Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

The Iron Lady

2012-01-16T18:24:00.000-05:00

THE IRON LADY (Phyllida Lloyd, 2011)

The Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep) seen at the opening of THE IRON LADY is anything but the tough and focused politician that comes to mind at the mention of her name. She’s introduced as a confused old woman trying to remain self-sufficient despite being regularly engaged in conversation with the hallucination of her dead husband Denis (Jim Broadbent). As she goes through their possessions, she remembers her humble beginning as a grocer’s daughter to her ascent to membership in Parliament and eleven and a half years as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

THE IRON LADY is akin to a procrastinating student’s hastily written term paper about Thatcher. It’s poorly structured, free of context, and superficial. There’s this lady who got sick, but she did a bunch of stuff leading Great Britain and here’s some of those things.

In a serious misstep, screenwriter Abi Morgan organizes this whirlwind tour of Thatcher’s life and career around the illness in her later years. Whatever one thinks of Thatcher’s political achievements, they are what make this story worth telling, not her failing health. Sporadic flashbacks break up THE IRON LADY’s first half hour, which wastes time looking at her current daily life. This section and the recurring visits to present day are in service of making her a pitiable character. Putting her declining mental acuity in the foreground has no dramatic value other than as a cheap ploy to enhance an already sympathetic biographical portrayal.

THE IRON LADY skims over a miniseries worth of events and crises in its timeline, particularly from Thatcher’s stint as Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. Without a foreknowledge of British politics much of it passes by as archival news footage and recreations in which Thatcher sticks to her guns and gets the results she wants. Little effort is given to exploring what challenges she faces and how she arrives at her decisions. (For the most part, it seems her guiding principles stem from a speech she heard her dad give long ago.) In trying to treat the conservative leader fairly, THE IRON LADY largely avoids digging into the difficult issues or dissenting opinions. It’s a matter of needing dramatic balance and narrative coloring rather than ideological evenness. THE IRON LADY just assumes Thatcher is always correct and leaves it at that.

Thatcher advances and triumphs because that’s what her biography states. Streep delivers a fine technical performance, as is to be expected, but there’s only so much she can do with a role that’s as flimsy as a construction paper figure in an elementary school student’s diorama. The barriers to winning a bigger role in the party and government are laid out in a scene with political strategists, yet what was presumably a defining period of time in her life is quickly smoothed over by Thatcher asserting that she must wear her pearls and taking a vocal lesson ripped from THE KING’S SPEECH. With everything, including the most pivotal moments, rendered in shorthand, THE IRON LADY diminishes the accomplishments of the person whose story it tells and the actress working so hard to offer a well-rounded embodiment of her.

Grade: D+

Press Release: 2011 Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards

2012-01-05T10:41:00.000-05:00

Drive cruises to top of 10th annual CentralOhio Film Critics Association awards

(Columbus, January 5, 2012) Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive wasnamed Best Film in the Central Ohio Film Critics Association’s 10th annualawards, which recognize excellence in the film industry for 2011. Thefilm also won two other awards. Winding Refnwas honored for his work behind the camera with the Best Director and BreakthroughFilm Artist prizes.

Columbus-area critics recognized these screen performers:Best Actor Michael Shannon (Take Shelter);Best Actress Elizabeth Olsen (MarthaMarcy May Marlene); Best Supporting Actor Christopher Plummer (Beginners); Best Supporting ActressShailene Woodley (The Descendants);Actor of the Year Jessica Chastain for an exemplary body of work (Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, TheTree of Life); and the cast of TinkerTailor Soldier Spy for Best Ensemble.

Other winners include: TheTree of Life’s Emmanuel Lubezki for Best Cinematography; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s StevenZaillian for Best Adapted Screenplay; SourceCode’s Ben Ripley for Best Original Screenplay; Hanna’s The Chemical Brothers for Best Score; Best Documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams; Best ForeignLanguage Film Of Gods and Men (Des hommeset des dieux); Best Animated Film ArthurChristmas; and Margaret as BestOverlooked Film.

Founded in 2002, the Central Ohio Film Critics Associationis comprised of film critics based in Columbus, Ohio and the surrounding areas.Its membership consists of more than 20 print, radio, television, and new mediacritics. COFCA's official website at www.cofca.orgcontains links to member reviews and past award winners.

Winners were announced at a private party on January 5.

A video announcing this year’s winners and runners-up canbe seen at:

http://youtu.be/9Kc6JrnJa-A

Complete list of awards:

Best Film

1. Drive

2. Martha Marcy May Marlene

3. Take Shelter

4. Melancholia

5. The Descendants

6. Midnight in Paris

7. The Tree of Life

8. The Artist

9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

10. Hugo

Best Director

-Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive

-Runner-up: Lars von Trier, Melancholia

Best Actor

-Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
-Runner-up: Ryan Gosling, Drive

Best Actress

-Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene

-Runner-up: Charlize Theron, Young Adult

Best Supporting Actor

-Christopher Plummer, Beginners

-Runner-up: Albert Brooks, Drive

Best Supporting Actress

-Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

-Runner-up: Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life

Best Ensemble

-Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

-Runner-up: The Descendants

Actor of the Year (for an exemplary body of work)

-Jessica Chastain, Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help,
TakeShelter, Texas Killing Fields,and The Tree of Life

-Runner-up: Ryan Gosling, Crazy, Stupid, Love., Drive, and
The Ides of March

Breakthrough Film Artist

- Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive (for directing)
            -Runner-up: Jessica Chastain, Coriolanus, The Debt, The
            Help, TakeShelter, Texas Killing Fields, and The Tree of
            Life (for acting)

Best Cinematography

-Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life

-Runner-up: Manuel Alberto Claro,Melancholia

Best Adapted Screenplay

-Steven Zaillian, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
-Runner-up: Steven Zaillian andAaron Sorkin, Moneyball

Best Original Screenplay

-Ben Ripley, Source Code

-Runner-up: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Best Score

-The Chemical Brothers, Hanna

-Runner-up: Trent Reznor andAtticus Ross, The Girl with the
DragonTattoo

Best Documentary

-Cave of Forgotten Dreams

-Runner-up: Project Nim

Best Foreign Language Film

-Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux)

-Runner-up: The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito)

Best Animated Film

-Arthur Christmas

-Runner-up: Winnie the Pooh

Best Overlooked Film

-Margaret

-Runner-up: Beginners

COFCA offers its congratulations to the winners.

Previous Best Film winners:

2002: Punch-DrunkLove

2003: Lostin Translation

2004: MillionDollar Baby

2005: AHistory of Violence

2006: Childrenof Men

2007: NoCountry for Old Men

2008: WALL·E

2009: Up inthe Air

2010: Inception

For more information about theCentral Ohio Film Critics
Association, please visit www.cofca.org or e-mail info@cofca.org.

Press release: 2011 Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards nominees

2012-01-01T12:55:00.000-05:00

Nominees announced for the 10th annual Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards

(Columbus, January 1, 2012)

The Central Ohio Film Critics Association is pleased to announce the nominees for its 10th annual awards. Winners will be announced on the evening of January 5th.

Notes on the nominees:
-Ties in the nomination round produced more than ten nominees in the Best Film category and more than five nominees in the Best Actress and Best Ensemble categories.
-Although fifteen films are nominated for Best Film, the list will be limited to the Top 10 after final voting.

The 2011 Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards nominees are:

Best Film
-The Artist
-The Descendants
-Drive
-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
-Hugo
-The Ides of March
-Margin Call
-Martha Marcy May Marlene
-Melancholia
-Midnight in Paris
-Moneyball
-Super 8
-Take Shelter
-The Tree of Life
-Win Win

Best Director
-David Fincher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
-Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
-Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
-Martin Scorsese, Hugo
-Lars von Trier, Melancholia

Best Actor -George Clooney, The Descendants
-Jean Dujardin, The Artist
-Michael Fassbender, Shame
-Ryan Gosling, Drive
-Michael Shannon, Take Shelter

Best Actress
-Viola Davis, The Help
-Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
-Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
-Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
-Charlize Theron, Young Adult
-Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor
-Albert Brooks, Drive
-John Hawkes, Martha Marcy May Marlene
-Patton Oswalt, Young Adult
-Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life
-Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
-Jessica Chastain, The Help
-Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life
-Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
-Carey Mulligan, Shame
-Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Best Ensemble
-Bridesmaids
-The Descendants
-The Help
-The Ides of March
-Margin Call
-Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
-The Tree of Life

Actor of the Year (for an exemplary body of work)
-Jessica Chastain, Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, and The Tree of Life
-George Clooney, The Descendants and The Ides of March
-Michael Fassbender, A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, and X-Men: First Class
-Ryan Gosling, Crazy, Stupid, Love., Drive, and The Ides of March
-Brad Pitt, Happy Feet Two, Moneyball, and The Tree of Life

Breakthrough Film Artist
-Jessica Chastain, Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, and The Tree of Life - (for acting)
-Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene - (for directing and screenwriting)
-Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene - (for acting)
-Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive - (for directing)
-Shailene Woodley, The Descendants - (for acting)

Best Cinematography
-Manuel Alberto Claro, Melancholia
-Janusz Kaminski, War Horse
-Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
-Robert Richardson, Hugo
-Newton Thomas Sigel, Drive

Best Adapted Screenplay
-Hossein Amini, Drive
-George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
-Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash, The Descendants
-Steven Zaillian, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
-Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball

Best Original Screenplay
-Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
-Diablo Cody, Young Adult
-Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
-Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter
-Ben Ripley, Source Code

Best Score
-The Chemical Brothers, Hanna
-Alexandre Desplat, The Tree of Life
-Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
-Howard Shore, Hugo
-John Williams, War Horse

Best Documentary
-African Cats
-Cave of Forgotten Dreams
-POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
-Project Nim
-Tabloid

Best Foreign Language Film
-13 Assassins (Jûsan-nin no shikaku)
-Certified Copy (Copie conforme)
-I Saw the Devil (Akmareul boatda)
-Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux)
-The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito)

Best Animated Film
-The Adventures of Tintin
-Arthur Christmas
-Kung Fu Panda 2
-Rango
-Winnie the Pooh

Best Overlooked Film
-Attack the Block
-Beginners
-Higher Ground
-Margaret
-Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux)

Previous Best Film winners:

2002: Punch-Drunk Love
2003: Lost in Translation
2004: Million Dollar Baby
2005: A History of Violence
2006: Children of Men
2007: No Country for Old Men
2008: WALL·E
2009: Up in the Air
2010: Inception

Ranked 2012 film list

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

Welcome to the third consecutive year I'm keeping a ranked list of every film I see from January 1 to December 31. (Here are the 2010 and 2011 ranked lists.)

I use the A-F scale on the television show and for my reviews on this site. Those will remain as "official" grades/evaluations, but I have found the 100-point scale to be a helpful way of keeping track of what I see. Whether it's made me stingier in assessing higher grades is up for debate.

For what it's worth, 60 points equals the lowest total that still equates to a positive review.

A range=80-100, B range=60-79, C range=40-59, D range=20-39, F=0-19

Unrated means either that I felt I was too tired during the viewing (and may have dozed off) or that I did a sloppy job of record keeping and don't have a number available.

Last update: February 1, 2012
Total features: 30 (2012 qualifiers: 12)
Total shorts: 3

2012 Films

Haywire - 73
Contraband - 66
The Grey - 64
Players - 60

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance - 56
Red Tails - 52
Chico & Rita - 48
Man on a Ledge - 47
One for the Money - 45

Joyful Noise - 36
Underworld: Awakening (3D) - 32

The Devil Inside - 16

Festival films (undistributed/to-be-distributed)

Shorts (2012)

Tangled Ever After - 75

Older Films

Beauty and the Beast (3D) (1991) - 91
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) - 82

Le Havre (2011) - 72
House of Pleasures [L'Apollonide (Souvenirs de la maison close)] (2011) - 68
Weekend (1967) - 67
13 Assassins (Jûsan-nin no shikaku) (2010) - 66
Carnage (2011) - 66

The Artist (2011) - 59
Santo the Silver Mask vs. the Martian Invasion (Santo el Enmascarado de Plata vs 'La invasión de los marcianos') (1967) - 51
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011) - 50
The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) - 46
Albert Nobbs (2011) - 44
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011) - 43
A Dangerous Method (2011) - 43
Shame (2011) - 41

The Iron Lady (2011) - 39
The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch (Largo Winch) (2008) - 38
Creator (1985) - 37

Shorts

Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 (2011) - 57

Chevelle (2011) - unrated

TIFF newbie questions

2011-09-06T11:06:00.000-04:00

With my schedule for the Toronto International Film Festival more or less set, I have some newbie questions for which I need answers. I've conducted some of this over Twitter, but rather than annoying most people and limiting responses to 140 character bites, I figured I'd post them here, which will allow you to extrapolate to your heart's content. (Comments are moderated because the only ones I tend to get are spam or of the "you suck/get a life" variety--trust me, I need no reminding--but I'll be keeping up with these. Comment away.)

