much time on emotionally interesting characters for her audience to follow. Instead, she jumps right into the atrocities, and we get scene after scene of rape, blood, and brutality.

Set in the early 1990s in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the movie tells the story of the Bosnian War. It doesn't go into detail about the war's history, but the Serbian soldiers are the bad guys and the peaceful Croatian Muslims are the good guys. A Croat woman, Ajla (Zana Marjanovic) has a date with a Serbian man, Danijel (Goran Kostic), when the war breaks out. Soon, Ajla finds herself a prisoner in a camp under his command. Danijel is against the war, but can't stand up to his powerful father Nebojsa (Rade Serbedzija). He decides to keep Ajla prisoner to protect her from rape and brutality by his fellow soldiers. She escapes, but is recaptured. This time he allows her to paint, and she grows comfortable; or, is she only biding her time?

Indeed, it's actually unclear as to whether the main characters are ever really in love with one another. They seem happy for about one minute before the war starts, but afterward their relationship is cold and ambiguous. Danijel is shown to be weak and ineffective, and he's not appealing. Whether the point is romance or escape is unclear, and the movie fails to work in either direction. There's a ridiculous attempt to keep Ajla beautiful even after months in a prison camp, and there are lessons about "empty space." But these fall flat as they're explained rather than suggested.

In the Land of Blood and Honey
** out of ****
With: Zana Marjanovic, Goran Kostic, Rade Serbedzija, Branko Djuric, Dzana Pinjo, Nikola Djuricko, Fedja Stukan, Goran Jevtic
Written by Angelina Jolie
Directed by Angelina Jolie
MPAA Rating: R for war violence and atrocities including rape, sexuality, nudity and language
Running Time: 127 minutes
Release Date: December 23, 2011

Review: The Darkest Hour

2011-12-26T21:26:00.000-08:00

The Darkest Hour is something like the eighth alien invasion movie in the past 12 months, and though most of them are terrible, this one has the benefit of being merely dull. (Of the bunch, only Attack the Block is really good.) The characters aren't deep or interesting, but at least they aren't irritating. The invisible aliens aren't scary, but at least they aren't cheap looking.

Best friends and American dot-com entrepreneurs, Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella), travel to Moscow looking to expand, but find that a local lowlife (Joel Kinnaman) has stolen their idea. Later, at a cool nightclub, Sean and Ben meet fellow travelers Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor). Just as the fun is about to begin, weird lights begin descending from the sky. Unfortunately, they turn out to be killer, invisible aliens, aiming to turn the entire human race into ashes. Our band of humans survives the initial onslaught, but can they make their way to the American embassy and find help? Or does a deadlier fate await them?

Chris Gorak, a former art director on spectacular looking films like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fight Club, The Man Who Wasn't There and Minority Report, directs. He provides nothing terribly interesting to look at, except for vacant Moscow city streets. Though the heroes are white Americans, some of the cultural displacement is used to good effect, and the heroes are generally polite to their Eastern hemisphere neighbors. It's too bad the movie isn't more daring or exotic -- or fun.

The Darkest Hour
** out of ****
With Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, Veronika Ozerova, Dato Bakhtadze, Gosha Kutsenko, Nikolai Efremov, Vladimir Jaglich, Arthur Smoljaninov, Anna Roudakova, Pyotr Fyodorov
Written by Jon Spaihts, based on a story by Leslie Bohem, M.T. Ahern, Jon Spaihts
Directed by Chris Gorak
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and some language.
89 minutes
December 25, 2011

Review: Albert Nobbs

2011-12-26T21:06:00.000-08:00

In the 1980s, Glenn Close was nominated five times for an Oscar (The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural, Fatal Attraction, and Dangerous Liaisons) and never won. With this movie, she has cooked up a formula irresistible to the Oscar voters: she's playing in drag as a man (Hilary Swank won for this reason for Boys Don't Cry in 1999) and also performing with an Irish accent. However, she is a skilled actress and her performance is quite touching, as is that of Janet McTeer, who also plays in drag.

Albert Nobbs (Close) is a quiet little waiter in a fancy hotel in Ireland, circa the 19th century. He has learned to stay in the background, and for good reason: he's really a woman. But when another woman masquerading as a man, Hubert Page (McTeer) comes by the hotel to do some repairs, "Albert" is fascinated. She becomes intrigued by the idea of a richer life and begins to formulate a plan to use her life savings to open a tobacco shop. Her plans also include marrying the pretty young Helen Dawes (Mia Wasikowska). But unfortunately, Helen has a secret boyfriend who is intent on milking Albert for all he's worth.

The movie uses some very tired old plot devices to give our character something to do; it relies on the characters being terribly naïve while the audience is two jumps ahead; the story really doesn't work very well. But when Close simply has something to think about or react to, she's magnetic. The director, Rodrigo Garcia (Nine Lives, Mother and Child), has shown an impeccable talent for women's pictures, and his sensitivity to Albert's plight is tangible.

Albert Nobbs
**1/2 out of ****
With Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Aaron Johnson, Brendan Gleeson, Janet McTeer, Brenda Fricker, Mark Williams, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Pauline Collins, Bronagh Gallagher, John Light, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Annie Starke
Written by Glenn Close, John Banville, Gabriella Prekop, based on a short story by George Moore
Directed by Rodrigo Garcia
R for some sexuality, brief nudity and language
113 minutes
December 21, 2011

Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

2011-12-26T20:40:00.000-08:00

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is little more than good pulp, wrapped up in history, the Holocaust, and Nazism to give it depth, and presented in a 158-minute package to give it weight. (The Swedish version ran 152 minutes.) Fortunately, David Fincher is highly skilled at this kind of thing, having turned in the similar films Seven (1995) and Zodiac (2007). His chilly, precision filmmaking knows how to tease, while still looking head-on into the abyss.

After losing a libel suit, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is invited to meet retired tycoon Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). Under the guise of writing a memoir, Vanger hires Mikael to find out what happened to his niece, who mysteriously disappeared many decades earlier. Meanwhile, a troubled, asocial young computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara, also in Fincher's The Social Network), who supplied information on Mikael for the libel case, has been dealing with problems of her own. Mikael discovers her identity tracks her down, and the two take a liking to each other. They form an unlikely team in the search for the missing girl. Little do they know that their search will uncover a series of murders leading back 40 years.

Fincher takes time to build the mystery slowly, showing the numbing amounts of research as well as details like freezing cold cabins and bad vending machine coffee. Every bit of excitement here is mirrored by something either mundane or rotten. (This is not a glamorous mystery.) For the English-language remake -- which still uses all the same names and locations as the original -- superb casting choices were made all the way down the line, with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara superbly commanding the screen.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
***1/2 out of ****
With Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Yorick van Wageningen, Joely Richardson, Geraldine James, Goran Visnjic, Donald Sumpter, Ulf Friberg, Bengt C.W. Carlsson, Tony Way, Per Myrberg
Written by Steven Zaillian, based on a novel by Stieg Larsson
Directed by David Fincher
Rated R for brutal violent content including rape and torture, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, and language
158 minutes
December 21, 2011

Review: War Horse

2011-12-26T18:35:00.001-08:00

Released the same week as his triumphant new The Adventures of Tintin, Steven Spielberg's War Horse is, on the other hand, his most so-so work in some time. Spielberg has spent his career juggling popcorn movies and "serious" movies, or to put it another way, kid movies and adult movies. War Horse is stuck in the middle. It comes from a "young adult" novel, and was adapted into a stage play. It's not quite a kids' movie and not quite an adult movie.

As a result, the director cooks up some of his most beautiful, inspired passages, but spends most of the rest of the running time -- 146 minutes of it -- pandering to his idea of a "young" audience. Moreover, the stage portion gets in the way as well, and the movie feels alternately realistic and enclosed, failing to find a balance between the two.

Albert (Jeremy Irvine) is the teen boy whose poor, farmer father (Peter Mullan), in a fit of pride, bids far more money on a horse than he can possibly afford. But it's a magnificent horse, and Albert takes it upon himself to bond with the animal and train it, and to turn it into a farm horse (though everyone says it's impossible). If Albert can't do this, then the greedy landlord (David Thewlis) will take the farm. Albert's feisty mother (Emily Watson) reluctantly agrees.

The results of Albert's labors notwithstanding, his father eventually sells the animal to the military on the eve of the First World War. Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) sees Albert's dedication to the horse and promises to return him someday. This promise lasts about ten more minutes of screen time before it is broken forever, and the horse begins his journey across Europe, jumping from owner to owner. It's a story not unlike Robert Bresson's Au hasard Balthazar (1966), but without the poetry, or depth, or soul. Whereas Bresson's donkey seemed to carry the burden of human suffering, Spielberg's war horse is nothing more than a pretty animal, and a conversation piece for the human characters.

The best scene comes when the horse makes a mad dash across no man's land, between two trenches. Spielberg's use of movement and light is truly astonishing, and it's impossible not to be moved as the horse plunges through sections of barbed wire and becomes hopelessly entangled. Then, a British soldier and a German soldier climb from their trenches to join forces and gently, painstakingly cut him free. The dialogue -- from Richard Curtis -- during this scene is playful, like some of the finest of old time war movies, with the soldiers cracking deadpan jokes at one another to ease the tension.

However, for most of the rest of the movie, Spielberg relies on his talent to elicit surprise and tears, but does it in an almost lazy, condescending way, as if he doesn't particularly care if his sleight of hand shows. Fairly often, Spielberg uses crane shots to show the enormity of the battlefield and the drama of what's going on, but instead of the emotions of the scene, all I could think about was Spielberg -- probably wearing a War Horse baseball cap -- riding high up on a crane. I could use words like "cloying" and "goopy" here, and that would probably do the trick in describing the tone. He even uses a fairly obvious Gone with the Wind image at the closing.

Not giving young viewers the benefit of the doubt, assuming that they don't think, is a rookie mistake that Spielberg should have avoided. At this point he certainly should know better. But even while spending too much time calculating, he managed to find some of the most glorious imagery of his career. And that just about makes War Horse worth seeing.

War Horse
**1/2 out of ****
With Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, Niels Arestrup, David Thewlis, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Celine Buckens, Toby Kebbell, Patrick Kennedy, Leonard Carow, David Kross, Matt Milne, Robert Emms, Eddie Marsan, Nicolas Bro, Rainer Bock, Hinnerk Schönemann, Gary Lydon, Geoff Bell, Liam Cunningham, Sebastian Hülk, Gerard McSorley, Tony Pitts, Irfan Hussein, Pip Torrens, Philippe Nahon, Jean-Claude Lecas
Written by Lee Hall, Richard Curtis, based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of war violence
146 minutes
Opens December 25, 2011

Review: The Adventures of Tintin

2011-12-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

Steven Spielberg has dabbled in animation for years, producing movies like An American Tail and Who Framed Roger Rabbit and TV shows like "Pinky and the Brain" and "Animaniacs." In 1983, he directed a segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie; in another segment of that movie, a character says, "I like cartoons because anything can happen in them." Spielberg seems to have taken all this to heart while directing his first feature-length animated film, The Adventures of Tintin. He has used the form itself like a brand-new tool in his filmmaking kit, and the effect is exhilarating.

This is the kind of film Spielberg may have wanted to make with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), where the impossible actually occurs onscreen. The transitions between scenes and flashbacks are most amazing and imaginative; scale, size, shape, and speed are no object. Anything is possible.

Thankfully, the rest of the film lives up to this kind of energy and enthusiasm. It's a pure boy's adventure film, plain and simple, about traveling the world (by boat, plane, and everything else) to find lost treasure. It's Indiana Jones re-imagined for the 21st century, without the bother of real life and aging actors. (In fact, my guess is that, if Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had been made, exactly as is, but as an animated feature, it would be far more loved and accepted than it is now.)

Created by Hergé, Tintin is the star of a series of Belgian comic books. He first appeared in 1929 and continued to be published up until 1976. He's arguably more popular in Europe than in the U.S., though the books have apparently been translated in 50 languages. Spielberg's movie is in English, of course, but set all over the world (and not, seemingly, in the United States). Additionally, Spielberg was wise enough to hire three international writers to adapt the screenplay. Steven Moffat is Scottish, and worked on the English TV shows "Coupling" and "Doctor Who." Edgar Wright is the English director and co-writer of Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007) as well as other notable titles. And Joe Cornish is the English writer/director of Attack the Block, from earlier this year (and which Wright also co-produced).

Additionally, Wright's frequent lead actors Simon Pegg (also a co-writer) and Nick Frost, provide voices for the film. This mishmash of talents works exactly the right way, and they bring out the best in one another; the movie is a bundle of giddy energy. Some will argue that the movie should have been made in its original French, but it's such an international, universal enterprise that Spielberg's movie is perfectly acceptable; and the dedication to its essence is certainly there.

The movie's main problem is the decision to use "mo-cap" (motion capture) animation. The usual effect of this -- as seen in Robert Zemeckis' last three films The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007), and A Christmas Carol (2009) -- is realistically creepy characters with soulless, dead eyes. With digitally animated human characters, the rule is: the less realistic they are, the less creepy they are (as witness Pixar's The Incredibles and Up). Spielberg has compromised and given all his characters funny noses, making them look just weird enough to distract us from the creepy factor. Not to mention that the mo-cap king, Andy Serkis, is here playing Captain Haddock. (He provides extra humanity.)

Jamie Bell is the star, playing the young journalist Tintin. The story begins as he buys a model ship at an outdoor market. It turns out that several people are looking for the ship; it contains a clue as to the location of a lost treasure. Tintin is eventually kidnapped -- his heroic dog Snowy chases after him -- and escapes, meeting the good, drunken Captain. Together they brave deserts, palaces, and harrowing chase scenes to solve the puzzle.