So, here are my "I've never been to TIFF before and have a million questions" questions:

1. Are point-and-shoot digital cameras or small video cameras (a la Flip) permitted in the theaters? I'd like to take some photos, and maybe a little video, while I'm out and about, but if this is going to be a problem, I won't bother.

2. Is outside food and drink permitted in theaters? (I'm guessing it isn't, but with festival attendees eating on the go a lot, I'm hoping it is.)

3. Along with the first two questions, how vigilantly do festival venues conduct bag searches? (No, I'm not looking to bootleg.)

4. What do I need to do with my iPhone to make sure I don't get crushing data and phone bills?

5. If I know what exchanges I want to make when picking up my tickets, can I do that then and there?

6. Should I travel by subway or by foot when on my own late at night? (I'm staying downtown, but the hotel isn't necessarily close to any of theaters.)

7. Anywhere you suggest that's good to eat that won't break the bank?

8. Anything else I ought to know?

If you're going to be TIFFing it up and want to meet, e-mail or DM me. We'll see what we can work out.

Thanks in advance for the answers you can provide. It will be a relief just to dive into this after all the prep work.

TIFF schedule, third variation

2011-09-03T15:14:00.005-04:00

If I've learned one thing about the Toronto International Film Festival, it's that one's schedule is always in flux. First came the requested ideal. Next was the luck of the draw compromise. Now I present the reconstruction. Individual tickets went on sale this morning, so I have been able to pick up some films I didn't get on the first attempt.

TWIXT and I WISH (KISEKI) go back on the schedule. The free screening of THIS IS NOT A FILM (IN FILM NIST) is also new, although whether I get to this will be wholly dependent on tickets being available by arrival time at the theater. MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE slides off the schedule and into the role of ticket to be exchanged. I've indicated intended changes and italicized the listings for films that I don't have a ticket lined up.

Thursday, September 8

*6:00-7:46 p.m. INTO THE ABYSS (Werner Herzog, 2011) (USA) Ryerson Theatre

*9:45-11:00 p.m. THIS IS NOT A FILM (IN FILM NIST) (Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and Jafar Panahi, 2011) (Iran) TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 (no ticket; rush for free screening)

*11:59 p.m.-1:39 p.m. THE RAID (Gareth Huw Evans, 2011) (Indonesia) Ryerson Theatre

Friday, September 9

*2:30-4:01 p.m. FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (KOKURIKO-ZAKA KARA) (Goro Miyazaki, 2011) (Japan) AMC 2

*6:45-8:35 p.m. GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (UN AMOUR DE JEUNESSE) (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2011) (France/Germany) Scotiabank 3

*9:30-11:06 p.m. OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (Joachim Trier, 2011) (Norway) Scotiabank 2 (no ticket; planned voucher exchange)

Saturday, September 10

*9:15-11:04 a.m. OUTSIDE SATAN (HORS SATAN) (Bruno Dumont, 2011) (France) AMC 2 (no ticket; planned ticket exchange for 9/10 OSLO, AUGUST 31ST at AMC 1)

*12:00-1:57 p.m. TRISHNA (Michael Winterbottom, 2011) (United Kingdom) Ryerson Theatre

*6:00-8:15 p.m. MELANCHOLIA (Lars von Trier, 2011) (Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany) Ryerson Theatre

*9:45-11:54 p.m. I WISH (KISEKI) (Hirokazu Kore-Eda, 2011) (Japan) TIFF Bell Lightbox 2

Sunday, September 11

*9:30-10:52 a.m. TWIGGY (LA BRINDILLE) (Emmanuelle Millet, 2011) (France) AMC 4

*2:00-3:30 p.m. TWIXT (Francis Ford Coppola, 2011) (USA) Princess of Wales

*4:30-5:47 p.m. GIRL MODEL (Ashley Sabin and David Redmon, 2011) (USA) AMC 6 (no ticket; planned ticket exchange for 9/11 MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE)

*6:15-8:29 p.m. CRAZY HORSE (Frederick Wiseman, 2011) (France/USA) AMC 3

*9:45-11:59 p.m. FAUST (Alexander Sokurov, 2011) (Russia) Scotiabank 3

Monday, September 12

*11:00 a.m.-12:45 p.m. RAMPART (Oren Moverman, 2011) (USA) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

*2:00-3:30 p.m. EXTRATERRESTRIAL (EXTRATERRESTRE) (Nacho Vigalondo, 2011) (Spain) AMC 7

*9:00-11:00 p.m. LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE (DUO MING JIN) (Johnnie To, 2011) (Hong Kong) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

If I'm able to execute the exchanges, it leaves me with a voucher to spend and two significant gaps in my schedule (Saturday afternoon and Monday late afternoon/early evening). I'm leaning toward J'AIME REGARDER LES FILLES to fill the Saturday hole, but I still have time decide. Nothing stands out to fill the Monday slot. Maybe I'll try to rush A DANGEROUS METHOD, although considering how quickly that screening filled, that may be a waste of time. I'm also considering the 9/9 midnight screening of GOD BLESS AMERICA.

In other words, while this seems close to a final version of the schedule, it's not in stone.

TIFF schedule, take two

2011-09-01T10:10:00.006-04:00

The lottery results are in, and I only managed to grab eight of my fifteen first choices for the Toronto International Film Festival. Considering that two are lower profile titles before 10 a.m. on weekend mornings and one is a midnight screening, I didn't have very good luck getting my pick of the prime films. No Kaurismäki, Meirelles, Polley, Kore-eda, Coppola, Maddin, or Cronenberg. (Not getting the Kore-eda film hurts most.)

I'm planning to buy a premium ticket for MELANCHOLIA. I am probably going to move OSLO, AUGUST 31ST from 9:45 a.m. Saturday to 9:30 p.m. Friday if possible. Assuming that works, I'll try to get OUTSIDE SATAN (HORS SATAN) for 9:15 a.m. Saturday, as it'll give me seventeen more minutes to get to TRISHNA. I'm also willing to trade in MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE at 3:00 p.m. Sunday.

Additionally, I have two vouchers to cash in. There are certainly holes in my schedule, so we'll see what I can figure out once I've made heads and tails of this.

Anyway, here's the second iteration of my TIFF 2011 schedule:

Thursday, September 8

*6:00-7:46 p.m. INTO THE ABYSS (Werner Herzog, 2011) (USA) Ryerson Theatre

*11:59 p.m.-1:39 p.m. THE RAID (Gareth Huw Evans, 2011) (Indonesia) Ryerson Theatre

Friday, September 9

*2:30-4:01 p.m. FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (KOKURIKO-ZAKA KARA) (Goro Miyazaki, 2011) (Japan) AMC 2

6:45-8:35 p.m. GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (UN AMOUR DE JEUNESSE) (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2011) (France/Germany) Scotiabank 3

Saturday, September 10

*9:45-11:21 a.m. OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (Joachim Trier, 2011) (Norway) AMC 1

*12:00-1:57 p.m. TRISHNA (Michael Winterbottom, 2011) (United Kingdom) Ryerson Theatre

*6:00-8:15 p.m. MELANCHOLIA (Lars von Trier, 2011) (Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany) Ryerson Theatre (premium screening)

Sunday, September 11

*9:30-10:52 a.m. TWIGGY (LA BRINDILLE) (Emmanuelle Millet, 2011) (France) AMC 4

*3:00-4:43 p.m. MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (Sean Durkin, 2010) (USA) Ryerson Theatre

*6:15-8:29 p.m. CRAZY HORSE (Frederick Wiseman, 2011) (France/USA) AMC 3

*9:45-11:59 p.m. FAUST (Alexander Sokurov, 2011) (Russia) Scotiabank 3

Monday, September 12

*11:00 a.m.-12:45 p.m. RAMPART (Oren Moverman, 2011) (USA) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

*2:00-3:30 p.m. EXTRATERRESTRIAL (EXTRATERRESTRE) (Nacho Vigalondo, 2011) (Spain) AMC 7

*9:00-11:00 p.m. LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE (DUO MING JIN) (Johnnie To, 2011) (Hong Kong) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

A TIFF wish list

2011-08-25T14:02:00.007-04:00

I've wanted to attend the Toronto International Film Festival for some time, but doing so wasn't feasible until this year. Since the event overlaps with the start of the academic year at work and I'm attending on my own dime, I won't be able to stay for all eleven days. (On the off chance that someone reading this would like to pay me for coverage, please get in touch.)

Upon flipping through the program guide, I discovered that making choices is like experiencing death by a thousand cuts. I really want to see this and this and this and this...and they're all playing at the same time! The easiest way to do it is to resign oneself to the fact that it simply isn't possible to fit in everything and then marvel at the number of prioritized titles still available.

Without a doubt, I'm extremely disappointed that DAMSELS IN DISTRESS, Whit Stillman's first film in thirteen years, debuts the day I'm leaving Toronto. There is no other film in the lineup that I want to see more. That it supposedly won't open commercially until spring adds insult to injury. But I suppose if I've waited since 1998, what another six months or so. Still...

The number of premium screenings, which aren't included in the package I purchased, are another source of frustration, although I'm planning to suck it up for a couple. Probably my next most anticipated title, Lars von Trier's MELANCHOLIA, only screens at a pricier level while I'm in town. Fin. You win TIFF. I'm telling myself that going to one or two premium screenings will give me the full festival experience.

If I get all of my first choices--and who knows what the chance of that is--I'll be pretty pleased with the schedule I've assembled. (Actually, it should be pretty good even if some second choices slide in.) Sure, I'm missing the Stillman, but a new film from Hirokazu Kore-Eda, one of my favorite contemporary directors, isn't a bad consolation. Here's my schedule if all goes as planned:

Thursday, September 8

*6:30 p.m.-8:13 p.m. PINA (Wim Wenders, 2011) (Germany/France) TIFF Bell Lightbox 1

*11:59 p.m.-1:39 p.m. THE RAID (Gareth Huw Evans, 2011) (Indonesia) Ryerson Theatre

Friday, September 9

*1:00-2:33 p.m. LE HAVRE (Aki Kaurismäki, 2011) (Finland) Jackman Hall (AGO)

*6:45-8:35 p.m. GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (UN AMOUR DE JEUNESSE) (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2011) (France/Germany) Scotiabank 3

*10:00-11:57 p.m. TRISHNA (Michael Winterbottom, 2011) (United Kingdom) Princess of Wales

Saturday, September 10

*9:45-11:21 a.m. OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (Joachim Trier, 2011) (Norway) AMC 1

*12:30-2:25 p.m. 360 (Fernando Meirelles, 2011) (United Kingdom/Austria/France/Brazil) Winter Garden Theatre

*6:00-8:15 p.m. MELANCHOLIA (Lars von Trier, 2011) (Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany) Ryerson Theatre

*9:45-11:54 p.m. I WISH (KISEKI) (Hirokazu Kore-Eda, 2011) (Japan) TIFF Bell Lightbox 2

Sunday, September 11

*9:30-10:52 a.m. TWIGGY (LA BRINDILLE) (Emmanuelle Millet, 2011) (France) AMC 4

*12:00-1:56 p.m. TAKE THIS WALTZ (Sarah Polley, 2011) (Canada) Ryerson Theatre

*3:15-4:54 p.m. SAMSARA (Ron Fricke, 2011) (USA) TIFF Bell Lightbox 2

*6:15-8:29 p.m. CRAZY HORSE (Frederick Wiseman, 2011) (France/USA) AMC 3

*9:45-11:59 p.m. FAUST (Alexander Sokurov, 2011) (Russia) Scotiabank 3

Monday, September 12

*11:00 a.m.-12:45 p.m. RAMPART (Oren Moverman, 2011) (USA) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

*2:00-3:30 p.m. TWIXT (Francis Ford Coppola, 2011) (USA) Scotiabank 13

*4:45-6:18 p.m. A DANGEROUS METHOD (David Cronenberg, 2011) (France/Ireland/United Kingdom/Germany/Canada) TIFF Bell Lightbox 1

*9:00-11:00 p.m. LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE (DUO MING JIN) (Johnnie To, 2011) (Hong Kong) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

Of course, there's no guarantee that I get everything I've requested, so here are the titles I filled in as my second choices:

-CARRÉ BLANC (Jean-Baptiste Léonetti, 2011) (France/Luxembourg/Belgium/Switzerland)

-CHICKEN WITH PLUMS (POULET AUX PRUNES) (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, 2011) (France/Germany/Belgium)

-ELLES (Malgoska Szumowska, 2011) (France/Poland/Germany)

-EXTRATERRESTRIAL (EXTRATERRESTRE) (Nacho Vigalondo, 2011) (Spain)

-FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (KOKURIKO-ZAKA KARA) (Goro Miyazaki, 2011) (Japan)

-HEADHUNTERS (HODEJEGERNE) (Morten Tyldum, 2011) (Norway)

-INTO THE ABYSS (Werner Herzog, 2011) (USA)

-J'AIME REGARDER LES FILLES (Frédéric Louf, 2011) (France)

-KEYHOLE (Guy Maddin, 2011) (Canada)

-MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (Sean Durkin, 2010) (USA)

-OUTSIDE SATAN (HORS SATAN) (Bruno Dumont, 2011) (France)

-THE SWORD IDENTITY (WO KOU DE ZONG JI) (Xu Haofeng, 2011) (China)

Adventures in Babysitting

2011-08-08T10:35:00.003-04:00

ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING (Chris Columbus, 1987)

High school senior Chris Parker (Elisabeth Shue) is all set to go on a big anniversary date to a French restaurant with her boyfriend Mike (Bradley Whitford) when he drops by at the last minute to cancel. Although she’d prefer to stay home and spend the Friday night moping, Chris ends up accepting a late request to babysit for the Andersons.

In ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING what should be a quiet evening in Oak Park watching over the Andersons’ young,Thor-obsessed daughter Sara (Maia Brewton) becomes one crazy night protecting three kids in downtown Chicago. A panicked call to Chris from her friend Brenda (Penelope Ann Miller) sets the series of wild events in motion. Brenda decided to run away from home but unwisely spent all her money taking a cab into the city. Now that she’s having second thoughts and is frightened by the eccentrics at the bus station, she needs Chris to come get her.

Chris wants to leave Sara in the care of her 15-year-old brother Brad (Keith Coogan), but the main thing he is capable of nurturing is his crush on the pretty upperclassman. The two siblings coerce the babysitter into taking them with her. Also tagging along is Brad’s friend Daryl (Anthony Rapp), who is convinced Chris is the centerfold in the current issue of Playboy.

The station wagon Chris is driving blows a tire while on the expressway into Chicago. Complicating matters further, she forgot her purse in the rush to get downtown, which leaves them stranded with no transportation and money. A kindly one-handed tow truck driver offers assistance, but rather than take them straight to the garage, he is diverted to his home where he finds his wife in flagrante delicto with another man. Once shots are fired in the domestic dispute, Chris and the kids run off, only to be deposited in the chop shop headquarters for a national car theft ring and being pursued by the crime syndicate’s bosses.

Released by Walt Disney production label Touchstone Pictures, ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING combines the parent company’s family film qualities with some of the racier elements in John Hughes’ teen movies. A judicious amount of strong language and a Playboy magazine’s pivotal role in the plot provide the off-color window dressing (and PG-13 rating) for what is otherwise a squeaky clean story of three teenagers and a pre-teen getting into some pickles.

Although a fear of urban life runs through the film, the exaggerated vision of danger lurking around every corner reads more like a child’s imagining of the bad parts of the big city or an early 1960s movie’s sanitized portrayal of seedy sections of town and characters. ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING is set in then-present day suburban Chicago, but the light tone, classical style, and Shue as Sandra Dee stand-in are more indicative of a cinematic mindset from approximately 25 years earlier. Use of vintage R&B and The Crystals’ 1963 single “Then He Kissed Me”, which appears over the opening and closing scenes, also suggest a throwback perspective. The world of ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING is one where the bad men are cartoon villains, not rough and tumble types capable of any serious harm, and the scary but nice ones have hearts of gold.

The innocence found in Chris Columbus’ directorial debut ranks among its most appealing attributes and explains why it has aged relatively gracefully in the years since its 1987 premiere. For instance, the scene in which Chris and the kids stumble into a blues club and have Albert Collins insist they sing a song to earn the ability to leave shouldn’t work. Nevertheless, the corny bemoaning of babysitting blues charms by force of spirit and unironic effort.

Central to ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING’s wholesomeness is Shue’s sincere performance. She displays why Chris would be in demand on the babysitting circuit, popular with other girls her age, and the object of affection for underclassmen and college guys. She’s responsible and conscientious but not overbearing, which would endear her to parents and her young charges. Chris is also friendly, aware of her attractiveness, and vulnerable without being vain or cruel. The adventures Chris must survive are over the top, but Shue grounds the film by playing the role with the courage and just below the surface desperation that feels true to how a real teen might handle the predicaments she’s thrust into. Beyond her character, ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING possesses a knowingness about how kids and teenagers react under adverse circumstances and when they’re trying to impress.

In a sense, ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING is a template for the slicker PG-13 fare that Disney now produces to keep its brand from being associated solely with entertainment for young kids. It’s rougher around the edges--the swearing in it is less likely to make the cut these days--and it feels less like it’s been focus group tested for maximum box office revenues. ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING is an outlandish teen comedy, but in keeping with the John Hughes influence, it doesn’t take the easy way out at the end. That in itself is worth a good tip for a job well done.

Grade: B+

WarGames

2011-08-03T01:51:00.004-04:00

WARGAMES (John Badham, 1983)

Underachieving Seattle high school student David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) wants to get a sneak peek at a computer company’s revolutionary upcoming games in WARGAMES. Using a slow but methodical automated dialing program he finds what he believes is their system, but the log-on command proves unpassable for the time being.

Eventually David hacks into the other computer and pulls up a list of games. He ignores standbys like chess and poker for the more tantalizing option labelled Global Thermonuclear War. Along with his friend Jennifer Mack (Ally Sheedy), they elect to play the game as the Soviet Union and pick Las Vegas and their hometown as targets.

Little do they know that David has accessed the War Operation Plan Response (WOPR) supercomputer at NORAD Combat Operations Center at Cheyenne Mountain. With 22 percent of missile commanders failing to launch ICBMs during simulation tests, WOPR has recently taken over the job of carrying out such orders if they are transmitted. What David thinks is a game may be putting the world on the brink of mutually assured destruction.

As a Cold War message movie and cinematic descendent of FAIL-SAFE, WARGAMES examines the inherent danger in favoring technology’s cool logic and situational calculations over mankind’s potential second guessing when called upon to press buttons and flip switches that will result in killing millions. Even the best designed systems are susceptible to unexpected weaknesses. A clever member of the general public can infiltrate WOPR. The computer can’t be overridden when running scenarios. Powering down the machine at such a time tells it that the opponent’s attack has been successful and thus initiates a counterstrike.

Director John Badham and screenwriters Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes sprinkle other examples of imperfect systems throughout WARGAMES. David’s father would seem to have come upon the most efficient way to butter bread and corn on the cob: rub the buttered bread on the vegetable. Yet he doesn’t achieve the desired result if, as occurs here, the corn has not been cooked. David escapes custody at NORAD because of human and technical vulnerabilities. David uses forceps and a miniature cassette recorder to defeat an electronic lock, but even that wouldn’t matter if the solider on guard didn’t lose focus when flirting with a nurse in the infirmary. David also employs an aluminum can’s pull tab to make a free call from a pay phone. From the unimportant system to the critical, somewhere there is a hole to be exploited, try as the designers might to eliminate them.

While WARGAMES worries that the human race may foolishly bring about its own extinction, the film also demonstrates warmth toward people and their flaws. In the prototypical role for his screen personality, Broderick displays intelligence and good-natured roguishness that can have adverse consequences despite his intentions. David may be too smart for his own good, but his infectious enthusiasm and drive to fix the mess he’s made are innately human and make him all the more endearing.

The same applies to Sheedy, who shares an easy chemistry with Broderick. Her character often misses the larger picture for smaller observations. When David tells her about the computer programmer, she’s most attuned to the scientist’s physical attractiveness. Jennifer is understandably concerned when TV news reports on the computer breach, yet she also asks David if she can share the story with a friend. In a funny bit that reflects the capacity to mistake everything about oneself, she meets David in Colorado after he begs for her to buy him a plane ticket and wonders if his dilemma is related to changing grades on the school server.

Setting aside the moral warning WARGAMES issues about the nuclear arms race, it functions as a terrific thriller. The tense opening scene in the nuclear silo with two missile commanders communicates what is at stake on micro and macro levels. The pressure on David to bring the game to a non-disastrous conclusion and on NORAD officials to act appropriately with limited but alarming information is felt for nearly every moment. The climax, with the blossoming of missiles on the command center’s maps, serves as a chilling reminder of what could be if the wrong chain of events are triggered.

As a member of a generation that grew up worrying about nuclear war, WARGAMES still makes quite an impact nearly thirty years after its release because it taps into those fears so well. At some point in the 1980s I remember the Dayton Daily News printing a map with concentric circles, probably centered on likely target Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, that showed the effects a nuclear attack would have on the area. Understandably this freaked me out as a kid. Does WARGAMES have the same effect on those whose formative years have come after the fall of the Soviet Union? Obviously I can’t say unequivocally, but the film holds up as a nail-biting thriller and a lesson on entrusting too much faith to technology.

Grade: A

The Smurfs

2011-07-29T11:17:00.002-04:00

THE SMURFS (Raja Gosnell, 2011)

The little blue guys and gal in THE SMURFS live mostly care-free existences in their quaint village nestled in the wilderness, even if the evil sorcerer Gargamel (Hank Azaria) and his cat Azrael are constantly trying to find and capture them. Gargamel wants to extract the Smurfs’ essence and thus add some extra zing to his magic, but he is clueless as to their whereabouts in the Middle Ages-like surroundings.

The Smurfs are named after their personalities, so it’s the appropriately dubbed Clumsy (Anton Yelchin) who accidentally tips off Gargamel to their hidden homes. While escaping his clutches, six Smurfs are sucked into a portal that delivers them to present day New York City. Gargamel follows closely behind but temporarily loses track of the magical, three apples high creatures in The Big Apple.

The Smurfs wind up in the home of stressed marketing executive Patrick Winslow (Neil Patrick Harris) and his pregnant wife Grace (Jayma Mays). While the Smurfs seem relatively unfazed in this unfamiliar world, they’re also eager to get back to the portal during the next blue moon and return home. Patrick and Grace graciously agree to assist them and keep Gargamel at bay when he pops up again.

Belgian comic book artist Peyo created the Smurfs in the late 1950s. They found popularity in the United States with the 1980s Saturday morning cartoon. A computer-animated feature film about the Smurfs would seem to be the most sensible way to update this kiddie material for a new generation. Instead THE SMURFS and director Raja Gosnell take the eponymous CGI creatures and plop them into a boilerplate, live-action, fish out of water story.

Rather than catering to the kids, who are the only ones likely to care about a Smurfs movie in the first place, the makers try in vain to produce something hip to appeal to all ages, or at least the parents who grew up with the cartoon. Why else is Tim Gunn given a speaking part or do Joan Rivers and TOP CHEF’s Tom Colicchio make cameo appearances? I don’t think five-year-olds are demanding to see their favorites from Bravo’s lineup in this movie.