I can't over-emphasize how intoxicatingly speedy this movie is, but it's not exhausting (though I heard some critics claim otherwise). Spielberg is a master of rhythm and feeling, and he knows exactly when to pause for an update on the puzzle, or just a plain old rest. Best of all, though the director very often doesn't know when to stop his movies, he ends this one on a triumphant upbeat. He leaves us wanting more for the first time since perhaps Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The Adventures of Tintin

***1/2 out of ****

With Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Daniel Mays, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones, Joe Starr, Enn Reitel, Mackenzie Crook, Tony Curran, Sonje Fortag, Cary Elwes, Phillip Rhys
Written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, based on stories by Hergé
Directed by Steven Spielberg
PG for adventure action violence, some drunkenness and brief smoking
107 minutes
December 21, 2011

2011: The Year's Best Films

2011-12-16T14:54:00.000-08:00

Film keeps changing. The ways in which we watch it and talk about it are already drastically different from ten years ago. And yet one of the enuring themes of 2011 was mystery. My favorite movies were the ones that, despite the wealth of information that's usually available, refused to explain themselves to us. Another theme, much to my astonishment, was 3D movies. Despite all my complaining and scoffing, two 3D movies made my ten best list and others made my runner-up list. I even admired films like A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas and Final Destination 5. Aside from all that, I found quite a number of strong films that I just very much enjoyed and would be happy to see again. That's a trend that I hope continues.

1. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)

Malick's film pleased more people than I expected, but there are still the holdouts. They are the ones, I think, that can understand the powerful family story at the center, but resist all the rest: the origin of the universe, the dinosaurs and Sean Penn wandering on the beach. To me, these things provide a cosmic scale to the story, making everything, all the tragedies, trials, and triumphs, seem tiny. That's just one small mystery in this otherwise magnificent, unwieldy work of art.

2. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)

I spent a long time trying to decide which of these two movies would be #1; they're basically tied. Kiarostami's beautiful international production charts the rise and/or fall of a relationship, and contains a shift in narrative so striking that it reveals more truths than it does confusion. Juliette Binoche once again proves herself as perhaps the bravest and most intuitive actress working today.

3. Rango (Gore Verbinski)

This is the year's best animated movie, and the year's funniest movie, coming from a man that has never once made anything nearly as good. I suspect that anarchy ruled during the production of this bizarre-looking film that celebrates ugliness and peculiarities. It's as outrageous and zany as anything since Tex Avery.

4. Hugo (Martin Scorsese)

This is my favorite Scorsese movie in years, and, indeed, it's without a doubt his cuddliest movie. It's also the first time he has tackled his love of cinema in narrative form. But this time, the focus is on the mechanics of the machines that make the magic happen, ranging from giant clocks, to movie cameras and movie projectors, to far more spectacular, imaginative gizmos.

5. Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt)

I'm a fan of Westerns, and I was thrilled to see two new twists on the genre this year: the unhinged Rango, and the withdrawn, subdued Meek's Cutoff. Director Reichardt even shot this in a very narrow scope so as not to make the wide open range look appealing. This is a movie about being lost, disconnected, and out of communication. It's certainly not about finding anything.

6. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson)

This one surprised me. I'm not a spy movie buff, but Tomas Alfredson's brilliant follow-up to Let the Right One In takes an exceedingly complex story and translates it into a moody, atmospheric movie. It's not talky and it's not filled with chases, shootings, or explosions. And yet, it manages to generate terrific suspense simply through the arrangement of men in rooms. It seems to have many layers of character as well, making a second viewing something I'm looking forward to.

7. Road to Nowhere (Monte Hellman)

Several filmmakers had "comebacks" this year, but none was more exciting or ignored as Monte Hellman's. Hellman made some of the finest American movies of all time back in the 1960s and 1970s, but has only completed 3 films in the last 30 years -- including this one (and not counting a short film he made as part of the anthology film Trapped Ashes). It's another mystery, a fascinating doubling-up of fact and fiction, of storytelling and filmmaking. It took audiences decades to catch up with Hellman's early work; I hope it doesn't take as long to catch up to this one.

8. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog)

It's of huge historical importance that this movie was made at all, but that Werner Herzog was chosen to make it turns it into a work of art. Aside from filming those astounding cave drawings -- and making the world's greatest use of 3D thus far -- Herzog follows all the people that are interested in the drawings and tries to figure out what makes them tick; many of them are humorously eccentric, and, like The Tree of Life, you end up wondering about the connection between all humans, throughout all time.

9. Mysteries of Lisbon (Raul Ruiz)

One critic astutely nicknamed it "Mysteries of Mysteries of Libson." I enjoyed getting lost in this 4-1/2 hour wonder. The movie is so gorgeously, cleverly convoluted, with one section leading into another, almost as if in an attempt to offer a complete look at a story, with all its facets. Raul Ruiz had passed away by the time this opened in the U.S., only deepening its allure.

10. Moneyball (Bennett Miller)

Brad Pitt again... I found myself so thoroughly enjoying his performance in this that it occurred to me: he's one of the only actors alive today that truly conveys the joy of acting. He's fully aware of his impact onscreen, and he uses his body, eyes, line readings, and everything else like a jazz instrument, endlessly riffing. The movie itself is no slouch either, a combo of sparkling dialogue, baseball legend, and some subtle, intuitive direction that prevents it from slipping into biopic nonsense.

The Top 20:

11. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)

12. Carnage (Roman Polanski)

13. The Adventures of Tintin (Steven Spielberg)

14. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn)

15. Hanna (Joe Wright)

16. The Strange Case of Angelica (Manoel de Oliveira)

17. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

18. The Adjustment Bureau (George Nolfi)

19. Page One: Inside the New York Times (Andrew Rossi)

20. The Guard (John Michael McDonagh)

Runners Up: Attack the Block (Joe Cornish), Crazy Stupid Love (Glenn Ficarra, John Requa), Circo (Aaron Schock), Happy Feet Two (George Miller), Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog), J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood), Outrage (Takeshi Kitano), Tabloid (Errol Morris)

The Worst: Apollo 18, Arthur, The Art of Getting By, Battle: Los Angeles, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, Cars 2, Conan the Barbarian, Creature, Dream House, HappyThankYouMorePlease, I Am Number Four, Immortals, In a Better World, In the Land of Blood and Honey, The Iron Lady, Machine Gun Preacher, New Year's Eve, Shark Night, The Sitter, Something Borrowed, The Son of No One, Straw Dogs, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Whistleblower

Blu-Ray Review: Fright Night

2011-12-15T13:08:00.000-08:00

The original Fright Night (1985) was a kind of gleeful celebration of old-time horrors, while at the same time commenting upon modern horrors in a humorous way; it also had a slew of modern-day gore and special effects. This new remake essentially stays true to that same formula, with great success. Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, Mr. Woodcock) and screenwriter Marti Noxon (a veteran of TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") set up a world in which the Twilight books exist, but vampires are beer-drinking handymen rather than brooding teens; they're not necessarily cooler than anybody else, but they are one jump ahead.

In a Las Vegas suburb, Charley (Anton Yelchin) has a pretty new girlfriend (Imogen Poots), and works hard to leave behind his nerdy past. Unfortunately, one of Charley's extra-geeky old friends, Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), shows up, claiming that Charley's mysterious new neighbor, Jerry (Colin Farrell), is a vampire. Charley tries to ignore the matter, but after Ed disappears, he begins investigating and finds some horrifying evidence. Unfortunately, he finds he has a difficult time getting folks to believe him. He even tries to recruit a local stage magician and self-proclaimed vampire hunter, Peter Vincent (David Tennant). Ultimately, Charley has no choice but to face Jerry himself, help or no help.

The movie sets up a delightfully wry cat-and-mouse game as the heroes search for vampire rules online, and the vampires simply change them on a whim. The breezy direction allows plenty of room for the actors, especially a hammy David Tennant (the current "Doctor Who"), to stretch out and shine. The mood is funny and playful, like a really good late-night movie on TV.

Touchstone released a good Blu-Ray/DVD combo set in December of 2011. Picture and sound quality on the Blu-Ray are strikingly good. It also includes a digital copy. Extras include a making-of featurette, the complete "Squid Man" footage, a "Peter Vincent" video, bloopers, and a music video. All extras are on the Blu-Ray, but only some are on the DVD. A 3D Blu-Ray was released for the few of you that actually own a complete 3D setup at home.

Fright Night
*** out of ****
With Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Written by Marti Noxon, based on a story by Tom Holland
Directed by Craig Gillespie
Rated R for bloody horror violence, and language including some sexual references.
106 minutes
August 19, 2011

Blu-Ray Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2011-12-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

Rise of the Planet of the Apes may be my favorite summer popcorn movie. So far it's the only one that surprises, and exceeds expectations. It's the only one that has an actual idea. It also gets bonus points for using San Francisco locations to such amusing and powerful effect.

It had nowhere to go but up, given that the last Planet of the Apes movie was Tim Burton's abominably awful 2001 version, which was more or less a remake of the original 1968 version. That original was based on a 1963 French novel by Pierre Boulle and spawned four sequels during the 1970s, as well as a live action TV series and an animated TV series. Directed by Rupert Wyatt, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the seventh feature film. This one has the clever concept of imagining the origins of the entire series.

It begins as scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) tries to develop a cure for Alzheimer's disease. Like most movie scientists, he's doing this for personal reasons. His beloved father Charles (John Lithgow) suffers from that terrible condition. Will has reached the testing phase and one chimpanzee seems to be responding well, but suddenly she begins acting strangely. The entire program is shut down, but Will rescues a baby chimp, whom he names Caesar.

It turns out the chimp was born with the properties of the new drug, which not only cures Alzheimer's, but enhances intelligence. Caesar (portrayed by Andy Serkis, who also modeled for Golem in The Lord of the Rings and Kong in King Kong) gets bigger and smarter, and eventually gets himself in trouble. He's sent to a special facility with other apes, and held prisoner by the greedy John Landon (Brian Cox) and his sadistic, bullying son Dodge (Tom Felton).

I won't say more, though the pleasures of this movie continue from start to finish. Director Wyatt shows many sequences without dialogue, as Caesar learns hard lessons about the world; the chimp's eyes are amazingly expressive, just as Golem's and Kong's were. (Is Serkis a great actor, or merely a great special effect?) The digital apes are mostly fine, though in most shots their computerized movements are all too apparent. However, the action sequences are spectacular, with the camera moving fluidly and confidently through the streets. (And it's not even in 3D!)

Franco follows up his Oscar-nominated performance in 127 Hours, and he doesn't have much depth here, though he does strike up a touching bond with Caesar. The astoundingly beautiful Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) shows up as a vet that fixes Caesar's paw and falls for Will. She's at his side throughout but doesn't have much to do. In fact, not many of the humans seem very bright or memorable. It's as if the movie has already written off the human race right from the start.

But, taken at the level of comic book, popcorn pulp, this is good stuff (you find yourself rooting for the apes!). Last spring I praised a trio of sci-fi movies that were all based on ideas rather than on battles -- The Adjustment Bureau, Limitless, and Source Code -- and I'm convinced that, as pulpy as it is, Rise of the Planet of the Apes deserves to join them.

Just in time for Christmas, 2011, Fox has released a two-disc set that includes a Blu-Ray and a DVD, as well as a digital copy (the DVD has no real extras). On the Blu-Ray, aside from glorious picture and sound, we get a smorgasbord of extras: two filmmaker commentary tracks, deleted scenes, and tons of featurettes, including one on actor Andy Serkis and one on composer Patrick Doyle.

2011 Gift Guide - The Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays

2011-12-14T08:22:00.001-08:00

Despite all the streaming that's been going on, the year 2011 still came up with an astounding list of DVDs and Blu-Rays for those that still believe in owning a physical library of movies. As always, I have assembled my top ten list, plus a whole host of runners up, the purpose of which is twofold: to celebrate the greatness of cinema, and to provide gift suggestions for those with a cinephile in their circle of friends. But enough of my babbling. Bring on the list.

1. The Complete Jean Vigo (Criterion Collection)
Vigo's work is still regarded as amongst the finest ever created in the history of cinema, and yet this is the first full collection of his work available in the U.S. -- on DVD or Blu-Ray. Criterion's single-disc set (running less than 3 hours) lacks some of the extras from the previously available European set, but the films themselves are what really counts, and you'll never see their equal anywhere.

2. Buster Keaton: Short Films Collection - 1920-1923 (Kino)
Before this Keaton's short films were scattered throughout a bunch of discs and difficult to access. Now they're all in one place -- and on Blu-Ray no less -- and their greatness can finally be appreciated as the equal to any of Keaton's features (most of which, by the way, Kino also re-issued in 2011).

3. Senso (Criterion Collection)
Luchino Visconti's long out-of-print costume drama is far more than just a costume drama; it's the culmination of all his talents, a movie with visual passion to match its grandeur.

4. Blow Out (Criterion Collection)
Brian De Palma has long struggled to find the same acceptance that his 1970s colleagues earned, but now that the Criterion Collection has given this, one of his best films, the deluxe treatment, perhaps the reappraisal can begin.

5. Park Row (MGM)
Possibly Samuel Fuller's masterpiece, MGM released this as part of its bare-bones, vault-cleaning efforts, and the DVD itself isn't spectacular, but having this movie finally available is a major event.

6. Island of Lost Souls (Criterion Collection)
As a horror fan, I've read about this movie for years, and in 2011 I was finally able to see it: on a Criterion Blu-Ray, no less. It's every bit as good as I'd heard.

7. Blue Velvet (MGM)
David Lynch's film sometimes seems a product of the 1980s, but seeing it again in such a luminous transfer confirms that it is, indeed, a film for the ages. The most amazing bonus is an ample collection of deleted footage, newly found and transferred to high-def.

8. Radley Metzger's Erotica Psychedelica (Cult Epics)
A definitive collection of erotica, from an unsung master. The Lickerish Quartet, especially, is a double-edged work of art. The best bonus: a CD of soundtrack music from that film, plus the other two: Camille 2000 and Score.