Such calculated decisions rarely pan out well on the creative side, and THE SMURFS provides a textbook example in the case against this treatment. First and foremost, THE SMURFS’ celebrity voice casting tends to value names that can appear on the poster and stars who will show up on the red carpet. Rather than use voice artists who might better embody these sweet blue beings, the film presents the jarring sounds of George Lopez as Grouchy and Alan Cumming doing a Scottish brogue as Gutsy. Then there’s the nondescript Katy Perry as Smurfette, whose inclusion seems to hinge on putting a Smurf twist on a joke referencing “I Kissed a Girl”. The only one who fits is Jonathan Winters, whose performance doesn’t rely on identifying him as Papa Smurf.

Whether it’s the inappropriate substitution of “smurf” for vulgarities or Smurfette recreating Marilyn Monroe standing over a vent in THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, the crass humor is out of place for a franchise that is known for sincerity sometimes to the point of sickly sweetness. THE SMURFS itself is one big merchandising trove, yet it’s also littered with scenes that are little more than ads for Guitar Hero and FAO Schwarz.

Harris does a yeoman’s job in not overacting among the CGI Smurfs. Azaria’s hammy performance as Gargamel is fun in its unrestrained weirdness. It’s readily apparent, though, that THE SMURFS would have been better served by sticking with the all animated introduction for the entire running time than adding live action. After all, bringing the story into the physical world often pulls focus from the title characters who are seemingly the attraction.

Grade: C-

The NeverEnding Story

2011-07-24T17:26:00.005-04:00

THE NEVERENDING STORY (Wolfgang Petersen, 1984)

Still grieving the recent death of his mother and suffering at the hands of school bullies, young Bastian (Barret Oliver) is having a hard time in THE NEVERENDING STORY. His father’s advice is to get his head out of the clouds and buck up. It’s time to move on. No good can come from dwelling on the pain.

Such advice may sound all well and good, but for a kid who feels alone, these consoling words are neither comforting nor helpful. So Bastian retreats into books, which affords him the ability to escape his everyday worries and experience adventures from a safe distance.

One day while hiding from his three harassing classmates Bastian encounters a man in a book shop who is reading something he deems too dangerous for the boy. Like any child who has something forbidden dangled in front of him, Bastian can’t resist wanting to know what such a book might contain. He borrows it when the bookseller steps away for a few moments. Instead of going to class and facing his tormentors again, Bastian slips off to the school’s attic, a dusty old place that looks more like a medieval sorcerer’s quarters than an academic storage area.

Bastian curls up with the book, THE NEVERENDING STORY, and begins reading about Fantasia, a land which is being slowly overtaken by The Nothing. After this darkness in the form of encroaching storm clouds arrives, where once there was something, now there isn’t anything. The Childlike Empress (Tami Stronach) knows how to combat the malevolent force but is unable to resist it because she is dying. Enter the child warrior Atreyu (Noah Hathaway), who is summoned and sent on a quest to find a cure for the Empress before The Nothing destroys everything.

As a testament to the power of books, the often gloomy THE NEVERENDING STORY comes off as a READING RAINBOW episode covering existentialism. This is heavy stuff for an epic children’s fantasy, even if it’s leavened by Henson-esque creatures. The inhabitants of Fantasia and a mourning Bastian aren’t trying to ward off tangible villains but are dealing with the eternal struggle against despair.

Whether it’s the production’s German roots showing or the prevailing children’s psychology of the time, THE NEVERENDING STORY confronts angst head on instead of offering any coddling or easy reassurance. The directness empowers the tale’s frightened heroes because courage is defined as the ability to stand up to one’s fears and author solutions in the continuous battle with mortal concerns. Reading is not a passive activity for Bastian but an active engagement that permits safer interaction with individual and collective anxieties. In a bit of meta exercise, it is suggested that those of us viewing are similarly employing the imagination through THE NEVERENDING STORY to keep at bay or conquer fundamental doubts and uneasiness.

At the helm of his first English-language film, director Wolfgang Petersen treats the kid-oriented material seriously to overall benefit and detriment. THE NEVERENDING STORY doesn’t condescend to young viewers. In so doing it provides them with plenty to mull over while taking in the stranger delights akin to ALICE IN WONDERLAND by way of THE DARK CRYSTAL. The lighthearted moments and playful exchanges, such as a Rockbiter extolling the vintages of particular stones he’s chowing down on and an ancient turtle ambivalent about impending doom, hint at a less stern composition, but mostly the playfulness juts out awkwardly in a film whose personality prefers affection at arm’s length.

THE NEVERENDING STORY’s virtues derive in part from its weirdness and uncompromising tone. Much of children’s entertainment instructs about self-actualization, but rarely is the message realized in a manner as respectful of its young audience’s intelligence.

Grade: B-

Friends with Benefits

2011-07-23T13:29:00.001-04:00

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS (Will Gluck, 2011)

As in NO STRINGS ATTACHED, the protagonists in the romantic comedy FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS seek to enjoy carnal pleasures with a trusted pal without a dating relationship’s emotional complications or commitment. Dylan (Justin Timberlake) gets to know Jamie (Mila Kunis) when she recruits him to become the art director at GQ. The job requires him to move from Los Angeles to New York City. Without a social network in his new home, Dylan starts hanging out with Jamie, and the two become fast friends.

Both were recently dumped in their long-term relationships. Dylan and Jamie are feeling frisky and attracted to each other but don’t want to risk ruining their new friendship. Instead, they agree to have casual sex without any expectations of romantic obligations. In fact, such feelings and action are not just discouraged but deal breakers.

For awhile the pair enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company in and out of bed without needing to perform the duties incumbent on those who are dating. Gradually, though, the arrangement proves to be harder to navigate without feelings getting in the way.

Just as Dylan and Jamie wish to stake out a relationship on their own terms but ultimately conform to the norm, FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS wants to blow up the romantic comedy formula but finds itself succumbing to the template’s demands and sentiments. The characters and the filmmakers think they are more evolved than to follow established patterns. The time-tested sturdiness of these structures prevails, but the different paths to these ends is just as rewarding.

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS benefits from Timberlake and Kunis’ sparkling lead performances. While it may seem common logic to build a romantic comedy around two people liking and getting to know each other, so many films in the genre substitute petty bickering for compatibility and push the lovers apart so they can have a big reunion. Timberlake and Kunis show why that way of doing business is often wrongheaded. As they flirt and grow fond of each other, so too does the audience gain affection for them. Here is an attractive pair matching wits and deepening their connection whether they realize it or not. In some respects, that’s all this type of movie requires. The lead actors use their star power to radiate warmth and humor. It’s simple and effective yet frequently bungled by the purveyors of romantic comedies.

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS also looks better as the second film of the year with a similar but less successfully executed premise. Here the set-up and follow-through regarding commitment-free sex is actually explored, unlike in NO STRINGS ATTACHED. It helps too that FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS’ Dylan and Jamie don’t seem pathological in interpersonal communication, which was the defining characteristic of Natalie Portman’s NO STRINGS ATTACHED character.

Through its magnetic stars, funny crudity, and observation of people’s foibles in relationships, FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS consummates the deal that viewers enter with romantic comedies. Deliver regular laughs. Construct an atmosphere in which love can thrive. Mission accomplished.

Grade: B

Captain America: The First Avenger

2011-07-22T10:59:00.001-04:00

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (Joe Johnston, 2011)

In CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER scrawny Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) doggedly attempts to sign up for military service during World War II. His puny stature gets him declared 4-F time and again, but each rejection just makes him try harder on his next recruiting office visit.

Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) notices Steve’s selflessness and nobility and offers the gung-ho New Yorker a special opportunity to serve his country. The expatriate German scientist has developed a treatment that can transform Steve into a super soldier. Being dosed with the serum and vita-rays will greatly enhance his physical appearance and moral fortitude. Although the procedure is not risk-free, Steve accepts without hesitation.

Despite reaching his full potential through technology, military superiors limit Steve to playing the role of Captain America to promote war bond sales. While on tour to perform for the men fighting on the Italian front, Steve finally gets the chance to prove himself in battle. British officer Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and genius inventor Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) help him slip away for a daring one-man rescue mission of captured troops.

It’s here that Steve encounters Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), otherwise known as Red Skull. The onetime Nazi commander underwent an earlier and flawed version of Dr. Erskine’s treatment, which has magnified his capacity for evil. Schmidt has designs on taking over the world himself and has split from Hitler to lead HYDRA. Schmidt possesses a powerful cube of the gods called the tesseract and is harnessing its energy to create unbeatable weapons. If Steve is to protect his countrymen and the world as a whole, he must defeat Schmidt.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER director Joe Johnston also helmed the retro comic book adventure THE ROCKETEER. Once again he shows a knack for conveying old-fashioned awe and wonder in patriotic service without shifting into jingoism or recruitment ad. Both films feature heroes who are quite square, but the period settings play to the advantage of the characters’ sincerity. By golly, Steve Rogers is going to perform his civic duty however he can. In the era of the tortured superhero in movies, it’s refreshing to come across one with enthusiasm and a pure spirit.

By virtue of his unsullied goodness, Captain America himself is a one-note character, but help is on the way from a strong supporting cast. As Red Skull, Weaving makes an exceptional villain to be feared. The latex mask he wears in the bad guy’s disfigured condition looks exponentially better than the CGI’d GREEN LANTERN character he resembles. Cooper gives the perfect amount of swagger and smarts to the character who will be Iron Man’s dad.

Atwell’s Peggy Carter is more than a romantic prop for the hero. She’s as tough and driven as the boys fighting the good fight, yet she also let down her guard when admiring Steve and being disappointed by him. For as misguided as CAPTAIN AMERICA’s conclusion is, Peggy and Steve’s radio conversation, which echoes Powell and Pressburger’s A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, identifies the human cost that pays for valor.

CAPTAIN AMERICA is the last cinematic piece of the puzzle that will make way for next summer’s superhero extravaganza THE AVENGERS. At times it feels as though CAPTAIN AMERICA suffers because it is a prelude to the blockbuster-to-be. The opening scene not only ruins the potential emotional impact of the climax, but it also gives it away within the first ten minutes. On top of that, the final scene suggests that everything preceding it was merely a long teaser for the admission to be bought next May. Johnston’s fleetly assembled superhero film deserves better, but the botched finish doesn’t undo all the goodwill that CAPTAIN AMERICA earns.

Grade: B-

Badlands

2011-07-19T11:43:00.001-04:00

BADLANDS (Terrence Malick, 1973)

Set in the late 1950s, BADLANDS follows 25-year-old garbage collector Kit (Martin Sheen) and 15-year-old Holly (Sissy Spacek), who are running from the law for their killing spree that stretches from South Dakota to Montana. Kit looks like James Dean and shows interest in the red-haired, freckled-faced teen, who admits to not receiving that kind of attention at school. It’s no wonder this man from the wrong side of the tracks captivates her. That her father (Warren Oates) disapproves only makes Kit more attractive. Kit and Holly’s outlaw adventure across the Great Plains is instigated when he kills her father and burns down her home. It’s them against the world as the couple hightail it out of town for a life of survival off of the land and anyone who gets in their way.

BADLANDS is loosely based on a similar string of real-life killings by Charles Starkweather and his young girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate in 1958, although writer-director Terrence Malick uses their story as a jumping off point for his interests than an investigation of true crime personalities. Instead of a psychological portrait of two young killers on the road, it studies the mundanity of murder. Kit and Holly seem not to be disturbed or excited by taking lives. Killing comes naturally and is carried out without consideration for the act’s meaning. They kill because it is an avenue to getting what they want or preserving themselves. They kill because it’s what they do.

The way of nature is a consistent theme in Malick’s films, and here in his debut he cuts to the chase regarding an unyielding universe that operates outside of philosophical constructs. In the animal kingdom Kit and Holly’s deeds would not be judged within a moral framework, nor would they be when considering man’s dominion over all creatures great and small. Shooting a dog to punish a child or tossing a catfish into the yard to suffocate because one is angry are not doings deserving of guilt or ethical penalty much like raising cattle for slaughter is unobjectionable. (In these instances one must account for when the film takes place and was made.)

But of course humans conduct themselves within the parameters of what society deems acceptable and unacceptable. This is why Kit and Holly’s brazen attitudes about the sanctity of life shock the sensibilities. Holly’s flat, matter of fact narration and Sheen and Spacek’s dispassionate performances reflect the emptiness in their characters and the problem of living outside higher and human-determined law. (In fact, the only time they appear to conform to the world’s expectations is when they hide out in the forest free of constraints and playact as civilized people.) Kit and Holly are frightening not because they are unknowable but because their actions stem from nature.

Additionally, this outlaw pair is scary because they’re dumb and likable. Malick has come to be known and revered as a cinematic poet and philosopher, as a filmmaker who explores big ideas, but in BADLANDS in particular he also shows a knack for off-kilter humor. Kit’s cocksure carriage, as though he’s embodying a role in a movie in his head, and the weird ideas that both verbalize breed affection. There’s something hilariously twisted about an adult killer insisting his girlfriend stop by school to get her books so she can keep up with her studies while they are on the lam. If only their strange notions and convention breaking were less sociopathic.

BADLANDS is a clear announcement that Malick is and would be a major talent to watch.

Grade: A

Winnie the Pooh

2011-07-15T11:33:00.002-04:00

WINNIE THE POOH (Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall, 2011)

In WINNIE THE POOH the tubby little cubby and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood work together to overcome the two issues of a most pressing nature in their community. Eeyore (Bud Luckey) has lost his tail, so a contest is held to find the best replacement. The prize for finding the ideal tail is a big pot of honey. Pooh (Jim Cummings) is already eager to help his pal, but the prospect of satisfying that rumbly tummy of his in the process doesn’t hurt his motivation.

Additionally, Pooh and the others plot to capture the Backson, a frightful creature that is imagined when Owl (Craig Ferguson) misinterprets Christopher Robin’s note and his promise to be “back soon”. A litany of terrible things the Backson does is invented, but the animals persevere in an effort to rescue the boy.

With its hand-drawn style (even if it is computer-animated) and quiet sincerity, the latest Disney animated film featuring A.A. Milne’s beloved characters is a delightful throwback to classic children’s entertainment. WINNIE THE POOH is what it always has been, or at least what many know from the decades of shorts and features the studio has made.

The characters aren’t susceptible to the prevailing trends of their times but instead submit to simple and gentle storytelling that endures across generations. Going to the Hundred Acre Wood at the movies is the equivalent of visiting a nature preserve. Here’s a space where viewers can take a break from the hustle and bustle that dominates the options in kids’ media diversions.

WINNIE THE POOH toys with its storybook origin, as the titular bear wanders onto the page, collects letters from sentences to assist in a task, and interacts with the narrator. These fourth wall breaking techniques never feel like meta intrusions on the material but like a child’s interaction with a parent reading the tales. The writers and animators have great fun playing with the text to sneak in some small lessons about narratives and make their funniest jokes.

Pooh isn’t smarter than the average bear, but he and his friends serve as wonderful examples for the little ones following their adventures. Although the gloomy Eeyore seems under a perpetual cloud, Pooh and company are typically filled with good cheer and courage, even when experiencing doubt and worry. Ever mindful of how children perceive a world that is at turns wondrous and scary, the film approaches the challenges these characters face in a manner that remains optimistic while not ignoring the bittersweet. To do so is to respect the youngsters who are watching.

WINNIE THE POOH is aimed squarely at kids, and its abbreviated running time of 69 minutes is just long enough to pass the time before they get too squirmy in the seats. It also shouldn’t be too long for adults who, like me, may find some of this overly familiar. (I swear I’ve seen these specific subplots before, but maybe they were variations on similar incidents.) I should note that the screening I attended had an inexplicably and verging on painfully loud audio presentation, one that’s in defiance of the tranquil nature of the work. It likely affected the degree of my evaluation for what is intended as a quiet, low key charmer.

Grade: B-

Zookeeper

2011-07-08T15:12:00.002-04:00

ZOOKEEPER (Frank Coraci, 2011)

Five years after being rejected during an elaborate marriage proposal on the beach, Griffin Keyes (Kevin James) finally appears to be getting over the heartbreak. His ex-girlfriend Stephanie (Leslie Bibb) spurned him because his job isn’t important enough in her eyes, but he excels in his chosen profession and has become the head zookeeper at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo. Seeing Stephanie at his brother’s engagement party rekindles old feelings and has Griffin working hard to impress her again.

The zoo animals want Griffin to be happy and scheme to make him look good in front of her, but true to form, he bungles the staged rescue. At this point the creatures choose to break their code of silence with humans and speak to Griffin so they can instruct him in the animal kingdom’s ways of courtship.

Griffin is understandably freaked out that he can talk to the animals, but he quickly adapts and follows through on the pointers he’s given. He begins walking with a swagger and marking his territory, even if it means urinating in potted plants at a classy restaurant. Still, Stephanie doesn’t seem really interested in Griffin until he leaves the zoo to work at his brother’s luxury vehicle dealership.

If a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters can produce Shakespeare, then ZOOKEEPER must have been banged out by one primate pecking away at a keyboard between sessions playing on a tire swing. This nearly laugh-free amalgamation of DOCTOR DOLITTLE and NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM spends far too much time on romantic comedy machinations and away from the talking animals that are presumably the film’s calling card.

ZOOKEEPER is targeted at a family audience seeking amusement in the silly exploits of conversant zoo inhabitants, but it expends a lot of its running time and energy on the main character’s pursuit of a shallow woman everyone knows he’s not meant to be with. As unfunny as the wise-cracking zoo animals are, their antics are preferable to a boilerplate romance that no one’s heart is in. If a love story is absolutely necessary--and it really isn’t in a movie meant for children--keep it in the workplace. Have the animals conspiring to bring together Griffin and his compassionate co-worker Kate (Rosario Dawson). At least that way there will be more scenes with the zoo denizens.

Another ZOOKEEPER miscalculation can be spotted in the celebrity voice cast. Featuring Sylvester Stallone and Cher as a lion couple, producer Adam Sandler as a monkey, and Nick Nolte as a sullen gorilla, the roster is notable for its collective weirdness than effectiveness. Granted, the performers have been handed dire material, but the familiar, if not always easy to identify, voices put in minimal effort and tend to distract.

Nothing about ZOOKEEPER suggests it was ever anything but a crass excuse for selling tickets to parents perhaps tired of taking the kids to animated movies. Still, the product placements in the film are the most shameless of any in recent memory. Out of nowhere the gorilla asks if a casual dining place is as great as it sounds. Later on the zookeeper and the gorilla spend a raucous evening living it up in this particular establishment. More thought seems to have been put into this virtual commercial and truly strange scene than the remainder of this lazy excuse of a film.

Grade: D

Ebertfest 2011: Back to the future

2011-05-01T03:02:00.004-04:00

A report from day 4 at Ebertfest will have to wait until I've returned home. Too many nights burning the midnight oil and whatnot, not to mention the four to five hour drive on Sunday.

In place of a full entry for the day, here's a photograph of a DeLorean with Washington state plates that presumably a festival attendee drives. It's been a minor sensation among the film fans here, as well it should be. It's been a long time since I've seen one of these in the wild.

Ebertfest 2011: Day 3

2011-04-30T02:44:00.000-04:00

Film festivals tend to be exhausting experiences. The lack of sleep, programming choices that often favor emotionally taxing films, and eating out of convenience contribute to festivals putting attendees through the wringer. It's too much of a good thing on a daily basis. Obviously there could be worse problems to have.

This year's Ebertfest may have presented challenges on the sleep front, but I've noticed that the collective tone of the films screened so far is much lighter. I don't know if this was a conscious choice or it just happened to work out this way, but I appreciate not feeling like I've been pummeled film after film.

Ebertfest has a Midwestern sensibility about it, and that often carries over to some of the selected films. Movies and filmmakers with Chicago, Champaign-Urbana, or Illinois connections have typically found a welcome home at this festival. The documentary 45365 does not showcase the Land of Lincoln, nor are the co-directing brothers from there. The setting is two states to the east in Sidney, Ohio, yet this impressionist examination of the filmmakers' hometown could also reflect any small American city.

(45365 co-directors Turner Ross and Bill Ross)

I grew up about forty miles from Sidney and surely set foot in the city at some point, even if nothing specific comes to mind. (Probably I was there for something related to my family's grain elevator business.) Sidney High School was and is in the same athletic conference as my high school. While Sidney isn't a bustling metropolis, its population of approximately 20,000 is a good bit larger than the 600-700 people who resided in my hometown. I've not lived in that area since the summer after my sophomore year of college, but having been away may have merely increased my interest in seeing 45365.

I explain this because my connection to the part of the region depicted means I'm likely looking at the film differently than most who encounter it. Do I recognize anywhere or anyone? How accurately does this resemble my memories and observations of the area? Does it feel like home? Clearly it is difficult for me to approach the film in an objective manner.

Parts of the film feel very familiar to me. The old farmer talking in the barn and the old women sitting around a table seem exactly like people I knew growing up, primarily because of their voices, expressions, and reactions. Until I went to college, I didn't consider myself to have an accent, yet I'm aware there is a Midwestern twang in my voice that I share with some of these people. (My ears are even accustomed to those who mumble through thicker accents in the film.) Identifying with people and characters we see in movies is part of the cinema's pleasures, but it's kind of disorienting to feel like I am being shown on screen, even if there's not really any one person in the film that corresponds to who I think I am.

45365 is a movie of small observations rather than big moments. The background reaction of a frustrated barber who is thwarted in cutting the hair of a talkative customer, a truck doing donuts in a snowy strip mall parking lot, and the men keeping a heavy rainfall from caving in a performance tent say plenty about the people who live and work in this place. Enough of these accumulate to make this a worthwhile film, even if my concerns about the repetitions and shapelessness still remain after this, my second time seeing it.

(Ali Arikan, Me and Orson Welles director Richard Linklater, and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky)

A sense of community is important in 45365 and at Ebertfest, so it is fitting that Richard Linklater has a film included among this year's selections. Watching ME AND ORSON WELLES it occurred to me that the characters in his films often are searching for an idealized corner of the world to call their own.

The protagonist in this film, a supremely confident 17-year-old who snatches a part in Orson Welles' and the Mercury Theatre's production of JULIUS CAESAR, may not at first seem to have much in common with the bright misfits and outcasts that populate Linklater's films. Gradually we come to see that he too has a specific idea of where he wants to and thinks he belongs, how his conception of this place clashes with reality, and how he's able to synthesize his vision and experience into a hopeful mindset. As in much of the director's work, the character and the film stake out firm philosophical ground.

The takeaway, though, is Christian McKay's outstanding performance as Welles. The danger in a role based on someone with such a strong and well-known personality is to lapse into an impersonation. The audience doesn't see a person or a character but someone doing Welles. McKay inhabits the part from the first time we see him bellowing among his company that he vanishes into the character. In being an unknown actor it may be easier for him to do so, but he does remarkable work in playing the range of being intimidating, tender, funny, generous, and cruel.

World building is usually talked about in terms of superhero movies, but it merits mention in ME AND ORSON WELLES. The seductive bubble of the theater and the entertainment industry blocks out the rest of the world. It becomes easy to understand how someone like Zac Efron as the main character Richard could get swept up in the thrill of being part of this insular environment and lose sight of everything else. Welles' play turned out to be a landmark event, as we are well aware, but the characters don't know it. Linklater treats this period in a contemporary manner, as though the fate of the 1937 production is being discovered as the story unfolds. This stylistic choice makes an enormous difference in the film feeling organic and vibrant rather than as though it's being recounted out of a musty history book.

(Anath White, Only You director Norman Jewison, and Olivia Collette)

Rounding out the day was Norman Jewison's 1994 romantic comedy ONLY YOU. Although recently engaged, Marisa Tomei's Faith impulsively leaves Pittsburgh for Venice when she learns that the man she thinks she is destined to marry is traveling there. A ouija board and a fortune teller told an 11-year-old Faith that her soul mate was named Damon Bradley. Now 25 and less than two weeks from her wedding day, the prospect of meeting this long-imagined lover, whose existence she knows of only through a phone call for her fiancé, is irresistible. When she finally meets the man of her dreams, he appears in the form of Robert Downey Jr. as a shoe salesman from Boston.

ONLY YOU is a standard issue romantic comedy that is both a throwback and very much of the mid-'90s. In comparison to a lot of what is produced in the genre today, it shows signs of being made with a formal rigorousness and seriousness of purpose that these films don't often receive. Longtime Ingmar Bergman cinematographer Sven Nykvist worked on ONLY YOU, and the screenplay isn't larded with a bunch of pointless subplots.