9. Histoire(s) du Cinema (Olive Films)
A long unavailable, four-and-a-half-hour "documentary" from Jean-Luc Godard, a career high if I ever saw one. It's a miracle it arrived at all, but it's also a miracle if you can watch it without scratching your head, getting lost, or perhaps even getting a bit angry. It's a cranky film, but forever brilliant, and if you give it a chance you'll find snatches of clarity that can blow your mind.

10. The Clowns (Raro Video)
A bizarre, but crucial, mid-career turning point for Federico Fellini, and also a gentle, intimate portrait of something remarkably simple: the director's love for clowns.

5 Worthy Runners Up:

Citizen Kane (Warner Home Video) - Loses points for its awful handling of The Magnificent Ambersons, as well as the weak, DVD-only extras like The Battle Over Citizen Kane, but the movie itself never looked so magnificent.

Hereafter (Warner Home Video) - I still receive puzzled admiration and chiding for my choice for the best movie of 2010, but I stand by it. I've seen it three times, the third on this glorious Blu-Ray, and it does not fail to move me.

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (Raro Video) - I heard about this movie from director Edgar Wright, who was introduced to it by Quentin Tarantino, and it lives up to the hype; truly jaw-dropping.

Mimic: Director's Cut (Lionsgate) - Guillermo Del Toro is given a chance to right a career wrong, and not only improves a pretty good "B" picture, but also comes up with another great DVD/Blu-Ray release.

Two Weeks in Another Town (Warner Archive) - This late Vincente Minnelli movie is overcooked in many ways, but remains one of the most passionate, bizarre, and oddly romantic movies about the movie business.

Honorable Mentions:

The Adjustment Bureau
Alamar (Film Movement)
All-Star Superman (Warner Home Video)
Boxing Gym
A Clockwork Orange [Blu-Ray] (Warner Home Video)
The Great Dictator [Blu-Ray] (Criterion)
Great Italian Directors Collection (Kino)
Kiss Me Deadly (Criterion)
Machete (Fox)
Meet Me in St. Louis (Warner)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (Warner)
People on Sunday (Criterion)
The Prowler (VCI Entertainment)
Pulp Fiction [Blu-Ray] (Lionsgate)
The Scent of Green Papaya (Kino)
Smiles of a Summer Night (Criterion)
The Strange Case of Angelica
Treasures 5: The West - 1898-1938
Twilight Zone: Season 5
Unstoppable
Vera Cruz (MGM)
The Warrior's Way (Fox)
The Woman on the Beach (Warner Archive)
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Kino)

New Reviews: Week of December 9, 2011

2011-12-09T12:24:00.001-08:00

This week was the deadline for my San Francisco Film Critics Circle ballot, and I had a movie marathon. I saw some good stuff, and a lotof bad stuff. It turns out that awards season is much like the rest of the year, but with fewer superhero movies. I also filed my list of theyear's ten best movies to the SF Examiner, and I'm pretty happy with it, though I had to make one painful cut. (I'll release it when we get a bit closer to year's end.)One movie stands out this week, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which did place on my ten best list; it's easily among the best spymovies ever made. There's also one great video release this week, a Criterion Blu-Ray of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938), whichcould be the most satisfying of all his British movies. (There are obviously other DVD releases this week, like Cowboys & Aliens,but I fell behind in my duties this week.) This Sunday, my critics society casts our final vote, and I'll post the results of that next week.

NEW MOVIES:
I Melt with You *1/2
New Year's Eve *
The Sitter *1/2
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ****
We Need to Talk About Kevin **
Young Adult **1/2

NEW ON DVD & BLU-RAY:
The Hangover Part II (Warner Home Video) **1/2
The Lady Vanishes (Criterion) ****

Movie Review: Young Adult

2011-12-09T11:39:00.001-08:00

Young Adult (2011) **1/2

After four years, the team behind Juno (2007) -- writer Diablo Cody and director JasonReitman -- reunite for a new movie, Young Adult. This sour movie will probably not get the same kindof happy buzz that Juno did, butit is notable for one thing: it seemingly does not care if people like its maincharacter or not, which in itself is somewhat refreshing.

Charlize Theron stars as Mavis Gary, a nearly-anonymouswriter on a popular, but waning, young adult book series. After a divorce, shereturns to her small hometown in Minnesota, with the half-baked idea ofscooping up her old high school flame, Buddy (Patrick Wilson). Unfortunately,Buddy is married, with a new baby; his wife is Beth (Elizabeth Reaser), thecute and cheerful drummer in an all-mom band called Nipple Confusion.

Buddy is casually friendly toward Mavis, though she takeshis every little move as a sign of his passionate and eternal devotion to her.While she waits and plots, Mavis drinks a great deal, and she runs into an oldclassmate, Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt), in a bar. In high school, the tubbyMatt was a victim of a hate crime: some jocks decided he was gay (he's not) andbeat him senselessly and permanently. He now walks with a cane.

In an ordinary movie, Mavis would learn a lesson and gettogether -- however improbably -- with Matt. And she and Matt do at least sharea moment together, but the ultimate point of this movie is that Mavis believesshe's better than all these small town schmucks because she lives a glamorouslife in the big city. And she may be right. The movie culminates in aconversation with Matt's sister Sandra (Collette Wolfe). Sandra worships Mavisand reiterates everything that Mavis already believes about herself. Theinformation is a revelation and Mavis triumphantly (more or less) leaves town.

And so... what are Cody and Reitman up to here? Is thismerely an exercise in unlikable characters? Is it a treatise on small townpeople, whom Sandra says are all "stupid and fat"? If so, then why isthe married couple with the new baby shown to be very happy, the way theynormally would be in any other movie?

I can't help thinking that the filmmakers are trying to havetheir cake and eat it too. Above all, they want their characters to be cool.But to be cool, a character can't try tobe cool. They have to be cool effortlessly. Mavis is cool because she's not atypical movie character, but she's also uncool because, frankly, she'spsychotic. And she leaves the movie much as she entered it. She has given up onher fruitless pursuit of an unattainable lover, but she has not solved theunderlying problem.

Reitman is one for messages and lessons in his movies, whichalso include Thank You for Smoking(2005) and Up in the Air (2009)in addition to Juno, but Young Adultdoesn't seem to have any. I confess I was more interested in watching Mavisduring her private moments -- of which there are many -- than her interactionswith other characters. I liked her when she woke up, grungy and hung over, andshuffled out of her hotel room with no makeup or effort. Maybe that's themessage? Be yourself? Appreciate what you have?

In any case, Young Adultis a very strange little movie, almost at odds with itself, and out of place inthe universe. It's not entirely satisfying, but it is interesting.

- Jeffrey M. Anderson

Movie Review: We Need to Talk About Kevin

2011-12-09T11:33:00.001-08:00

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) **

I'm a huge fan of director Lynne Ramsay and have beeneagerly waiting almost a decade for her follow up to her first two amazing,unique films: Ratcatcher (1999) and Morvern Callar (2002). Thus We Need toTalk About Kevin is probably the biggestdisappointment of the year. As a horror film, it's cheap and obvious. As amessage movie it's heavy-handed. And as both combined, it's appalling.

Based on a novel by Lionel Shriver, the movieis about a Columbine-like high school massacre. It's told from the point ofview of a tormented mom, Eva (Tilda Swinton). Ramsay tells the story out oforder, with the post-incident Eva trying to make her way in the world, settlingfor a crummy job in a strip-mall travel agency -- when she once had a veryglamorous job -- and avoiding the angry gazes of parents all over town.

Then we witness the childhood of Kevin(played by three different actors, including Ezra Miller as the coldlycalculating teen). Kevin cried a lot, causing his mother to grimace and stareblankly at the walls. Then he refuses to speak or be potty trained, and theneventually he becomes a cunning button-pusher, ordering his parents about andpitching his actions against their reactions. The movie also uses the old stapleof the boy pretending to be an angel when his father is around, only tormentingthe mother when there are no other witnesses.

He grows up to be skilled with a bow andarrow, and he uses this weapon to take out several of his fellow high schoolstudents. Children can be monsters, but not this viciously single-minded,unchanging for so many years in a row. Kevin is a horror movie trope -- ripped from movies like The Bad Seed, Village of the Damned, The Omen, and the recent Orphan -- far toomenacing to be even remotely connected with anything real.

And the high school shootings are indeedall-too real, and so it's puzzling why these two opposing forces should besquished together in one off-putting movie. The only thing I can figure is thatthe entire thing is told from Eva's point of view, and there's nary a shot thatisn't witnessed from her point of view; maybe she's an unreliable narrator, andwe're only seeing her distorted view of Kevin, rather than a real-life monster?However, if that's the case, then Ramsay's movie is too realistic, with too fewclues as to the trustworthiness of her narrative.

The other problem is that, if Kevin's everysingle move is calculated to drive his mother around the bend, why does heattack high school students, and not something more directly related to her?The answer is because it's a cheap way for the movie to attract attention,drawing comparisons to Columbine, and thereby making it more"important" than a standard horror movie.

Certainly this story could have been told as a horror movie,and it would have been far more effective. But this movie, judging by theclunky suspense-free way it sets up its horrific events, clearly distrusts thehorror genre, and the visceral power it has. Ramsay and her co-writer RoryKinnear have instead decided to pad the horror with social commentary, whichboth undermines it and draws attention to the fact that it's a weak story, muchbetter told in some of the recent "bad seed"/"evil kid"movies like Orphan. For that matter, theColumbine school-shooting story was better told in Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003) and in the lesser-known Zero Day (2003).

The biggest shame of all, however, is that the long-awaitedreturn of Ramsay has been so utterly wasted. Let's hope we don't have to waitanother decade for her to make up for this one.

- Jeffrey M. Anderson

Movie Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2011-12-09T11:30:00.001-08:00

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ****

Most spy movies tend to rely mostly on dialogue and exoticlocations to tell their complex stories. But based on a novel by John le Carré --which was also made into a 1979 mini-series starring Alec Guinness -- TinkerTailor Soldier Spy gets by on subtlety.Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, who makes his English language debut,maintains an intricate balance here. And Gary Oldman, walking in Guinness'sformidable shoes, gives a truly great, reserved performance.

During the Cold War, following a blown operation in Hungary,in which a British Intelligence agent is shot, former agent George Smiley (GaryOldman) is pulled out of retirement. His task is to find a mole planted deepwithin the ranks of MI6. He faces tough opposition from the men in charge, andcan trust nobody aside from his young assistant Peter Guillam (BenedictCumberbatch). Can Smiley follow the subsequent elaborate and complex trailwithout alerting the mole?

Unlike many spy movies, there's very little shooting orchasing. The color scheme is muted and industrial, where even a hot cup of teadoesn't quite cut through the gloom. In many scenes, characters just seem to besitting in rooms and talking. It sounds dull, but instead it's one of theyear's best films, adding glorious layers and tones to each moment, andbuilding on moods and silences so that the exciting moments mean all that muchmore. Indeed, this quiet movie generates more suspense than a hundred chasesand shootouts.

- Jeffrey M. Anderson

Movie Review: The Sitter

2011-12-09T11:25:00.001-08:00

The Sitter (2011) *1/2

Not long ago, David Gordon Green emerged with what couldfairly be called one of the greatest American directorial debuts of all time: GeorgeWashington (2000). All kinds of things areliable to happen to such a career. It could disappear into obscurity, neverreceiving the kind of attention it deserves. It could hit a slump, where thefilms just don't come together. But neither of those things appears to behappening to Green. With his seventh feature film The Sitter, he appears to have simply given up.

Green started out with quiet introspective dramas, but in2008, he released a surprise double-whammy: first the drama Snow Angels, and then the explosive comedy PineappleExpress. That movie was brilliant: a greatcombination of laid-back and anxious. Green released his sixth film, YourHighness, another comedy, earlier thisyear. I did not see it, but reports indicated that I did not need to: it was adud. The Sitter is too.

Jonah Hill stars as Noah, a layabout who was fired from theonly job he ever had, and whose current sexual relationship consists of him bestowing cunnilingus upon his girlfriend but receiving nothing in return. On a night when his pretty,sweet mom (Jessica Hecht) has a promising date, the only way she can go is ifNoah agrees to babysit three neurotic, troublesome kids. There's thetightly-wound Slater (Max Records), the celebrity-obsessed Blithe (LandryBender), and the adopted Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez), who is obsessed with fireand bombs.

After the grown-ups leave, Noah's girlfriend (Ari Graynor) callswith the promise of actual sex, and thus begins one of those out-all-nightcomedies like Martin Scorsese's After Hours,last year's Date Night, or thecurrent A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. Usually this genre can get away with all kinds ofimaginative and implausible ideas since, when it gets late, as Scorsese's moviequotes: "different rules apply." But The Sitter doesn't invent anything, doesn't imagine anything.It simply finds a bunch of old movie tropes and squeezes them into a new movie.

The funniest bit -- and this is relative -- shows Noah in anAfrican-American bar, trying to talk "hip" and impress the clientelethere. Implausibly, a pretty former classmate of Noah's, Roxanne (Kylie Bunbury),becomes his future love interest in this scene. Otherwise, we get jokes aboutRodrigo "dropping bombs" in the bathroom, Blithe "sharting"in the car, and clumsy, lumbering chase scenes. Much is made of an astrologicalphenomenon that Noah is looking forward to seeing, but it never actuallyhappens.

For me, the biggest sin a movie can commit is laziness.Secondary sins are comedies that are not funny, and talented directors thatmake impersonal movies. The Sitter isall three of these.

- Jeffrey M. Anderson

Movie Review: New Year's Eve

2011-12-09T11:23:00.001-08:00

New Year's Eve (2011) *

The success of last year's Valentine's Day prompted this follow-up, related only by its formatand its holiday setting. I did not see the previous film, but this one is a bigdumb mess, populated by many talented stars, and some not so talented. It's awonder how some of these people came on board, given the forced, bland natureof the screenplay (it's as if they deliberately hired someone with no knowledgeof screenwriting). While you're watching this two-hour slog, you start toponder what the stars' paychecks looked like in relation to the relativelybrief shooting schedule. Robert De Niro, for example, probably finished hisscenes in two days, tops, and likely earned more than most folks earn in ayear. Even the most gifted actor in the world can endure a little pain to putbread on the table.