Perhaps the theory I'm going to propose won't stand up to the data or the light of day, but my gut feeling at this late point in the night is that this particular type of light entertainment is rarely made by veteran directors anymore. They've become the domain of inexperienced or undistinguished filmmakers and are thus susceptible to reductive treatment of the story and characters.

For example, whereas many of the current romantic comedy protagonists frequently behave like idiotic children, the leads in ONLY YOU still act like adults. Faith is being irrational, but one or two minor instances aside, she still comports herself like a grown woman rather than a socially inept kid who has trouble putting one foot in front of the other. The film wants to embrace the grand romantic fantasy, but it doesn't enable the sort of foolishness that Faith is engaging in. Sure, everything works out for her, but it comes down firmly on the side of making one's own destiny rather than chucking everything based on unrealistic notions of destiny.

Tomei gives an appealing performance, even if seems like she's still revved up in MY COUSIN VINNY mode, as if it was to be her permanent screen persona. She's well-matched with Downey Jr., who is nimble with the comedy in a thin role. The Italian cities and landscapes provide gorgeous backdrops. While the plot in this type of film is usually predictable, screenwriter Diane Drake drops a couple unexpected but well integrated twists into the mix.

The big surprise is Bonnie Hunt as Faith's sister-in-law and sounding board while the two of them are in Italy. It's a classic supporting character role played in a warm and funny way that makes one long for the major breakthrough that has never come for the comedic actress. With her Chicago roots, I'm a little surprised she isn't at the festival. Her fantastic performance in ONLY YOU reminds me of the gem of a romantic comedy RETURN TO ME that she directed, wrote, and acted in. That would be a good one for a future Ebertfest (hint, hint).

Day 3 grades:

-45365: B-

-Me and Orson Welles: B+

-Only You: B-

Ebertfest 2011: The social network

2011-04-29T03:09:00.006-04:00

I intend to get around to writing about the three films that played on day 2 of Ebertfest, but that will have to wait until another day. A night out on the town with several of the attending film critics and far flung correspondents and a few of the filmmakers gobbled up the time I would have otherwise spent alone in the hotel room writing until in the wee hours of the morning. Which sounds more fun to you?

That delay may have been for the best as I'd already seen UMBERTO D, MY DOG TULIP, and TINY FURNITURE theatrically. I watched the latter two within the last six months and wasn't crazy about either one. My opinions remain unchanged, although I'll ease up a smidgen on my rather harsh original assessment of MY DOG TULIP. I still could do with a lot less of the emphasis on the dog's excretory functions, but I didn't find this content as intensely distasteful as I did during my first viewing.

I mentioned earlier that the festival is about more than the movies; it's about the community of people who come together for the event. Keeping true to my word to interact more with those I met at last year's festival and those I've become familiar with via social media, I headed out with the group of critics and filmmakers for karaoke night at a Champaign bar.

But first, before leaving the Virginia Theatre I was able to have a conversation with NATURAL SELECTION star Rachael Harris, who attended the same small liberal arts college I did. That was a pleasant surprise, but it is also the sort of thing that this festival permits more easily. Granted, it didn't hurt that the polo shirt I was wearing had the school's name on it, which she and her director spotted as soon as I joined the group ready to head out for some Champaign nightlife. (And yes, I was truthful when asked if I'd seen her film the previous night and what I thought.) Although I had an in, by and large the filmmakers mingle with the festivalgoers and do so happily.

Best as I can tell, critic Ali Arikan is the unofficial social chair. Wrapped in a cape-like blanket, he led the pack to a local bar that was quickly overrun with us Ebertfest attendees. The chances of me getting in front of everyone to belt out a number were slim to none, but what a blast it was to be in the mix to cheer on IFC's Matt Singer get things started with his smooth Michael McDonald-like stylings, Harris tackle Salt-N-Pepa, and Roger Ebert's wife Chaz perform "Superfreak".

Ebertfest is a celebration of movies and their power to unify. A memorable night such as this, which brought together thirty or forty people from the festival and a few locals who happened to be at the bar, is as much in the spirit of the event as sitting down to watch the films. For those who don't understand the tweets and reports buzzing about a university town film festival whose purpose isn't to find the next hot thing in cinema, a couple hours tonight at Bentley's would have cleared it all up.

Ebertfest 2011: Opening Night

2011-04-28T02:12:00.002-04:00

(Chaz and Roger Ebert)

The vintage marquee in front of the Virginia Theatre is no longer there, but otherwise things seemed to be the same as usual at Roger Ebert's Film Festival. Anticipation was high to get things underway, and what better start can you ask for than seeing one of the all-time greats, METROPOLIS, and a live score performed by The Alloy Orchestra. I believe this is the first repeat film at Ebertfest, as it and the band were here for the fourth festival in 2002.

Of course, the easy justification for bringing it back are the restored scenes that make this version as close to an original full cut as is likely to be seen. I believe I've seen three different cuts of the film, with this being my second encounter with this so-called complete METROPOLIS.

Plenty has been written about Fritz Lang's 1927 film, and all of it is going to sound more studied than whatever I type out here at almost 2 a.m. Instead, permit me to rave briefly about this movie. It boasts unbelievably audacious filmmaking. The sets! The setpieces! The sustained climax that must be at least forty minutes long! Basically everything from the "Furioso" title card on is an action avalanche on a ridiculous scale. The restored version makes a lot more narrative sense. The Alloy's live score was a real treat to hear again. The only bad thing about their performance is that we don't have it to look forward to yet in this year's festival.

(Michael Phillips with Natural Selection's writer/director Robbie Pickering and actress Rachael Harris)

Opening Night's second film was the late addition NATURAL SELECTION. After seeing and admiring it at this year's South by Southwest, where it won the jury and audience awards for narrative feature, Ebert found extra room for it.

Rachael Harris stars as Linda, whose marriage of 25 years has been abstinent for nearly the entire duration. Since she is unable to conceive, her husband's religious beliefs compel him to avoid having sex with her purely for pleasure. When Linda is called to see him at the hospital after he passes out while making what turns out to be his regular contribution to a fertility clinic, she feels more than a little betrayed. She was oblivious to how he'd been channeling all of that pent-up energy.

Linda's husband asks that she find the children created from his donations, which eventually leads this frumpy Texas Christian to the Florida dwelling of Raymond (Matt O'Leary), a junkie and escaped convict. She desperately wants to bring this biological son back to her husband. Their misadventures on the road home comprise the majority of the film.

NATURAL SELECTION got off on the wrong foot with me, enough so that it never recovered. Much of the early humor comes from mocking devout conversatives--or an exceptionally rare type of fundamentalist--and there's nothing especially funny about these cheap shots. (In a similar manner, CEDAR RAPIDS got off to a very shaky start with its sneering attitude toward professed Christians while not demonstrating any tangible understanding of those who identify in such a way.)

I didn't find the characters to be particularly credible, especially when they're together. A pivotal scene in a dark restaurant finds Linda and Raymond exchanging painful secrets. The sequence is well-acted, but not for a second did I buy that these two people would connect in this manner. The shortcoming is in the writing rather than the performances. Harris handles the shifts between serious and jokey tones with aplomb. The derision toward whatever beliefs her character holds--something that's never clarified yet ought to be--is in writer-director Robbie Pickering's managing of the material, not her acting.

The loneliest time in a crowded movie theater is when practically everyone is laughing except you, and was I ever feeling it during this film. When you're not enjoying something, it's easy to turn to nitpicking something to death. (I'd point to the unfailing tracking sense that one character possesses.) To its credit, NATURAL SELECTION displays some visual adroitness and eventually settles into a decent storytelling groove. Lose the caricatured character constructions, though.

Opening Night grades:

-METROPOLIS: A+

-NATURAL SELECTION: C-

Ebertfest 2011: Pre-fest thoughts

2011-04-27T14:35:00.002-04:00

If the sky is gray, hard rain is falling, and tornado warnings are being issued, then it must be time for Ebertfest. For whatever reason--perhaps the fact that it's spring in the Midwest--Roger Ebert's Film Festival is usually accompanied by rain and strong winds. Yes, such weather makes for the less than pleasant experience of getting soaked when lining up to be admitted to the Virginia Theatre, but it sure does make one feel less guilty about spending the better part of five days cooped up watching movies than being outside. (Truthfully, the weather isn't always rotten. Selective memory probably makes it seem like it's all rain, all the time.)

This marks the eleventh time I've driven to Champaign and Urbana, Illinois to attend the festival. I look forward to seeing the movies, obviously, but I also anticipate the changes to the lovely old theater and the cities. Sometimes I feel like the Harvey Keitel character in SMOKE, who takes the same photograph every day. In my situation, it's snapping what are probably similar shots over a five day stretch year after year.

I can hardly believe that I've been coming to Ebertfest since 2001, nor can I believe how life in general has changed. AAA TripTiks have been put aside for directions printed from the internet, which have been replaced by a GPS. For one year's trip I lugged my desktop along with the intention of blogging from my hotel room and using a free introductory offer on an ISP CD to secure web access over the phone line. (I ended up sitting at a computer in the hotel's lobby well after midnight typing my daily reports.)

The movies are the primary attraction, but the longer I've attended, the more the community around the event been a key reason why I keep wanting to return. It's no accident, I think, that the participatory and communal qualities on EBERT PRESENTS AT THE MOVIES feels like an extension of Ebertfest. The show isn't just two film critics, and Ebertfest isn't only Ebert. The program and the festival provide platforms for multiple voices to be joined in discussing the cinema that we all love. (This was as true of Ebertfest before its namesake became incapable of conducting the post-film talks.) In that spirit, I intend to meet up with more of the critics I've come to know,either by meeting them at this fest or becoming acquainted with them via social media.

What about this year's movies, you ask? I've seen seven of the thirteen and six of the first seven showing, so that defuses some of the excitement for me. (There's also one title I dislike relatively strongly and another I don't have any real interest in seeing again but whatever. I don't want to be a grump about those particular choices.) I'm most looking forward to seeing a film I've seen three times, including once at this very festival. The latest (and longest) cut of METROPOLIS accompanied by The Alloy Orchestra is sure to be a highlight. It was when they played with it here years ago. I'm interested to hear what Richard Linklater has to say when he appears with ME AND ORSON WELLES. Plus, actress Rachael Harris, who's here with NATURAL SELECTION, attended the same college I went to (and where I now work), and the well-shot documentary 45365 covers a town that's near where I grew up.

As usual, you can expect my coverage here every day. I'll be shooting some video as well, although chances are I won't begin to mess with any of that until the festival is over. With that said, let Ebertfest begin.

2011 Cleveland International Film Festival nuggets

2011-04-11T14:36:00.006-04:00

My early spring travels included a visit to the Cleveland International Film Festival, which seems
to pack more people in year after year, at least since I've started attending. This year CIFF overtook all of Cleveland Cinemas in Tower City Center, and the crowds continued to pile into the auditoriums. (I read somewhere that one of the days featured more seats filled at the festival than the Cleveland Indians game that was played across the street. Impressive as that is for the fest--and dire for the baseball team--we're not talking about unique attendees but seats filled over the course of the day.)

Anyway, the change in accreditation this year meant a reduced slate for me. While I wasn't ultimately enthusiastic about a lot of what I picked to see, keep in mind that it is a random sample that is not necessarily indicative of the programming's quality. I've had days at this festival before where I've seen five or six films I've liked. I've had others, as this one turned out, where finding a good one was a challenge. There's a luck of the draw involved sometimes. I drew the short one this time around. So it goes.

-WIN/WIN (Jaap van Heusden, 2010) (The Netherlands)

No, this isn't the Thomas McCarthy-directed dramedy with Paul Giamatti as a high school wrestling coach. Rather, it's a Dutch cautionary tale about the corporate world. Oscar Van Rompay plays a stock broker with unparalleled skills when it comes to trading. Of course, this high stakes world turns out to be more pressure-filled and soul-sucking than our guileless hero anticipated. WIN/WIN is a decent enough film, but it hits pretty much every beat you expect it too. More crucially, the drama doesn't really feel like it earns the expected big statement of an ending.