It seems fairly clear that director Garry Marshall landedthe job to make this movie as an investment that would no doubt pay off. Butthere's something else about this movie, which is big and dumb, but also softand lumpy and cuddly. It has a reassuring certainty to it. It definitelyappeals to a wide audience, and therefore hits on something very basic, someprimal level of comfort. I was thinking of that brilliant montage in Singin'in the Rain, where, as Gene Kelly andDonald O'Connor take their act to bigger and more respectable houses, theirdancing slows down and becomes more refined, less reckless and raucous.

New Year's Eve is acommon, "reckless, raucous" entertainment for bawdy, ground-levelmusic halls. Where else could Sofía Vergara talk about her cleavage and bringspicy enchiladas to John Bon Jovi? Where else could Robert De Niro play a dyingcancer patient, or Zac Efron kiss Michelle Pfieffer? This is bottom-line stuff,and while it's repellent to our evolved selves, it does do something to theselves that we once were, or wish we could be. It's firm in its knowledge thattrue love does exist, for everyone, and all we have to do is be open to it.It's equally firm that a new year brings all kinds of hope for change. Ourexperience and education may argue with us, but as idiotic as this movie is, itdoes leave you with a gooey feeling. And, at least before the lights come onand you have to face your friends, it's up to you to decide whether it's goodor bad goo.

- Jeffrey M. Anderson

Movie Review: I Melt with You

2011-12-09T11:17:00.001-08:00

I Melt with You (2011) *1/2

Director Mark Pellington (Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies, Henry Poole Is Here) creates a vivid bond between fourrealistic characters, and in the process coaxes four painfully revealingperformances.

Four 40-something friends meet at a beach house for theirannual reunion, and to celebrate one friend's birthday. Richard (Thomas Jane)is a former writer that is now a teacher; Jonathan (Rob Lowe) is a shady doctorthat is probably addicted to drugs; Ron (Jeremy Piven) is a businessman trappedin a bad deal; and Tim (Christian McKay) blames himself for the death of hislover. The four men regress to college, binge on alcohol and drugs, and try tobury their pain, regret, and misery. Unfortunately, a suicide brings to light aforgotten pact that the men made 25 years earlier. Will this old promise comeback to haunt them?

These actors really earned their paychecks here. And, as apart-time music video director, Pellington's movie has some great songs (by theSex Pistols, the Clash, the Stone Roses, etc.) from the era in which the menmight have first met.

But that's where the good stuff ends. Pellington's camerazooms in on the characters' bleary, ravaged faces, and makes sure that theirlong partying binge doesn't look even the least bit attractive. That's fine,but the actual result is instead sad, pathetic, anxious and depressing. Andthen, at the halfway point, things take a turn for the worse. If onlyPellington could have found some kind of balance, offered some relief from timeto time, then he might have had an intriguing study of middle-aged men incrisis instead of this grim, often ludicrous cautionary tale.

- Jeffrey M. Anderson

Thanksgiving Week Movies

2011-11-23T21:55:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, folks! Following are my links to six new movies opening this Thanksgiving weekend. I wasn't able to catch Arthur Christmas because of a screening conflict, but c'est la vie. The reviews for A Dangerous Method and Rampart were written for Common Sense Media. Following, for fun, I posted a list of favorite Thanksgiving Day movies. Enjoy!

New Movies
The Artist **1/2
A Dangerous Method **1/2
Hugo ****
The Muppets ***
My Week with Marilyn ***1/2
Rampart **1/2

Great Thanksgiving Movies
Home for the Holidays
Pieces of April
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Miracle on 34th Street
Hannah and Her Sisters
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
The Little Orphan [Tom & Jerry]
The New World
Tower Heist

Review: My Week with Marilyn

2011-11-23T10:30:00.001-08:00

Marilyn Monroe is one of the essential icons of the 20thcentury. Many people have their own ideas of who she was and what she was like,and the odds are that Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn does not correspond with many of those ideas. Manywill use this as their main criticism of the movie, which is a huge mistake.No, Michelle Williams is not Marilyn Monroe. But what she does in this movie isfascinating and worthy of consideration.

The movie takes place in 1956, after Marilyn (played byWilliams) has married playwright Arthur Miller. She has formed her ownproduction company and has a personal acting coach. She's looking to move outof giggly bombshell parts and into something more serious, and the new movie ThePrince and the Showgirl directed by theesteemed Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) seems to be just the ticket.

But being on the set causes her great anxiety. What if shedoesn't have what it takes? She meets a young 3rd assistant director, ColinClark (Eddie Redmayne) and makes him her confidante for her time on theproduction. There really was a Colin Clark, and this movie is based on twobooks he wrote about his experience.

Simon Curtis, who has produced movies and has been involvedin the British television industry for some twenty years, makes his featuredirectorial debut here, though he directed a television adaptation of"David Copperfield" in 1999. He has his finger directly on the pulseof this movie, which splits into an infinite number of facets. Everyone in themovie understandably becomes fascinated with Marilyn, everyone forms andopinion of her, and everyone's opinion is a little different.

Some characters think she's smart, and some think she'shelpless. Some think she has natural ability, and some think she has somehowmanipulated it. Colin thinks she's magnificent and is ready to fall in lovewith her. Everyone warns him not to, but Marilyn herself makes it look so easy.In essence, there is no "real" Marilyn here. What she does is merelyreact to everything that anyone says, both confirming and denying all thevarious opinions. Perhaps reacting is what she does best, which is what Olivierdiscovers while watching dailies. When she nails a scene, she absolutelyshines, and Williams does this too.

If Williams and Monroe intertwine their personas for thisrole, the movie gets bonus points by doing the same with Olivier and Branagh.Ever since Branagh exploded onto the movie scene with his Henry V (1989), he has elicited comparisons to Olivier. Andnow Branagh is 50, roughly the same age as Olivier when he encountered Monroeon the set of The Prince and the Showgirl. In other words, Branagh understands Olivier in a way that no one elsealive possibly could, and his adaptation -- not an impersonation -- isfascinating. His tragedy is that, even though he's Olivier, he's still onlysecond to Marilyn.

Sadly, the movie wastes time with marginal characters like awardrobe girl, Lucy (Emma Watson), whom Colin tries to date before meetingMarilyn. All the other characters here are built exclusively to look atMarilyn, and when they're not doing that, the movie stalls. To put this moresimply, My Week with Marilyn is like CitizenKane, in that it's an attempt to nail downthe truth of one person. The more opinions that come up, the less certainanything is. And ultimately, no one can be truly known. Williams seems to knowthis in her performance, and if we applaud her, it's not for the way she actslike Marilyn, but for the way she slips away from our grasp.

With Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh,Emma Watson, Julia Ormond, Toby Jones, Dougray Scott, Dominic Cooper, JudiDench, Derek Jacobi, Pip Torrens, Geraldine Somerville, Michael Kitchen, MirandaRaison, Karl Moffatt, Simon Russell Beale, Robert Portal, Philip Jackson, JimCarter

Written by Adrian Hodges, based on books by Colin Clark

Directed by Simon Curtis

R for some language

99 minutes

November 23, 2011

Quick Review: The Artist

2011-11-23T09:45:00.001-08:00

Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist is presented as an almost completely silent movie, with a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, in black-and-white, and dialogue intertitles. Though this isn't a new idea -- the delightful Claire (2001) is another modern silent movie -- and though it does have some heavy drawbacks, The Artist is lightweight fun for those of us who love silent-era movies, and will likewise probably please those who like simple entertainments.

Jean Dujardin, who, I'm told, doesn't speak a word of English, stars as George Valentin, a Douglas Fairbanks-like star. The movie opens on his latest premiere, where the audience breathlessly watches his antics onscreen. When the movie ends, George awaits their applause, and in a miraculous moment, he hears it, even though we can't. The rest of the plot somewhat echoes Singin' in the Rain and various other showbiz movies; George discovers a cute new starlet, Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), and when the talkies arrive in 1929, her star rises while George's star falls. He bets everything he has on one last silent epic, but it opens on the day of the big Wall Street crash. A lot of moping follows, until finally the stubborn George accepts Peppy's help and they star in a musical together.

But whereas Singin' in the Rain had some profound things to say about the nature of art in entertainment, The Artist doesn't burrow very deep. Indeed, anyone who sees this as their first and only example of silent cinema will believe that the entire era was devoted to silly trifles, when, in fact, many artistic masterpieces were produced during that time. American and English actors like John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Malcolm McDowell, Missi Pyle, Joel Murray, also appear, and many don't say a word.

With Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle, Beth Grant, Ed Lauter, Joel Murray, Bitsie Tulloch, Ken Davitian, Malcolm McDowell, Basil Hoffman, Bill Fagerbakke, Nina Siemaszko
Written by Michel Hazanavicius
Directed by Michel Hazanavicius
Rated PG-13 for a disturbing image and a crude gesture.
100 minutes
November 23, 2011

Quick Review: The Muppets

2011-11-23T09:09:00.001-08:00

The Muppets have always been post-modern. On TV, "The Muppet Show" (1976-1981), was always as much about behind-the-scenes as it was about the stuff on stage. The brilliant The Muppet Movie (1979) skewed the road movie and the showbiz drama with constant self references, and even began and ended in a Hollywood screening room (with a stop in the middle when the film "breaks"). Now, some 35 years after the show began, writer/actor Jason Segel, writer Nicholas Stoller, and director James Bobin (of the great TV show "Flight of the Conchords"), revamp the Muppets for 2011, but remain true to that spirit of self-awareness.

A muppet named Walter (voiced by Peter Linz) and a human named Gary (Segel) are brothers, for no discernible reason. They grow up together, and are now inseparable. This relationship often gets in the way of Gary's ten-year romance with the pretty schoolteacher Mary (Amy Adams, who is perfect for this kind of role). Gary and Mary are headed on a road trip together to Los Angeles, and Gary convinces her to let Walter come. Walter wants to see the famous Muppet studio, but is dismayed to find it in ruins, and even further upset when he learns that an evil Texas millionaire (Chris Cooper) wants to buy it, tear it down, and drill for oil. Walter tracks down Kermit the Frog (voiced by Steve Whitmire) and tells him the news: they must raise ten million dollars to save the studio. "The only way to raise that kind of money," Kermit replies, "is to put on a show!"

Thus we get an "assemble-the-team" movie, a road movie, and a "let's-put-on-a-show" movie, all with complete awareness, commentary, silly star cameos, and references to past Muppet lore. The characters agree to speed things up with a montage. Rowlf the dog (voiced by Bill Barretta) wants to know why he wasn't in the montage; a flashback reveals that his story just wasn't very interesting. Of course, the filmmakers give extra time to Walter's plight: will he find what it is he's supposed to do in life? Can Gary save his ailing relationship with Mary? And what about Kermit's painful reunion with Miss Piggy (voiced by Eric Jacobson)? The movie sometimes slows down for these melancholy moments, and longtime Muppet fans will undoubtedly have more fun than young ones, but for the most part, it's a witty, delightful romp. "Flight of the Conchords" star Bret McKenzie wrote the movie's songs, and that show's intrepid co-star Kristen Schaal appears in a cameo.

With Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, Steve Whitmire (voice), Eric Jacobson (voice), Dave Goelz (voice), Bill Barretta (voice), David Rudman (voice), Matt Vogel (voice), Peter Linz (voice), Alan Arkin, Bill Cobbs, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Jim Parsons, Eddie Pepitone, Kristen Schaal, Sarah Silverman, Emily Blunt, James Carville, Leslie Feist, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, David Grohl, Neil Patrick Harris, Judd Hirsch, John Krasinski, Rico Rodriguez, Mickey Rooney
Written by Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller
Directed by James Bobin
Rated PG for some mild rude humor.
98 minutes
November 23, 2011

Quick Review: Tyrannosaur

2011-11-17T22:20:00.001-08:00

The terrific actor Paddy Considine (In America, The Bourne Ultimatum, Submarine, etc.) makes his feature writing and directing debut with Tyrannosaur, and if I may make a crude and unoriginal remark, he should stick to his day job. It's not that Considine has made a bad film -- and he certainly knows how to get strong performances from his actors Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman -- but he doesn't know when to stop telling the story. Mullan plays Joseph, a hard-drinking man with an explosive temper. After a bad outbreak of same, he ducks into a little charity shop, run by the sweet, quiet Hannah (Colman). She tries to help, but he's too angry and defensive. He keeps returning to the shop, however, and becomes Hannah's friend long enough to discover that she's married to the abusive James (Eddie Marsan). Considine lays out his story in little blocks that seem to begin as the characters enter; no one ever seems to be living between the scenes, and nothing springs to life. Each scene eventually gives up all the information that needs to be known, and holds nothing back; there's nothing to entice the audience to enter into the picture. When a frustrated Hannah hurls an object at a picture of Jesus and breaks the glass, Considine cuts to a close up of the broken picture, just in case we didn't quite get it. It's a general lack of trust that filmmakers need to have to engage with an audience. Considine the actor knows about this, but Considine the director hasn't quite grasped it yet. - Jeffrey M. Anderson

Quick Review - Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life

2011-11-17T21:53:00.001-08:00

Actors and awards committees love biopics, but filmmakers seem to have grown increasingly wary of the genre, looking for different and fresh angles. Joann Sfar's new biopic Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life finds one that's different, but not so fresh. It tells the story of Serge Gainsbourg (Eric Elmosnino), who began his career as a painter, and then veered into one as a successful songwriter and part-time singer. He became known as a lover of Brigitte Bardot (Laetitia Casta) and husband of Jane Birkin (Lucy Gordon) and recorded memorable songs with both: "Bonnie and Clyde" with the former and the sexy "Je t'aime... moi non plus" with the latter. The different angle here is that the material comes from a graphic novel, and that Gainsbourg is sometimes visited by his "mug," or a giant foam puppet of himself. The puppet first appears as a huge head (with protruding ears and crooked nose), and then later as a more spindly creature in a tuxedo. This idea barely works at all, and the rest of the movie follows the standard biopic formula: Gainsbourg becomes increasingly, physically wrecked as his success increases, and minor characters flit in and out of his life without ever leaving much of an imprint. I had been looking forward to seeing Casta as Bardot, and she's wonderful, but all too briefly. Overall, the film makes a common mistake: it tells what happened to Gainsbourg, but not who he really was. - Jeffrey M. Anderson

An Interview with Werner Herzog

2011-11-11T21:51:00.001-08:00

The German-born Werner Herzog, 69, quickly made his reputation as a cinematic madman. He took on near impossible filming conditions, venturing into the jungle for Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) and Fitzcarraldo (1982), or riding in an experimental, not-quite-tested airship in The White Diamond (2005). He has also been attracted to difficult and controversial figures, such as actor Klaus Kinski, or the mysterious Bruno S., or even Nicolas Cage, playing one of Herzog's most unhinged characters in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009).

After a while, Herzog made a gradual shift from feature films to documentaries, and his madness became something more focused and distilled: it was a kind of fearlessness combined with a genuine curiosity. No matter how strange his surroundings or his subjects, Herzog treats each with respect; he never makes any judgments and seems to regard all humans as equal, though the eccentric, oddball ones are far more interesting to him. His latest documentary, Into the Abyss, is a perfect example of this: the director travels to Texas -- which can be as strange and as frightening as any jungle -- and plunges directly into a story about murder and death row, asking brutally frank questions about how all this feels.

He speaks with convicted murderers Michael Perry -- who was executed just days after his interview -- and Jason Burkett -- who received a life sentence. Herzog spends a bit of time covering the crimes that were committed -- three people died over the theft of a car -- but finds his most fertile ground while interviewing the families of the victims, as well as those involved in performing the execution itself.

It's another great film from one of the world's greatest living filmmakers. I feel lucky that I had the chance to sit down and speak with Mr. Herzog during his recent trip to the Bay Area. Following is an edited transcript of our talk, which was shared with two other journalists. (I have differentiated my questions with theirs by marking them "JMA" and "Q.")

JMA: I wanted to start off with, hopefully, an unusual question. There's a lot of talk about religion and spirituality in this movie. Some of the people in the film are Christian…

WH: Everyone invokes God.

JMA: Yes and I was thinking about your movie Wheel of Time and the very different, but also similar spirituality in that film. I don't know if I have a question or not, but I was wondering if you see a connection?

WH: Certainly not consciously that I tried to draw a connection, but some of my films have a distant echo of religion, like Wheel of Time for example. Strangely enough, Into the Abyss has a very faint, distant echo of the presence of God. For example, I remember I asked the death row chaplain, "Why does God allow capital punishment?" He said, "I wish I knew." And, of course, I personally wish I knew. I have to add since you're asking this question. Wheel of Time, of course, has to do with Buddhism and the Dalai Lama. It has been startling to me that the current pope, who is a disaster in handling media…media relations right, he visited Auschwitz and, I think two or three times during the speech he gave there, he says, "In all this mass murder, this genocide, where was God?" Which is totally startling that the Catholic pope asked this question. That's just giving you a little bit of feeling of what moves me and what draws my attention.

JMA: You asked one of the interviewees if Jesus would have approved capital punishment...

WH: Because everybody seems to be invoking God, but, of course, when you look at Christian fundamentalism -- you have a lot of them in Texas -- for example, they see it almost like religious retribution. But it's more the retribution of the Old Testament. When you look at the New Testament in its entirety and when you look at Jesus, I think it's a legitimate question, "Would Jesus have approved capital punishment?" Probably not. Lisa Stotler-Balloun, who is very much for capital punishment and has witnessed the execution of the murderer of her mother and her brother, she feels a huge weight off her shoulders, which is very credible and very moving. But then I asked her, "Wouldn't Jesus possibly be not an advocate of capital punishment?" She kind of agrees. A very serious question, then, would the families of the victims… I ask her, "Would life imprisonment without the possibility of parole be an alternative?" Yes, she says, clearly yes. It would satisfy her, pause for deliberation, then she says, "But some people do not deserve to live." It's very strong because she's not an ideologue. She has experienced it through a personal tragedy. This is because I take her very seriously and I listen.

By the way, she's the only one who's seen the film so far. I have not met her since, but I'm told she wrote a four-page letter to me. I know roughly what's going to be in it.

JMA: Is it a letter to be published or is it a personal letter?

WH: No, I have not seen it yet. I knew a few things. Yes, I know she liked the film. I think she likes me. I think it's essential as a filmmaker that she always felt safe with me.

JMA: You are, I think, a great interviewer.

WH: I'm not a journalist. I don't have a catalogue of questions. I come in and I don't have any questions at all. You have to assess the situation instantly. You have to find the right tone instantly because you have fifty minutes and that's that.

Q: The production notes said you only had one hour each with Perry and Burkett. Is that correct?

WH: Yes, fifty minutes. With everyone else, I spent around one hour of my entire life [with them]. That was that. Never met them before or after. With some of them, like the death row chaplain, maybe twenty-five minutes. With the young man who was stabbed through his chest with a 20-inch screwdriver and who used to be an illiterate, I spent maybe 20-30 minutes. Almost everything of this encounter was in the film. But how to you find immediately the right conversation, the right tone with him. And I speak with him completely differently, in a different tone, in a different voice, in a different mood than with all the others.

JMA: I think you have a genuine curiosity. I think you're genuinely interested in these people.

WH: Of course. In this case, Talbert, I liked him from five miles distance, just the way he comes at you and you feel the calluses in his hands. I said immediately to him, "You're a working man." Before we were on camera, he said, "Yeah, man, yes." He's proud, roofing, in the paint shop, body shop, and I said, "I had these calluses when I worked as a young kid. When I was in high school, I worked the night shift as a welder in a steel factory." I have been so proud of my calluses, so we had an immediate rapport. And I said to him, "Step out of the way because I have to talk to this young woman." She used to be the former bartender of this neighboring town called Cut and Shoot. The two perpetrators gave joy rides to almost everyone. And I said to him, "Jarred, just step out earshot and step out of eyesight. Let's not make her nervous." After sixty seconds of talking to him, he was gone, then after [I finished interviewing her], I dragged him in front of the camera. I said to him, "Jarred, now it's you. Let's talk man to man, welder to welder." You see the welder speaking to the man who does the roofing of the houses, or sanding of car bodies.

Q: He had a connection, I believe? Not just friendship, but I think he worked with one of them...

WH: Well, he worked with a brother of Burkett, who was also incarcerated most of the time. And he knew Burkett and Perry, the two murderers. And of course, he was almost killed by Burkett in a fight that lasted 45 minutes, with a gun at his head. Burkett actually pulled the trigger, and the gun misfired. He was completely lucky. But I must say, for me... because, you see, the perpetrators... and at the same time you see a young man, who under life-threatening attack, being stabbed through his chest with a screwdriver. The friend throws -- and this is the most legitimate case of self-defense -- the friend throws him a knife. He looks at his feet, sees the knife, and decides he's not going to pick it up, because he wants to see his kids at night. And I think this is a genuine American hero. This is absolutely heroic. I truly love that man, and you can tell. You see, it's easy to find the right tone with him. With Perry, for example, the perpetrator, who was executed eight days later, within 120 seconds of the discourse, I told him: Mr. Perry, even though your childhood was bad and destiny didn't hand out a good deck of cards to you, which doesn't exonerate you, it does not necessarily mean that I have to like you. Absolutely straightforward. And in fact he liked me for that. And I respect him as a human being.

Q: I was wondering in those moments that you share with Perry, if there's some particular bodily or psychological experience that one undergoes when you step into a death row facility.

WH: Well, it's very hard to describe because it's so oppressive. It's sitting just three feet away from someone -- of course separated by a bulletproof glass wall -- but you know he's going to die in eight days. But how do you deal with it? Number one, I knew: do not commiserate him. It is as it is. And don't be teary and cry over his punishment. No. You have to take it as it is. Secondly, do not make a hero outcast out of him. Do not idealize him. Sometimes you see "I have a big outcast, and here he is facing execution." No, I'm not into that business either. But the respect for a human being who is going to die very soon. And I always was under the impression, yes, the crimes were absolutely monstrous. And it's not the only crime I've dug into. I've spoken to other death row inmates. The crimes are monstrous, but the perpetrators are still human, and not monsters. And I treat them like that. I wear a suit, although you never see me. But they see me, and I wear a suit, which I hardly ever wear, ever in my life. I wear a suit.

Q: You bring it out for that.

WH: I only wear it because I meet a human being who's going to die in eight days.

Q: To sort of go back a little bit, the notes said that you were actually going to initially do a larger documentary... I wasn't sure if that was still the case... where you interview other death row inmates. How did you...

WH: No, it separated very quickly. There was Into the Abyss, which immediately was clear that it should be a big epic, almost epic film, a big tapestry, almost like an American Gothic, a true American Gothic. And of course, way beyond the crime... it has to do with families. It has to do with people who live in the town, with the bartender, with the death row chaplain, with the former captain of the tie-down team, and on and on, with the urgency of life. Parallel to that is a completely separate project, and it's a death row project: four shorter films, only for television, and very much focused on a single person on death row. And I filmed them and edited pretty much three of them. This coming week, I'm going right back into editing the last one. Which, by the way, is on a female. A female inmate in Texas. One inmate is in Florida...

JMA: It's not very often that they're female.

WH: I can give you a statistical insight: roughly 400 inmates on death row in Texas, male inmates, an additional 10 females in Texas. So the ratio is roughly 40 men, 1 woman. And all over America, it's lethal injection, with the exception of Utah, which in a way is sexist. Because Utah is the only state where you have the choice: lethal injection or firing squad. But this option -- shame on Utah -- is not given to females. Females are not allowed... I think it's sexist. "As a real woman, I would like to demand the firing squad! Shoot now!"

Q: It almost seems to connect to why the captain had that moment... because of Karla Faye Tucker ... that it's not about her, but it's about the men who have to point a gun, or a rifle, at a woman. Maybe that's such a bar for them...

WH: Well, it's mysterious. He doesn't have an answer for that either. He credibly tells us that her execution was no different from anyone else's: strapped her down, everything went down professionally and with integrity, and you can believe him when you see the man. He's pure integrity. And two days later, he starts shaking uncontrollably and cannot stop crying, and he doesn't know why. He doesn't have an answer. He has to ask for one of the chaplains to try to explain. He still doesn't have a clear explanation. But... quits his job from one day to the next, at the cost of losing his pension. I think that's real integrity. And he's Texan! You see, I'm not in the business of Texas-bashing! And, you see, America has this wonderful way of naming, let's say, a great old blues singer in the South, a "national treasure." And when you look at Fred Allen, the former captain of the tie-down team, you don't even have to propose to name him a national treasure. You can tell: this is a national treasure. This man is a national treasure. What a phenomenal character.

November 5, 2011

Quick Review: Trespass (2011)

2011-10-14T14:08:00.001-07:00

Written by Karl Gajdusek, of the TV series "Dead Like Me," Trespass looks as if it has the nugget of a good idea, and it could have made a good movie, but this is not it.

Slick salesman Kyle (Nicolas Cage) deals in diamonds to support his lovely wife Sarah (Nicole Kidman) and pretty teen daughter Avery (Liana Liberato). His work is interrupted one night when a quartet of burglars invades the house, looking for loose diamonds and/or piles of cash. Their plan goes quickly awry when Kyle begins using his salesman skills to find an advantage. At first it looks like Kyle is merely trying to save his family, but eventually it becomes evident that he is trying to hide a desperate secret. Unfortunately, he's not the only one.

Director Joel Schumacher is a 30-year Hollywood veteran with some interesting films on his resume (Flatliners, Falling Down, Tigerland, Phone Booth, etc.), but also a great many turkeys (Batman & Robin, Bad Company, etc.). He can't quite get the tone right on this one, starting out pitched a bit too high, and going even higher as the movie goes on.

Rather than generating suspense, the movie simply becomes irritating. Rather than becoming an intellectual chess game, it becomes a rather sloppy game of 52 pick-up, with coincidence and abandoned threads ruling the day. Likewise, poor Cage can't seem to find a center for his character, and he comes across more like a madman than a loving father. Kidman, however, manages some of her usual grace, and Ben Mendelsohn makes a commanding villain.

Not to be confused with Walter Hill's Trespass (1992), starring Bill Paxton, Ice Cube, and Ice-T.

Trespass

** out of ****

With Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Cam Gigandet, Ben Mendelsohn, Liana Liberato, Jordana Spiro, Dash Mihok, Emily Meade

Written by Karl Gajdusek

Directed by Joel Schumacher

Rated R for violence and terror, pervasive language and some brief drug use.

91 minutes

Opens October 14, 2011

Quick Review: The Skin I Live In

2011-10-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

Antonio Banderas stars in his sixth film with Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, and their first since Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990). Almodovar looks to be one of the most famous and successful of non-English directors alive today. Like Fellini before him, he's now able to announce a film using only his last name. Also, like Fellini, he has grown ever more perverse and daring, taking on more bizarre subjects. Yet Almodovar remains a rigorous and expert filmmaker, with a craftsman's control over color, space and tone.

Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) has developed a new super-strong skin that is impervious to burns and diseases, though the scientific community frowns on his methods. At home, he keeps a beautiful woman, Vera (Elena Anaya), locked up in a special room, and she appears to be the result of his experiments. She manages to seduce him, and in a long flashback, we learn the terrible story of Robert's wife, burned in a car crash, as well as his sadistic half-brother, his beloved daughter, and his daughter's pill-popping rapist. How do all these bizarre elements add up, and how will Robert pay for what he's done?