Grade: C+

-IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE (EU CAND VREAU SA FLUIER, FLUIER) (Florin Serban, 2010) (Romania and Sweden)

The Romanian film scene has been one to keep an eye on for awhile, so this was one of my more anticipated titles of the day. The film centers on a teenage boy who is close to completing his sentence at a juvenile detention facility. Due to a family issue, he makes a rash choice before his time is up and creates a whole new set of problems for himself. This quiet, deliberate film is of a piece from what I know of Romanian cinema, but I can't render a verdict on it. Seeing a full day's worth of films can challenge one to stay awak. In this case, it was the early hours needed to drive to Cleveland for a schedule beginning at 9:15 a.m. that was responsible for me taking multiple cat naps during this. Trust me, I wasn't happy about it.

Grade: incomplete (due to sleeping unrelated to the film)

-SPECIAL TREATMENT (SANS QUEUE NI TETE) (Jeanne Labrune, 2010) (France)

The overlapping qualities between prostitution and psychoanalysis are examined in a film that's moderately compelling at best. The most interest derives from Isabelle Huppert as an upscale hooker who specially tailors sessions with clients and their well-endowed wallets to suit their particular needs. Oftentimes this has more to do with talking than sex, not that intimate physical contact isn't in the equation. The character description alone sounds like a good fit for the risk-taking actress, but she can only do so much with a screenplay and direction that tend to make trite connections regarding how these professions tend to the needs of those in pain.

Grade: C

-THE REDEMPTION OF GENERAL BUTT NAKED(Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion, 2010) (United States and Liberia)

How much does religious conversion count for when considering the past? This powerful documentary about a former Liberian militia commander turned Christian minister certainly puts the question to the test. Once known as the fearsome General Butt Naked because of his penchant for leading his soldiers while nude, Joshua Milton Blahyi is a changed man, or so he claims to be. Of course, he also accepts responsibility for the death, many by his own hand, of an estimated 10,000 people. As great as it may be that he's found God, his debts in the universal ledger are probably too steep to ever be paid off in most people's eyes. Yet there he is asking those he's wronged for forgiveness and trying to improve the lives of some of those he once led.

The best thing about THE REDEMPTION OF GENERAL BUTT NAKED is that it leaves you at the end as uncertain about whether this guy is genuine as you were at the start. Part of me is intensely skeptical of Blahyi's words and motives. Yes, we see his victims and some of their family members forgive him, but it certainly seems like such pardons might be granted out of the lingering fear of the man who terrorized them. He's a physically imposing figure, and his pleading for forgiveness can seem too insistent and self-serving. Religion is merely a different weapon for him to manipulate people with. Nevertheles, there are times when it appears that something fundamental has changed in Blahyi and that he is a living example of the faith he professes to hold.

It's a really fascinating film and one that gives the viewer a lot to wrestle with. Of my limited viewing at the festival, this was easily the best.

Grade: B+

-THE HEDGEHOG (LE HERISSON) (Mona Achache, 2009) (France)

This adaptation of the novel THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG feels like it needed the Hollywood awards season once over to get it into fighting shape and make it a better film. (This has the scent of end-of-the-year prestige picture all over it.) Although based on a well-respected book, the dry screenplay and simple construction are at odds with the shocking nature of the plot. 11-year-old Paloma intends to kill herself when she turns twelve in about half a year. Like the protagonist, director Mona Achache handles it all matter of factly, but the rather large leaps the story requires the audience to make are often unconvincing.

Grade: C

-HAYFEVER (FEBBRE DA FIENO) (Laura Luchetti, 2010) (Italy)

Or proof that film festival fare isn't all heady stuff. HAYFEVER is essentially the kind of romantic comedy/drama you'd expect Touchstone to release, except it's in Italian. Put Vanessa Hudgens in the main female role, and it would be virtually indistinguishable from its American counterparts. Even the indie-skewing soundtrack has a calculated commercial quality to it. HAYFEVER isn't written or edited very well, but as slick product that begs for its influences to be spotted (ROMAN HOLIDAY, EMPIRE RECORDS), it is relatively easy to watch. The ending, though, is one of the biggest miscalculations I've seen in a film in some time.

Grade: D+

Still Walking (Aruitemo aruitemo)

2011-03-08T11:11:00.007-05:00

STILL WALKING (ARUITEMO ARUITEMO) (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2008)

In STILL WALKING the Yokoyama home is bustling with activity and chatter as three generations gather for an annual remembrance of Junpei, the eldest son and brother who died years earlier while saving a child from drowning. The prickly head of the household is Kyohei (Yoshio Harada), a retired physician bitter for, among other reasons, being forced to quit practicing. He is as quiet and distant as his wife Toshiko (Kirin Kiki) is talkative and attentive.

The memorial visit is particularly uncomfortable for the oldest living son Ryota (Hiroshi Abe). Unlike Junpei, Ryota did not follow in his father's professional footsteps. Rather than being a doctor, he decided on a career restoring art. All these years later Kyohei still begrudges Ryota's choice as though it was intended as a personal affront. With Ryota's return home coinciding with employment problems, something he wants kept secret from his parents, he is already feeling sufficiently inferior.

Joining Ryota on the visit is his new wife Yukari (Yui Natsukawa) and stepson Atsushi (Shohei Tanaka). Ordinarily this might be an occasion for his parents to express pleasure with their late marrying son, but they think he has taken on damaged goods in the form of a widow and her child. Also fluttering about the house are Ryota's sister Chinami (You), her husband, and their two kids. Chinami is using this time to try and nail down a commitment for her family to move into her parents' home.

STILL WALKING writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda began as a television documentary filmmaker before transitioning to narrative fiction films. His keen observational sense is put to exceptional use in this lovely and heartbreaking portrait of family and all of its complications. STILL WALKING primarily consists of conversations and scrutiny of interpersonal dynamics. While it may appear that Kore-eda is merely depicting everyday life, his studied method probes beneath the surface of congenial interactions to reveal years of tangled emotions and judgments this loving but bruised family holds against one another.

As is probably true for many families, passive-aggressiveness dominates the Yokoyamas' communication style. Toshiko puts on a warm and cheerful exterior, yet she harbors the greatest and longest held resentments of anyone in the house. Kiki is marvelous in how she can use a smile and an innocuous statement to make the most cutting remarks. By all appearances Toshiko is happily entering her golden years, but gradually she is shown to be a deeply angry and wounded person. Toshiko doesn't have nor require a big outburst to voice her displeasure. Whether it's by word or deed, such as not laying out new pajamas for Atsushi, she subtly lets her new daughter-in-law know where she stands. Politely accepting the arrows slung her way, Natsukawa's sensitive performance as Yukari brings an outsider's fresh perspective on hurtful behaviors and attitudes that her new family takes for granted.

While STILL WALKING'S characters can seem unnecessarily mean while staying civil in how they treat each other, Kore-eda adopts a highly empathetic outlook on the Yokoyamas. He acknowledges the complexity within each person and how difficult it can be for the pieces of a family to fit, especially as each changes over a lifetime. The only experience we can ever truly know to the full extent is our own, and Kore-eda sees that each character is doing the best with what is available to them, even if their understanding of family members frequently comes up short.

Toshiko comes across as cruel at a few specific moments, but Kore-eda doesn't think of her as a terrible individual. He sees that she lashes out because she's in pain. The film doesn't excuse Toshiko's callousness but recognizes where it comes from. That Kore-eda generates this profound comprehension and compassion for multiple characters is the mark of a major talent.

Longstanding family concerns and hang-ups aren't resolved overnight, and STILL WALKING doesn't bother attempting to repair them. Rather, Kore-eda captures a lot of truth in the details of communication, shared history, and the passing down of knowledge. He finds it in a mother's slight nudge of a child on the verge of inappropriate laughing. It's there as a parent tells a kid not to act poor when combining multiple soft drinks from a self-serve soda fountain. It's there too as a family argues over who really did something in a highly retold story in which the facts and reality may not agree. STILL WALKING is so uncommonly and beautifully perceptive about how families interact that it feels as natural as putting one foot in front of the next.

Grade: A

Beastly

2011-03-06T13:20:00.004-05:00

BEASTLY (Daniel Barnz, 2011)

BEASTLY, the latest Classics for Tweens film adaptation, bedazzles the oft-told BEAUTY AND THE BEAST story with smart phones, social media, tattoos, and Jujubes, as though such contemporary things will keep the kids from noticing how super lamers it is.

Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) is king of the New York academy he attends and doesn’t bother hiding his disgust for anyone who isn’t beautiful and wealthy. His profile at a generic social media site lists likes as those who are “bangable” and dislikes as “fattycakes”. Yes, he’s a real charmer.

In his speech before an adoring prep school crowd, Alex extols the virtues of the genetically and financially blessed and tells his classmates that he wants to win the election for Green Committee president because it will look good on his resumé, not because he cares about the environment. Apparently Green Committee is the new student council as go-to cinematic signifier of prestige and popularity.

After taunting the school’s rumored witch Kendra (a gothed-up Mary-Kate Olsen) one time too many, Kyle is punished for his cocksure and cruel ways. Kendra casts a spell on Kyle that brings his ugliness to the surface, although really she makes him look like Darth Maul with some nasty facial scars and metallic silver Sharpie scribblings on his forehead and bridge of his nose. He will have one year to find someone to proclaim love for him or else the disfigurements will remain permanent.

When it becomes clear that the magic can’t be reversed, his image-conscious news anchor dad (Peter Krause) hides Kyle away with their Jamaican maid Zola (Lisa Gay Hamilton) and blind tutor Will (Neil Patrick Harris). Kyle stews in luxurious isolation for nearly half of the deadline before venturing into New York City in search of a girl who might break the curse.

He has his eye on Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), a pretty classmate harboring an independent spirit and a crush on him when he was a handsome brute. One night Kyle saves Lindy from the dealers hassling her and her widowed, drug addicted dad. (Strangely, she doesn’t seem to notice who intervenes.) Kyle uses the situation to blackmail her father into sending Lindy to live with him so that she will be safe.

Once she moves into his penthouse, Kyle begins wooing her with Bulgari jewelry and other expensive gifts while hiding underneath a hoodie and lingering behind corners. Lindy doesn’t want such fancy things. After he considers her interests, shows his face, and begins to open up, she warms to him, but time’s a-wasting according to the tattoo that covers his forearm.

Credit BEASTLY with this: it contains as little flab found on Pettyfer’s carved abs. Unlike the bloated TWILIGHT films, the success of which BEASTLY is clearly trying to capitalize on, it’s edited as though there’s a race to burn through the plot points. It’s about as romantic as a stock swap, but at least it cuts to the chase.

Whether it’s remnants from the source material or the film’s weird way of establishing characters, BEASTLY plays as an apologia for bad boys and the saintly girls who find them irresistible. Kyle’s father ignores him and has raised him with poor values. The pompous teen’s edges are supposed to be softened because the hired help wish only the best for him despite his abominable treatment of them, especially Zola. The immigrant servant’s unconditional care and concern for him borders on offensiveness and would surely be viewed that way with the modern perspective on an older film expressing a similar sentiment. Kyle’s actions are rarely unselfish. He’s just desperate to regain his looks. He becomes more sympathetic to those less fortunate in their physical features and bank accounts, but it stands to reason that he might need a reminder of this lesson in a few years.

Lindy’s portraiture is more problematic. She already likes him when he’s in raging jerk mode and excuses his hideous arrogance as unvarnished honesty. She continues to pine for him while everyone believes Kyle is away spending months in rehab. Lindy is merely another in the long line of funky gals with x-ray specs for the souls of egotistical but misunderstood clods. BEASTLY doesn’t have the decency to grant Lindy any assertiveness in this tale. She’s there for Kyle’s needs and nothing else. For all of the film’s nods to today’s society, in this department it remains determinedly archaic.

BEASTLY is teeming with dialogue clunkers that only Harris makes intentionally funny, although his line readings come off as though he’s skipped forward to starring in the inevitable parody sketch. It’s a bad CW drama writ as a feature film, and one undisguised as a Hollywood executive’s wish to horn in on that jackpot of sweet, sweet teen supernatural romance cash at that.