He's also one of the world's most sensual filmmakers, revealing a fearless attitude toward sex, and unafraid to show beauty for beauty's sake (such as a shot of Robert working on a Bonsai tree). With The Skin I Live In, Almodovar adopts a playfully wicked attitude, similar to the one James Whale used on Bride of Frankenstein. It doesn't matter how weird things get in this movie, Almodovar is clearly relishing peeling back layer after layer of this peculiar onion.

The Skin I Live In

***1/2 out of ****

With: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Jan Cornet, Blanca Suárez, Marisa Paredes, Bárbara Lennie

Written by Pedro Almodovar, based on a novel by Thierry Jonquet

Directed by Pedro Almodovar

Rated R for disturbing violent content including sexualassault, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, drug use and language.

117 minutes

Opens October 14, 2011

Quick Review: The Thing (2011)

2011-10-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

Howard Hawks' The Thing from Another World (1951) used a particular, unique style to establish characters and build up suspense. John Carpenter's brilliant remake The Thing (1982) managed to be truly frightening while playing with a subtle social and political commentary. But this remake -- directed by first timer Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. -- feels like nothing more than a marketing ploy, an attempt to cash in on a familiar brand with no further attempt to make it relevant.

When a spaceship is discovered buried in the ice in Antarctica, Dr. Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen) summons a top paleontologist, Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) to help investigate. The reason? There was a survivor, a creepy, dark shape frozen in ice a short distance away from the ship. Kate joins several Norwegian researchers in studying the beast, but before anyone can get down to business, the creature is loose. Worse, Kate soon discovers that it has the ability to perfectly mimic human beings. Not knowing who to trust, Kate soon comes to a hard decision: no one must leave the site alive.

The new movie's visual effects, a combination of digital and latex, look good and manage to copy Rob Bottin's groundbreaking work from the 1982 version. And byvirtue of copying, the new movie manages to re-capture some of the same terrifying human/creature hybrids that caused such chills before. The new movie also uses locations and timing to similar effect, but eventually it runs out of steam, forgetting all about the paranoia theme, and ignoring any other potentially interesting themes.

The Thing
** out of ****

With Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Eric Christian Olsen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Written by Eric Heisserer, based on a short story by John W. Campbell Jr.
Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
Rated R for strong creature violence and gore, disturbing images, and language.
104 minutes
Opens October 14, 2011

DVD Review: Great Italian Directors Collection

2011-10-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

Kino's new box set, the "Great Italian Directors Collection," is far from comprehensive. There's no Rossellini, for one thing, nor any kind of nod to the great, second-tier genre directors like Mario Bava or Sergio Leone. But it is a nice showcase for three of Kino's new releases, and a very cool set nonetheless.

The high point is definitely the restored version of Michelangelo Antonioni's feature debut Story of a Love Affair (1950) (a.k.a. Cronaca di un amore). Antonoini had just finished with a series of short documentaries, and his surprising debut showed his style almost fully-formed. In a way, it prefigures Antonioni's masterpiece L'Avventura (1960), but it also owes a debt to films noir and crime films like Visconti's Ossessione (1943).

The story involves Paola (Lucia Bosé), the beautiful young wife of a wealthy factory owner, Enrico (Ferdinando Sarmi). Enrico hires a detective to investigate her past, and she comes back into contact with a former lover, Guido (Massimo Girotti). Their old spark reignited, the couple tries to figure out how to meet while under the prying eyes of their significant others. Soon the idea of violence begins to come into play, but at the same time, the lovers find their passion waning.

As with L'Avventura, the supposed searching and plotting doesn't really matter as much as the feeling of isolation, ennui, and disconnect. The director has already learned howt o place his lonely figures in forlorn, empty and industrial landscapes, pulling them apart and making them feel lifeless. But Story of a Love Affair existed long before what some 1960s hecklers began to call "Antoniennui," and the film has its moments of crackling passion and secret suspense. It's an amazing film, and one of the great feature debuts in movie history.

This movie comes in a two-disc set, featuring two documentaries about the movie, as well as a featurette about its restoration. Sadly, it is only available in this DVD set, not separately, and not on Blu-Ray.

For us culturally dim Americans, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) was an Italian poet and author, best known for "The Decameron," and for his realism, as well as depictions of bawdy humor and sex. In 1962, four of the top Italian directors decided to make a tribute to him, and the result was Boccaccio '70; the "70" was added presumably because the movie was supposed to be eight years ahead of its time.

First up is Mario Monicelli, the director of Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958), and arguably the least known of the four. When the total length of the movie came in at three hours and 24 minutes, the distributors balked and snipped out Monicelli's episode. Kino's new DVD and Blu-Ray restores it for American audiences. That's great news because it's one of the best. It concerns a young couple -- Luciana (Marisa Solinas) and Renzo (Germano Gilioli) -- who marry in secret and must hide their relationship from their employers. (Things get a bit more complicated when it looks as if Luciana may be pregnant.)

Most of the situation concerns the fact that the couple is forced to live with Luciana's huge family and can never get a moment of privacy. (Even with two incomes, they can't afford much else.) Meanwhile, Luciana's slimy boss has taken a liking to her. Monicelli could have played all this as big and bawdy, but instead he takes a bittersweet route, settling on a strangely satisfying ending that's both lovely and symptomatic of modern life. Some of his images, such as hundreds of men in bathing suits crowded around a pool, are likewise strikingly beautiful and simultaneously disturbing.

Federico Fellini comes in next, and it's odd that the great director, in-between his masterpieces La Dolce Vita (1960) and 8 ½ (1963) could come up with something this vapid. Peppino de Filippo stars in an over-the-top performance as a puritanical busybody Dr. Antonio Mazzuola, who spends his time trying to get "smut" removed from public places. He meets his match when a giant billboard is erected outside his home; it features the glorious Anita Ekberg selling milk (get it)? Antonio rages and rages and eventually the giant Anita comes to life and torments him. It's somewhat thrilling to see the massive, buxom Ekberg stomping around -- and the cheesy visual effects used to achieve this -- but overall the tale is heavy and obvious.

Luchino Visconti's episode is decidedly more subtle, but also very dry and airless. The entire thing takes place in the opulent wing of a ritzy house, where trophy wife Pupe (Romy Schneider) has discovered that her husband Conte Ottavio (Tomas Milian) has slept with a number of call girls; the story is in every paper in town. Pupe decides to get a job, and they argue and talk for the entire episode. Pupe bathes and dresses, preparing to go out on the town, and it seems as if something is finally going to happen, but both characters decide to stay home and argue some more. (Even the servants are disappointed.) Eventually Conte sees how beautiful his wife is, which leads to a dreadfully ironic ending. It's like one of those plays that just leave you feeling drained and tarnished.

Then Vittorio de Sica steps in and saves the day with one of his many Sophia Loren movies; as gorgeous as Loren is, it's hard to argue that she ever looked better than she does in this movie. She plays Zoe, a beauty that helps run a shooting gallery in a traveling carnival. But her real job comes at night: she becomes the prize in an auction, and her sexual favors go to the lucky winning man. (No red-blooded man would pass up a chance.) Most of the episode consists of feisty Zoe shooing away leering males, come to check out the "merchandise." The men also join together, and begin a war of bids for the winning ticket. Meanwhile, Zoe has fallen for a local boy with a motorcycle and would rather spend the evening with him.

Some of de Sica's movies could be too long or too heavy, and this one feels just about right; even the potentially sexist subject matter is easily diffused by Loren's power and control. (Just wait until you see her sing and dance the "money, money, money" song. She will win your heart.)

Kino has also released this king-sized movie separately on a gorgeous new Blu-Ray; extras include a generous still gallery and trailers.

Lastly, we get Monicelli's Casanova 70 (1965), a lightweight sex comedy with a single joke: army officer Andrea (Marcello Mastroianni) can only get aroused if he's in some kind of mortal danger. The movie mostly takes place in flashback, with Andrea re-counting his stories of sexual conquests (and failures). The movie is sexy, but not as over-the-top as it sounds. Monicelli allows plenty of time for deadpan setups and payoffs, and Mastroianni is hilariously perfect, finding a balance between charm and buffoonery. This one is also available separately and on Blu-Ray. It comes with a trailer and a stills gallery.

George Clooney's Best Movies

2011-10-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

George Clooney continues to be a fascinating figure in American film. He's surprisingly, prodigiously gifted, far more so than his early movie appearances (Batman & Robin) would have suggested. In interviews, he's coy and funny, and he seems to have surrounded himself with a group of superstars that are also close, private friends. He keeps a mysterious profile, so much so that his dating life appears to be off limits. On camera, he has a Cary Grant-like ability to switch from big, goofy humor to serious, sinister and subtle. He already owns an Oscar (Best Supporting Actor for Syriana), and earned two more nominations (for Michael Clayton and Up in the Air) in addition to a writing nomination and directing nomination (both for Good Night, and Good Luck). With the release of his new movie is The Ides of March, I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at Mr. Clooney's greatest accomplishments to date.

1. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Clooney's offbeat, snappy, wide-eyed performance in this one-of-a-kind movie is a thing of wonder -- perfectly meshing with Joel and Ethan Coen's unique humor.

2. Out of Sight (1998)
Clooney is super-cool, sexy, and tough in this whip-smart crime movie that started a long-standing friendship and working relationship with director Steven Soderbergh.

3. Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
A visually gorgeous, low-key political drama that deserves to rank with All the President's Men.

4. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Clooney's directorial debut is a bizarre, cult-worthy biopic that celebrates the tall tale.

5. Burn After Reading (2008)
The Coen brothers' underrated Washington D.C. farce makes brilliant use of an ensemble cast, with Clooney's character among the most humorously ineffectual.

6. The Thin Red Line (1998)
Clooney only appears in one scene, but this is a masterpiece any way you slice it.

7. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
A vocal performance full of snappy patter and witty asides, in a superb animated film that stretches the boundaries of the medium.

8. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
A badass performance in a crackling "B" movie.

9. Three Kings (1999)
An endlessly inventive, slightly off-kilter war parody that deserves to remain in the public consciousness.

10. Michael Clayton (2007)
Another quietly intelligent thriller for Clooney in a career that seems happily full of them.

Apologies to the enjoyable Ocean's trilogy and several other good titles.

Quick Review: Dirty Girl

2011-10-06T12:14:00.000-07:00

Getting caught in the "Grinch" syndrome, Abe Sylvia's Dirty Girl is much more fun when Danielle (Juno Temple) is behaving badly. Unfortunately, that lasts only about 20 minutes, and as soon as she befriends Clarke (Jeremy Dozier) -- an unlikely situation in itself -- the fun ends. The rest of the movie cooks up the usual road-trip clichés, with sing-a-longs to many 1980s radio tunes.

In Norman, Oklahoma, circa 1987, Danielle is unhappy. Her mother (Milla Jovovich) is dating a religious nut (William H. Macy) that wants to convert the family. She drifts through high school using foul language, having sex and smoking cigarettes. In a family life class, she's paired with overweight, gay Clarke, whose father wants him to be more of a man. Clarke and Danielle are assigned to take care of a "baby," i.e. a sack of flour. But when Danielle learns the identityof her real father, she coaxes Clarke to steal his mom's car, and they hit the road for California, their sack of flour (named "Joan") in the back seat.

Dirty Girl tries to throw in some surprises here and there, but these only seem like an extension of what came before, rather than any kind of sudden twist or turn. Moreover, the filmmakers try to send a handful of mixed messages about family and "being yourself." And thus, the bad behavior continues, but with a sour note rather than a gleeful, carefree one. The tone wobbles all over the place, ranging from pathos to magic realism (as Joan the bag of flour "reacts" to various situations). It all leads to a bizarre, frustrating conclusion that makes very little sense. In short, Dirty Girl should have been more reckless, more open-hearted -- and much dirtier.

(See also my more in-depth review at Common Sense Media.)

Dirty Girl

** out of ****

With Juno Temple, Jeremy Dozier, Milla Jovovich, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, Gary Grubbs, Rob Boltin, Tim McGraw
Written by Abe Sylvia
Directed by Abe Sylvia
Rated R for sexual content including graphic nudity, and for language.
90 minutes
October 7, 2011

Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-Ray

2011-09-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

This week Fox released the complete Star Wars saga on Blu-Ray; the entire six film set retails for about $140, and two sets of three films each (the original trilogy and the prequels) retail for about $70. I did not receive a press copy of any of these, but I'm told that -- once again -- only the 1997 "special editions" of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi are here, rather than the original theatrical versions from 1977, 1980 and 1983. The full set includes nine total discs, with three full discs of extras. Here, for fun, are blurbs of my reviews of all six films.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

There are a hundred small things wrong with Star Wars:Episode I - The Phantom Menace, from lack ofcharacter development, to bad dialogue, to too many CGI effects. It tries tooverwhelm us with its sound and fury in a vain attempt to cover up the distinctlack of decent writing. However, it gives us at least three scenes that arewondrous and thrilling.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

I suppose when it comes down to it, large portions of thismovie thrilled me with their spectacular, breathtaking art direction andbeautifully directed action scenes. Many of these sequences work if you canmentally make the connection between these characters and their warmer, farmore interesting "future" counterparts. If you can imagine AlecGuinness during some of McGregor's scenes, you're bound to have a good time.Yet it's probably too much to ask for Lucas to insert these things into themovie himself. It's as if he's succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force himself,caring more for technology than for the human spirit. On the other hand,perhaps Lucas is still focused on"B" movies and serials. How can he not be with ridiculous titles likeThe Phantom Menace and Attackof the Clones -- as well as that dialogue,which sounds like it came right out of a 1940s Republic serial? Not to mentionthe presence of Christopher Lee, a bona fide "B" movie star from daysgone by.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is the movie we've been waiting for, the movie thatshould have been made all along. It leaves The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones so far behind that they're almost unnecessary.Detractors have blamed writer/director George Lucas for writing clunky dialogueand failing to support his actors while they gamely struggled through. Now theperformers appear far more comfortable, and in fact, enthusiastic about theirjobs. The overall quality of acting has improved 90%, and even Samuel L.Jackson sounds like his old self. Ian McDiarmid in particular gives one of theseries' best performances since Alec Guinness in Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

I'm continually impressed by how the movie is shot inpartial-documentary style. The camera just breezes over fantastic droids orcreatures or gimmicks in some shots. The Cantina scene was revolutionary,because it took all of those fantastic, imaginative creatures for granted. (Insome ways the new stuff draws attention to itself, in contrast.) I couldn'thelp getting an adrenaline rush, butterflies, and tingles at certain moments.All in all, this movie is a classic that deserves its spot in the heart ofAmerica with The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca and the others.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Now, in 1997, seeing the big screen re-release of the twomovies within weeks of each other, I finally relent and admit that The EmpireStrikes Back is the better of the two. In fact, it's clearly the best -- andthe most warmly human -- of the entire series.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

The third Star Wars film, and the sixth in the series, beginswith a bang as our heroes try to wrap up the threads left hanging at the end ofThe Empire Strikes Back. This exciting sequence, set on the desert planet ofTatooine, has the good sense to keep certain details from the audience,constantly surprising us with the breadth and depth of the elaborate rescueplan. As directed by Richard Marquand (Jagged Edge) and cleanly edited by SeanBarton, Duwayne Dunham, andMarcia Lucas, the well-paced action adds up to one of the best sequences in theentire series, bursting with the characters' charisma and well-earnedchemistry. Unfortunately, from there the film takes a nosedive with carelessexposition and with the much-hated introduction of the fuzzy Ewoks.

Review: Take Shelter

2011-09-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

In 2008, writer/director Jeff Nichols made his feature debut with the powerful Shotgun Stories, a movie told through silences and absences and aborted violence. Now he's back, reunited with his star Michael Shannon, with an even more powerful movie, Take Shelter. In this movie, violence manifests itself through uncontrollable, frightening dreams, which leaves the dreamer even more helpless than some grim threat in the waking light.

Shannon plays Curtis LaForche, a good family man in a small Ohio town. He works as a crew chief, helping operate a massive drill for a mining company. His wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) sells her wares at a craft fair. Their daughter, Hannah (Tova Stewart), is deaf, but together with their dog, they all seem happy. It even works out that Curtis' health insurance will pay for a cochlear implant for Hannah.

Then Curtis starts having the dreams. The first one involves a gathering storm on the horizon, and then the dog breaking free from its rope and biting Curtis on the arm. Curtis explains to the doctor that he felt actual pain in his arm all day long. He can't shake his fear of the dog and locks the dog away behind a fence.

More dreams come and Curtis begins taking steps to prevent them coming true, including separating himself from his friends and building a very expensive storm cellar to avoid the awesome storm he thinks is coming. Between dreams Curtis tries to navigate the pitfalls of his life, going to therapy at the free clinic and deciding not to tell Samantha any of this. Whereas most movies would make a whole theme out of this miscommunication, in Take Shelter, it's merely a character trait. Curtis can't tell Samantha because he doesn't know how.

Whereas the movie has a doozy of an ending, it won't do to discuss much more plot. It doesn't even feel like it has a plot. It feels like a series of events happening over a series of days. Nichols has a way of delving into the spaces between and around a moment, giving it breath and life. When Curtis wakes up each morning and sips his coffee, it really feels like morning. Thus life is so ordinary that the dreams are all the more powerful. They haunt the rest of the movie, and they have the power to make you tense up and freeze with dread.

The movie also plays with the idea of mental illness. Curtis worries that he is becoming schizophrenic like his mother (Kathy Baker), who currently resides in an assisted-living center. The movie is smart enough not to paint Curtis with wild-eyed rage, but rather gives him the facilities to worry and wonder, to question his sanity with perfect saneness. In this, Shannon gives an absolutely extraordinary performance.

Take Shelter makes mention of the current economy just a couple of times, but it's not a major theme. It's merely understood that the world isn't all that it should be, and that everything we have can be lost in a moment, whether through some natural, or man-made disaster. Indeed, the entire thing is based on an indefinable, hovering dread. Whereas most movies are made to help avoid this kind of dread, Take Shelter faces it, and lets us know that we're not alone.

Take Shelter

***1/2 out of ****

With Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Natasha Randall, Ron Kennard, Scott Knisley, Robert Longstreet, Kathy Baker, Guy Van Swearingen, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Ray McKinnon

Written by Jeff Nichols

Directed by Jeff Nichols

Rated R for some language.

120 minutes

September 30, 2011

Review: The Mill and the Cross

2011-09-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes movies are called "painterly," but it's not often that a movie is based on an actual painting. I can think of very few: The Quince Tree Sun (1993) and Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) come to mind. Also Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark (2002), which is about a museum rather than a specific painting, but uses a "painterly" quality of its own.

Now we can add Lech Majewski's The Mill and the Cross to that short list. Based on Pieter Bruegel's "The Way to Calvary," from 1564, the movie patiently and delicately outlines many of the themes in the painting, even though the film itself can be somewhat drifting and opaque.

The film is set in Flanders, but three international movie stars appear and speak English. No other dialogue is ever spoken. Rutger Hauer plays Pieter Bruegel, at work on his masterpiece and explaining it all to his friend, art collector Nicolaes Jonghelinck (Michael York). Charlotte Rampling plays Mary, the mother of Jesus, forever distraught over the fate of her son.

Several themes and storylines are interwoven throughout the film. The Spanish are the bad guys here, violent, brutal occupiers, and quick to crucify anyone deemed a heretic. A simple farmer and his wife are out buying bread when the Spanish swoop in, capture the man, tie him to a wagon wheel and raise the wheel atop a post, so that he can have his eyes plucked out by vultures. Jesus is crucified here, too, even though the timeline isn't quite right. The movie doesn't mean to suggest that Jesus actually existed in 1564, just that Bruegel painted him in 1564.

We also see images of a giant mill, grinding away and making grain for bread. To the untrained or impatient eye, it can seem like so much plotless rambling. But descriptions of the plot and the movie's actions and incidents are beside the point. The images themselves are striking, and reminded me somewhat of Eric Rohmer's The Lady and the Duke (2001). Some of them seem naturalistic -- such as shots of children playing in their bedroom -- but there's often a hint of something unearthly, a kind of gloss, as if the moment were already captured and not actually happening. Indeed, there's a great deal of thought about the nature of such moments, and how an artist goes about capturing them.

All of the squirming moments of life in the movie eventually become parts of the final painting. It's not a making-of movie, nor does it tell the story of the individual subjects in the painting. It's also not exactly art imitating life, or art imitating art. It's more like art becoming art.

The Mill and the Cross

*** out of ****

With Rutger Hauer, Michael York, Charlotte Rampling

Written by Lech Majewski, Michael Francis Gibson

Directed by Lech Majewski

Not Rated

97 minutes

September 30, 2011

Quick Review: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

2011-09-29T14:54:00.001-07:00

Director and co-writer Eli Craig makes his feature debut with this simple, ingenious idea: why are hillbillies always so nasty and evil in horror movies? What if they're really good folks, and the college students are the awful ones? The movie takes this idea and runs all the way with it, allowing audiences to catch on at their own pace.

Like many horror movies, this opens with a carload of college students looking for a good time in the woods; there's also the ominous foreshadowing with the creepy, local hillbillies. However, this time hillbillies Dale (Tyler Labine) and Tucker (Alan Tudyk) are good-hearted souls looking for nothing more than to spend some quality time in their new "vacation home" (i.e. a ramshackle cabin, formerly belonging to a serial killer). After an accident, pretty blond Allison (Katrina Bowden) winds up in Dale's care, but her shallow, short-sighted friends suspect foul play. Before long, grisly deaths begin to occur, one by one, but are they random accidents, or is there something more sinister going on?

Most of the movie's success comes from the lead performances of Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk, conjuring up an appealing combination of smart, dumb, and sweet, as well as a strong chemistry of friendship. There's also a huge, visceral thrill in the outrageous and gory deaths, each so hilariously implausible that it's shocking. The characters' deadpan reactions to the situation elevate the humor all the more. The chase/fight showdown sequence at the climax is bit of a step down, but though the movie is not as endlessly inventive or engaging as something like Shaun of the Dead, it's still an all around winner.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
*** out of ****
With: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden
Written by: Eli Craig, Morgan Jurgenson

Directed by: Eli Craig

MPAA Rating: R for bloody horror violence, language and brief nudity.

Running Time: 89 minutes

Release Date: September 30, 2011

DVD Review: Go West/Battling Butler

2011-09-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

Kino continues its complete retooling of their Buster Keaton catalog with this latest release, a double-feature of Go West (1925) and Battling Butler (1926). (Buy the DVD Here)

Go West (1925) is one of my favorite Keaton features, a surprisingly touching 68-minute tale with some unusual touches. Buster stars as a city slicker called "Friendless," who heeds Horace Greeley's popular advice to "go west, young man." He sells his belongings, hops a train, and finds work on a ranch. There he befriends a sweet cow called "Brown Eyes," and decides to rescue her during an impressive cattle-driving sequence that spills into the city streets.

The movie contains some of Keaton's most striking imagery, starting with the offbeat juxtapositions, such as the crowded urban sidewalks and the wide-open spaces. Perhaps more memorable is Buster's tiny, effeminate pistol, which he can barely even locate in his man-sized holster. Indeed, Buster's outfit and behavior in this movie come closer to Chaplin's "Little Tramp" than anything else he ever did.

In one amazing sequence, Keaton designed a chase with the camera providing the POV of a bull (complete with horns). But perhaps the movie's piece-de-resistance has Buster donning a red devil outfit to lead the cattle through the streets; it's a bizarre image, one of the most startling and surrealistic in all of Keaton's canon.

Most fans and critics agree that the boxing picture Battling Butler (1926) is probably Keaton's least successful picture, though it was a money-maker in its day. Based on a play, the material was a bit too literal and plot-driven to have inspired Keaton's creative juices. He plays Alfred Butler, a rich layabout whose manservant provides even the simplest tasks. ("Arrange it," Butler continually orders.)

His father orders him to go camping so that he can "become a man." But instead he meets a pretty country girl (Sally O'Neil) and falls for her. Worse, she confuses him with Alfred "Battling" Butler, a professional prizefighter. He decides to keep up the ruse, even striking a deal with the real Butler to train and fight a "killer" in the ring. The movie ends with a rather shockingly brutal dressing room brawl between the two Butlers.

The movie has a few good gags, and -- truthfully -- no Buster Keaton movie is all bad, but it just doesn't have the speed, creativity and energy of Keaton's best.

Kino released this pair on Blu-Ray and DVD. Extras include a short Hal Roach comedy, also called Go West (starring monkeys), an audio recording of Keaton working on a script proposal for the "Wagon Train" TV series, excerpts from the screenplay of an unproduced Battling Butler remake, and still galleries. This release leaves just three more Keaton features to go: The Navigator (1924), Seven Chances (1925), and College (1927), plus The Saphead (1920) -- the latter of which features Buster only in an acting capacity.

Buy the DVD Here

DVD Review: Treasures 5: The West - 1898-1938

2011-09-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

The National Film Preservation Foundation, located in San Francisco, has been quietly releasing extraordinary DVD box sets over the past ten years, entitled the "Treasures" series. There isn't a better word for it. These sets are packed with little gems that had to be dug up and assessed before it could be determined how valuable they were. The first set, from 2000, came with fifty comedies, dramas, experimental films, cartoons, newsreels, documentaries, and tons of other stuff, all historically valuable as well as entertaining. Volume Two, from 2004, had more just like it. Volume Three focused on Social Issues, and Volume Four looked at Avant-Garde Film.

It makes sense, then, that the NFPF would want to devote a box set to that most popular of American genres, the Western. The fifth and newest set, Treasures 5: The West (1898-1938), does include some Westerns, but more specifically focuses on the history of the area that makes up the western section of the United States. Typically of the NFPF, the box covers a wide range of topics, including features, shorts, comedies, action movies, and dramas, movies that explore the issues of the downtrodden and the marginalized, newsreels, promotional films, and movies that were once lost but are now found. The selection of forty films seems like an almost complete history in itself. (Buy DVD here.)

Perhaps the set's most exciting film is Victor Fleming's Mantrap (1926), starring the irresistible Clara Bow, just a year before she became the "It" girl. Based on a novel by Sinclair Lewis, the action begins on a burned-out divorce lawyer, Ralph Prescott (Percy Marmont), who becomes fed up with women and decides to go away with a friend (the great Eugene Pallette, who would later be known for his frog-voice) for an extended trip to the woods. Meanwhile, the rugged he-man, Joe Easter (Ernest Torrence) decides to leave the wilderness for the big city; he hasn't seen anything more than a woman's ankle in years.

When he arrives, he goes for a haircut and meets the pretty manicurist Alverna (Bow). Before long, they're married and living back in Mantrap, in the middle of nowhere. Eventually Alverna meets Ralph and begins throwing herself at him, hoping for a ticket back to the big city. Bow's character is slightly despicable, but she's nonetheless appealing since Fleming more or less celebrates her free will and unquenchable spirit; she even has some great "dialogue" written for her in the title cards. Neither of the men are very attractive, but they bring an earthy, honest quality to the movie, and all the moods, from the lightest jokes to the heaviest romance, come from an organic place.

My old colleague Michael Sragow, currently the film critic for the Baltimore Sun and author of Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master, provides the excellent commentary track.

Based on a Bret Harte story, Salomy Jane (1914) -- a romance/revenge thriller, but with a strong female lead -- is another of the box set's feature films, discovered in a complete version in 1996. An unusual find, it was made at a time before feature films were typical, and in San Francisco, rather than Hollywood. There's also the 65-minute The Lady of the Dugout (1918), starring real-life "outlaws" Al and Frank Jennings, and directed by a young W.S. Van Dyke (also known as "One Take Woody," the future director of Tarzan and The Thin Man). The story shows the bandits discovering a woman and her hungry son on the way to their hideout.

The last feature in the set is incomplete, Womanhandled (1925), directed by Gregory La Cava, who is best known for his comedies (Stage Door, My Man Godfrey, etc.); only about 55 minutes of the original seven reels exists. It's also a lighthearted tale, with a modern-day setting, about city slickers who head out to a real ranch.

Last of the Line (1914) is historically fascinating: produced by Thomas Ince and running 26 minutes, it's one of a series of Westerns focused on American Indians. It has some very striking cinematography, making lovely use of depth of field. Moreover, Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa, a future Hollywood star and Oscar nominee, plays one of the Indians. In a similar vein, the set also includes films devoted to Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, as well as The Girl Ranchers (1913), dedicated to intrepid women characters.

Another surprise is We Can Take It (1935), a promotional film for Franklin Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, a program designed to alleviate unemployment during the Great Depression and to conserve and develop natural resources. Imagine such a program today!

Mack Sennett's comedy The Tourists (1912) was shot at D.W. Griffith's Biograph company, in-between their more serious films, and just before Sennett left to found his Keystone company. Griffith himself also contributes to the box set with Over Silent Paths: A Story of the American Desert (1910), shot on location.

The first Western star, Gilbert M. Anderson, a.k.a "Broncho Billy," is also here with one of his 125+ films, Broncho Billy and the Schoolmistress (1912) -- a fairly unique mix of comedy and drama. We also get a one-reel Tom Mix movie, Legal Advice (1916), which was much more interested in action and stunts. (Mix was considered a much more "genuine" cowboy than Billy.)

The Sergeant (1910) was thought lost until 2010, a full century after it was made. It was shot in Yosemite, and uses that stunning landscape to beautiful effect. Sunshine Gatherers (1921) was produced by the Del Monte corporation to help sell fruit, but it's such an elaborate, gorgeous movie that it goes beyond mere advertising. Additionally, there are also a handful of fascinating newsreels, promotional films, and other little documentaries, including some films from Thomas Edison's studio.

The total running time is something like ten hours, spread across three DVDs. Each film comes with a new music score and an optional commentary track by various experts. There's a wonderful 110-page booklet that goes into great detail on each film.

Buy The DVD Here

Quick Review: Red State

2011-09-22T22:56:00.000-07:00

Writer/director Kevin Smith is known for his vulgar comedies about troubled slackers (Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, etc.), but for his tenth feature film, he strikes out in a radical, drastic new direction with a horrific thriller. Aside from the rampant language and sex talk, it barely feels like a Smith movie, unless we consider that religion in some form or another has crept into many of his films, most notably Dogma. He's clearly very angry about fundamentalist religions that spew hatred in the name of righteousness.

Somewhere in Middle America, three teens find an online ad for sex with a middle-aged woman (Melissa Leo). They drive out in the middle of nowhere to meet the woman, who apparently wants to bed all three of them at the same time. Unfortunately, she drugs them and they become the prisoners of Abin Cooper's 5 Points Trinity Church. Cooper (Michael Parks) and his followers firmly believe that homosexuals are "Satan's instrument on earth," which gives them license to torment and kill anyone they suspect of being gay. Before long the police arrive, commanded by Joseph Keenan (John Goodman), leading to a bloody shootout. Will the good guys survive, or are there no good guys?

Even in his comedies, Smith has never been shy or held back on taboo topics, and here he turns his usual humor into a cynical rant, without a specific comment, nor a likeable hero. It's very effective and highly powerful, but its main drawback is that it's so darn heavy and black (although it is a merciful 88 minutes). This gruesome, brutal movie is going to be a tough sell to people who enjoyed the likes of Cop Out.

Red State
*** out of ****
With Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Michael Angarano, Kerry Bishé, Stephen Root, Kevin Pollak
Written by Kevin Smith
Directed by Kevin Smith
Rated R for strong violence/disturbing content, some sexual content including brief nudity, and pervasive language.
88 minutes
September 23, 2011

See also my 2001 interview with Kevin Smith.

Quick Review: Killer Elite

2011-09-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

Directed by Gary McKendry, who makes his feature debut, Killer Elite has enough good scenes to satisfy action fans, as well as those looking for a bit more depth, but as a cohesive whole, it's rather mixed.

Danny (Jason Statham) and Hunter (Robert De Niro) are professional assassins. While working on a new mission, Danny is stunned when a kid turns up in the line of fire, and quits the business for good. Some time later, he receives word that Hunter has been kidnapped, and he must accept a job in exchange for his release. The job is to kill three British SAS agents who murdered the sons of an exiled oil sheik. Danny reluctantly takes on the job, but unfortunately, an ex-SAS man, Spike (Clive Owen), who is part of a secret organization called the "Feather Men," is hot on Danny's trail. Worse, Danny's new girlfriend Anne (Yvonne Strahovski) is now also in danger.

The action stuff is pitched to the lowest common denominator, using reckless, ramshackle shaky-cam to document the painstaking choreography. Meanwhile, the drama sometimes doesn't make sense; both the Clive Owen and Robert De Niro characters seem haphazardly thrown in. The movie sometimes has the feel that extra scenes were written and added at the last second to accommodate their star power.

Part of the time, it seems as if the movie is interested getting audiences to think about the world's pathological dependence on oil, and the extreme measures nations will take to get their hands on it, but at other times, the movie asks audiences not to think at all, and just enjoy the ride. It's a disappointing mix, but one that nonetheless delivers in fits and starts.

Killer Elite
**1/2 out of ****
With Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Yvonne Strahovski
Written by Gary McKendry, Matt Sherring, based on a book by Ranulph Fiennes
Directed by Gary McKendry
Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality/nudity.
105 minutes
September 23, 2011

Quick Review: Drive

2011-09-15T16:10:00.000-07:00

Danish-born Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher, Bronson, Valhalla Rising) isn't exactly a household name yet, but he might be after Drive; he might also elicit comparisons to Quentin Tarantino, which would be entirely deserved. Drive is steeped in movies, especially moody 1980s films by Ridley Scott, Michael Mann, and William Friedkin -- as well as any genre films about stoic, secretive heroes -- but at the same time it feels like something new.

The "driver" (Ryan Gosling) drives stunt cars for the movies by day, and by night he hires out his services for criminals that need rides away from crime scenes. He works with the hard-luck but cheerful mechanic Shannon (Bryan Cranston) on both jobs. He's incredibly skilled, lives a quiet, simple, Zen-like life and has all his bases covered -- until he meets his pretty neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), and her young son Benicio (Kaden Leos). When Irene's husband is released from prison, the driver reluctantly agrees to help him on a job that will get him out of debt and out of trouble. Everything goes wrong, and the fallout leads back to a pair of sinister thugs (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). Can the driver drive his way out of this mess?

Its style prevails over its substance, but what style! This is not to disparage the film's substance, however; clearly Refn adores actors, and he finds many tiny moments of warmth, adoration and humor within the film's steely surface. In one impeccably-framed scene, the driver and the girl merely smile at one another, and it hints at untold depths. Every actor here delivers his or her best work, especially the colorful villains and sidekicks. Only the extreme, shocking violence could get in the way of total adoration for this sublime piece of genre work.

Drive
***1/2 out of ****
With Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman. Written by Hossein Amini, based on a book by James Sallis. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence, language and some nudity. 100 minutes. September 16, 2011.

Quick Review: Straw Dogs

2011-09-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Film critic-turned-director Rod Lurie (The Contender, Resurrecting the Champ) unwisely tries to redo Sam Peckinpah with this incendiary tale. In Peckinpah's hands, Straw Dogs (1971) was an intensely psychological thriller about perceived masculinity. The new remake avoids anything psychological -- or even emotional -- and turns it into a rather empty and soulless revenge thriller.

Actress Amy (Kate Bosworth) returns to her small town Mississippi home with her Hollywood screenwriter husband, David Sumner (James Marsden), so he can work on his new script. They hire Amy's former boyfriend, Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard) and his buddies to repair the barn roof, and a series of subtle psychological games begin, designed to make David look foolish and weak. But eventually a deadly incident leads up to a violent standoff, wherein David must take up arms to defend his wife and his home.

This time the characters don't make much sense, and when they change or snap, it seems too sudden, rather than gradual. Now we merely have a thoughtless, empty exploration of "what makes a man," all the way down to a bizarre and ill-advised montage mashup of a deer hunt and a rape scene. But the real point seems to be to see how many gruesome and bloody murders can be crammed into one film. It's vile and pointless. The only saving grace is a terrifying performance by James Woods as a backwoods, alcoholic hillbilly who is pathologically obsessed with defending his daughter's honor.

Straw Dogs
*1/2 out of ****
With James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgård, James Woods, Dominic Purcell, Rhys Coiro, Billy Lush, Laz Alonso, Willa Holland, Walton Goggins, Anson Mount. Written by Rod Lurie, based on a screenplay by David Zelag Goodman, and on a novel by Gordon Williams. Directed by Rod Lurie. Rated R for strong brutal violence including a sexual attack, menace, some sexual content, and pervasive language. 110 minutes. September 16, 2011.

Quick Review: Aurora

2011-09-15T15:49:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if there's a such thing as a Romanian New Wave, but we have seen five extraordinary pictures from there over the past five years. The new one is from director Cristi Puiu, his follow-up to The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. Aurora is maddening, but also fascinating and dryly funny in the same way that Lazarescu was. Puiu himself stars as a normal-looking guy with an ex-wife and kids. He lives in a cluttered apartment, which is being redecorated. He spends a bit of time dealing with water leaking from an upstairs neighbor's bathroom. He runs errands, collecting bits and pieces of what will eventually make a gun. He shoots some people, and acts like a jerk for a while before things finish up with a whimper. The movie deliberately takes the crime genre and strips it down to a point that it loses all its romantic allure; it's a fascinating, mesmerizing commentary on our thirst for the sensational, but at the same time, why are we watching this, and why does it have to be 3 hours long? (Viewed at the San Francisco International Film Festival.)

With Cristi Puiu, Clara Voda, Catrinel Dumitrescu, Luminita Gheorghiu, Valentin Popescu, Gheorghe Ifrim, Alina Grigore, Letitia Rosculet. Written by Cristi Puiu. Directed by Cristi Puiu. Not Rated. 181 minutes. In Romanian with English subtitles. September 16, 2011.

Quick Review: Creature

2011-09-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hoo-boy... this monster movie is about as bad as they come. Its amazingly low budget includes an actual latex monster rather than the typical CGI special effects. The creature isn't at all scary, but some of the behavior of the human characters can be disturbing: some of the behavior includes incest and cannibalism. But aside from that, most of the characters are simply flat-out annoying.

Six (presumably) college-age kids -- who don't seem to like each other much -- drive through Louisiana on their way to a fun getaway. Stopping for gas, they meet some creepy backwoods locals, and learn about the legend of a man-monster supposedly living in a swamp. They decide to see the creature's home and wind up spending the night in the woods. Soon, the monster comes out of hiding and begins to attack. Unfortunately, the monster is looking for more than a meal: it's looking for a bride. What's more, it has some unexpected help.

On a pure storytelling level, the filmmakers steal from dozens of typical teen-road-trip horror movies, plus the old evil-hillbilly chestnut, and throw in a few depraved ideas from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's all so numbingly routine that it's not clear whether the filmmakers thought they were paying homage, making a parody, or just doing an outright ripoff. The casting of legendary character actor Sid Haig -- and a subtle mention of Haig's best movie, Spider Baby (1964) -- suggests some genre knowledge, but there's no inspiration in the cheap, lazy Creature. It's dead on arrival

Creature
* out of ****
With Serinda Swan, Mehcad Brooks, Daniel Bernhardt, Dillon Casey, Amanda Fuller, Sid Haig, Aaron Hill, David Jensen, Rebekah Kennedy, Pruitt Taylor Vince
Written by Tracy Morse, Fred Andrews
Directed by Fred Andrews
Rated R for bloody violence and grisly images, some sexual content, graphic nudity, language and brief drug use.
93 minutes
September 9, 2011

Quick Review: Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

2011-09-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

Probably the sheer, dumb, boldness of this humor will coax at least a couple of laughs from most audience members, but the overall movie is embarrassingly bad. It looks like a low-budget quickie, with very little effort spent on cinematography or editing. The characters are little more than cartoon characters, with no real personalities or any kind of genuine emotional connection. It's a mystery as to how these people ever evolved.

Bucky Larson (Nick Swardson) is a very naïve grocery bagger in Iowa, totally ignorant in all the ways of sex. After losing his job, his friends show him a porn film from the 1970s, and he discovers that his parents were once porn stars. He travels to Los Angeles to fulfill his "destiny." There he meets a misfit waitress (Christina Ricci) and a terrible roommate (Kevin Nealon), and prepares for fame. But his miniature equipment and lack of experience make him a laughingstock -- until washed-up director Miles Deep (Don Johnson) takes him under his wing and turns him into a sensation, much to the chagrin of established porn star Dick Shadow (Stephen Dorff). Can Bucky keep sight of what's important in life?

The crude jokes probably amused the cast and crew behind the scenes, but they do not translate to the finished product. Most of them simply fall flat. Moreover, the movie fails to find some reason for or connection with its porn industry setting; it's too dirty to have anything to say, but too tame to be truly titillating. If nothing else, Christina Ricci and Don Johnson manage some moments of sweetness, even if they're not terribly funny.

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
* out of ****
With Nick Swardson, Christina Ricci, Don Johnson, Stephen Dorff, Ido Mosseri, Kevin Nealon, Edward Herrmann, Miriam Flynn, Mario Joyner, Curtis Armstrong, Pauly Shore
Written by Allen Covert, Adam Sandler, Nick Swardson
Directed by Tom Brady
Rated R for pervasive crude sexual content, language and some nudity.
96 minutes
September 9, 2011