Grade: D

Unknown

2011-03-02T11:18:00.005-05:00

UNKNOWN (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2011)

In UNKNOWN Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) travels to Berlin with his wife Liz (January Jones) for a biotechnology summit. Having forgotten his briefcase at the airport, he hops in a taxi to go retrieve it while his wife checks into the hotel. The cab ride ends in an accident and the car depositing itself in a river. The driver is able to extricate Martin from the sinking vehicle, but when he awakens from a coma four days later in the hospital, he struggles to remember who he is.

Gradually the professor puts the pieces of his identity together, but he still lacks the documents to prove he is who he says he is. Complicating matters, Liz claims not to know him and is with another man (Aidan Quinn) who purports to be Dr. Martin Harris. In the hope of getting to the bottom of this mystery Martin tracks down and turns to Gina (Diane Kruger), the illegal Bosnian immigrant who was his cabbie on that fateful day.

UNKNOWN is a serviceable thriller in the classic Hitchcockian wrong man mold. Martin’s journey into an underworld of cautious illegal immigrants, hoodlums, and former Stasi agents steeps the film in paranoia. Bruno Ganz’s delicious turn as a onetime member of the East German intelligence community adds that extra Teutonic menace below the film’s surface. UNKNOWN often glides by on the European setting’s elegance and grime and Neeson’s steely determination as he works to solve his puzzling predicament.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra links it all together in a generally efficient way, but eventually it seems like the film is dawdling as Martin searches for answers but mostly finds more questions. Especially after he showed the bad guys who not to mess with in TAKEN, there’s a desire to see some Neeson ownage that UNKNOWN frustrates. Enough with the shoe leather scenes. Let’s get to Neeson turning guys into ground beef.

When the narrative explanations begin to tumble out, their absurdity clashes with the otherwise resolute nature of the film. At issue isn’t so much that the elucidations regarding Martin's past aren’t realistic, as UNKNOWN is firmly in movie territory. The problem is that the remarkable revelations don’t mesh with film’s grounded nature. As incredible as it may sound regarding an amnesia thriller, UNKNOWN’S plot isn’t silly enough to merit where it ends up taking the main character.

Grade: C

Hall Pass

2011-02-28T15:49:00.006-05:00

HALL PASS (Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly, 2011)

At first wandering eyes and rampant sex talk from married men Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) earn them withering looks and chastising from their wives. Eventually such juvenile behavior gets each of them a so-called “hall pass” from their spouses. They are given a guilt-free week off from their marital commitments to do as they please, including sleeping with other women if the opportunities present themselves.

Their disgusted wives Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate) are following the advice of a friend who suggests that Rick and Fred have inflated senses of their virility and attractiveness. The hall pass functions as a reverse psychology tool that will ultimately provide them with renewed appreciation for the relationships they have and disabuse them of their lustful manners.

While their wives are away, Rick and Fred hit the town with their gawking buddies to flex the old ladykilling muscles. Having envisioned seven days of debauchery, they check into a hotel to keep from soiling their homes, but in reality these two talk a bigger game than they can play. They prove themselves inept at hitting on women. Most nights they’re ready to hit the sack well before last call.

Despite their incompetent flirting, Rick appears to be making some headway with Australian barista Leigh (Nicky Whelan) while Fred’s desperation lowers his initially high selectivity. Meanwhile, Maggie and Grace are forced to examine their willingness to grant the hall passes when they find guys putting the moves on them.

HALL PASS directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly, who are also among the four credited screenwriters, have made a career finding humanity among the crude and outrageous. Amid the puerile gags in THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, KINGPIN, and DUMB AND DUMBER, the films also possess a generosity of spirit for the foolish characters. HALL PASS features the Farrellys’ familiar combination of vulgarity and sweetness, but this time around the brothers mostly miss the mark.

HALL PASS plays like a third or fourth sequel to THE HANGOVER filtered through cheap pop psychology. Stale bits about marijuana brownies and masturbation come across as the last refuges of the creatively exhausted. While the film elicits occasional laughs, especially in the uproarious end credits sequence with Stephen Merchant, oftentimes it feels like the jokes are more restrained or halfhearted. That old touch isn’t absent, though. Leave it to the Farrellys to deliver a quality explosive diarrhea joke.

HALL PASS’S premise sounds like something out of a here today, gone tomorrow self-help bestseller making the rounds on morning TV shows. Thankfully it’s treated with about the same seriousness since the running joke is that Maggie and Grace haven’t really risked anything in unleashing their big talking husbands.

The problem is that, like this year’s THE DILEMMA and NO STRINGS ATTACHED, HALL PASS dodges to some degree the issue at the heart of this relationship comedy. Why must these men make such displays of their attraction to other women while in the presence of their wives, and why is the solution to have the couples communicate even less? The film doesn’t need scenes of them meeting with a counselor, but it could stand to have more interaction between husbands and wives, if merely to observe the embarrassment these men are causing.

The main cast is likable, maybe too much so as the boys embark on a week of attempted horndogging that is intended to be their undoing while the girls sit back satisfied in their superiority. Wilson delivers an amiable, low key performance that suggests Rick’s wrongs owe more to thoughtlessness and guilt by association. He seems too decent to find himself in this predicament. For all of Fred’s bluster, Sudeikis isn’t a creep as much as he is trying to live up to society’s image of masculinity. Their inherent harmlessness counteracts with the film’s need to take them down a couple pegs.

As the guys’ legendary womanizing friend Coakley, Richard Jenkins brings the sleaziness that HALL PASS is eager to poke fun at but doesn’t dare invest in the leads. In his very funny pick-up artist role Jenkins reeks of patheticalness like the trendy body spray he’s surely drenched in.

Although it’s refreshing that Fischer and Applegate are appealing and loving wives rather than ballbusters, they’re given so little to do and shoehorned into some dumb subplots that their efforts are squandered.

With HALL PASS the Farrellys strive to cut loose like they first did seventeen years ago, but the film’s slack nature feels like they are growing out of the gross-out humor game. Until a dose of cold reality,Rick and Fred hang onto fantasies better left in the past. The question is if the Farrellys need a similar intervention to realize they should move on from their crude younger days or if they’re better off channeling their comedic energies differently. The middle ground, at least in this instance, doesn’t really suit them.

Grade: C-

2011 Oscar Predictions

2011-02-27T12:09:00.006-05:00

Since it would be shirking my duties as a film writer not to publish my predictions of the winners at tonight's Academy Awards, I present them now. If you are in a pool with me--for entertainment purposes only, of course--no copying!

Best Picture: The King's Speech

Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Ten years ago I think the winners of the headline prizes held more potential surprises, in part because there wasn't nearly as much tracking and discussion of such stuff online. Now anyone who pays attention can reliably predict at least four of these six awards, if not five. I'm not buying into the backlash at Melissa Leo because of the glam For Your Consideration ads she took out, but that casts a smidgen of doubt on my selection of her. Splitting the oft-linked wins between Director and Picture doesn't feel like as big of a risk as it usually is. It could be what makes or breaks my sheet since these categories deliver more points in the pool I participate in.

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network

Best Original Screenplay: The King's Speech

Best Cinematography: True Grit

Best Film Editing: The Social Network

Best Sound Editing: Inception

Best Sound Mixing: The King's Speech

Best Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland

Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland

Best Makeup: The Wolfman

Best Visual Effects: Inception

Best Original Score: The King's Speech

Best Original Song: "Coming Home", Country Strong

The guild categories (plus music) are where the pool winners and losers will be separated. While some of these seem clear cut--the screenplay categories are likely locks--it gets trickier after that. Whether it's true or not, my perception is that a "spread the wealth" mentality has been eroding. That's what has me less certain of True Grit in Cinematography. The King's Speech is nominated in both categories I have Alice in Wonderland winning, but my gut tells me that the Oscars will go to the film with the Most Apparent Art Direction and Costume Design.

I'm taking a flier on Best Original Song. The Country Strong nominee is the only one I can claim to know at all, but maybe that's because it's the most recent one of the bunch I've seen. More importantly, while most probably have the impression that animated films have dominated, it's been nine years since a song from an animated film won ("If I Didn't Have You", Monsters, Inc.). That could mean I'm backing the wrong one--just watch the 127 Hours song win--but "Coming Home" seems like a radio- and Grammy-friendly track tailor-made to win awards.

Best Documentary: Inside Job

Best Foreign Language Film: Haevnen (In a Better World)

Best Animated Film: Toy Story 3

Best Animated Short: The Gruffalo

Best Documentary Short: Strangers No More

Best Live Action Short: Na Wewe

Aside from Animated Film, which is a sure thing, the rest of these come down to shots in the dark. This is especially true of the shorts. Seeing them isn't necessarily helpful. Last year I saw the Animated Shorts and whiffed on the winner. This year I've seen the Live Action Shorts and think God of Love is unquestionably better than all of the others, but I'm going with Na Wewe because it seems "important" and is better than the mediocre other three.

The breakdown of predicted feature film winners:

5 - The King's Speech

3 - The Social Network

2 - Alice in Wonderland

2 - The Fighter

1 - Black Swan

1 - Country Strong

1 - In a Better World

1 - Inception

1 - Inside Job

1 - Toy Story 3

1 - True Grit

1 - The Wolfman

Post-awards update: Looks like I made 17 correct picks out of 24, which was good enough to win the pool I was in. (Since each category was worth various points, I needed the fourth tiebreaker--show length--to win the prize.) If I hadn't split Picture and Director, I would have connected on all six major categories.

The surprising difference--and what put me in an early lead--was Leo's win. The majority picked Steinfeld, likely from Entertainment Weekly inexplicably putting her as the favorite.

So much for "research", though. I blew the Live Action Shorts category, although I was happy to see the best one win. Recent history for Best Original Song winners went out the window with the Randy Newman song netting him a rare victory. (Also, were those about as forgettable of a bunch of songs as you could have?) I read somewhere that the Sound categories had been divided in recent years by Sound Editing favoring a blockbuster type and Sound Mixing going to the Best Picture. The latter didn't hold true this year.

On year-end awards

2011-02-26T20:59:00.004-05:00

When the calendar turns to early December, year-end film awards begin spreading like wildfire across the entertainment media landscape. Whether such honors are bestowed by critics in the biggest cities and longstanding organizations or cinephiles in little-known groups, there is no shortage of these best-of lists. Regardless of all the ink and pixels devoted to these laudatory announcements, what impact they have, be it on box office, Oscar nominations, or filmmaker egos, is hard to say, although I'm inclined to believe it's insignificant on a large scale.

As someone who participates in polls for the Online Film Critics Society, the Central Ohio Film Critics Association, and the Muriel Awards, I can say that it's a fun way of synthesizing a year at the movies even when it can be a frustrating process. Consider it a way for us film writers and movie lovers to engage in imaginary play as Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members in the same way that fantasy sports owners manage teams. The difference is that the outcomes of our games come with internationally distributed press releases whose results may be employed in ads.

I see a lot of movies, so I enjoy putting my knowledge to use in these polls. The exercises aren't without their aggravations. I get irritated when it seems like my colleagues nominate exclusively from awards season openers and readers assume we're trying to predict Golden Globe and Oscar nominees. I would prefer to nominate what I feel is the best from the previous twelve months and leave it at that rather than filling out my sheet with gamesmanship in mind. I don't intend this as a swipe at anyone specifically or the groups in general. Everyone is free to vote as they see fit. I just wish my tastes could be expressed more in the winners.

That's where the Muriels is a salvation for me and my purist's ballot. The group of professional and amateur writers--or maybe paid and unpaid writers is the better phrasing--takes a more expansive view of the year in film. (It helps that the later deadline grants needed time to catch up on year-end platform releases.) Performances and films that wouldn't muster any consideration in awards season coverage aren't necessarily lost causes among Muriels voters.

This goes for overlooked and underappreciated work in mainstream films as well as arthouse and foreign titles. For example, my 2009 nomination ballot included EXTRACT'S Dustin Milligan in Best Supporting Performance, Male and TETRO for Best Cinematography. I could feel free to include both because I knew that such nominations didn't automatically equate to wasting those slots. As it turns out, I was on my own in nominating Milligan and one of seven supporting TETRO.

Whether my favorites come out on top or not, it's gratifying to see the thought put into the nominations--yes, even the head scratchers--and the essays that Muriels voters write about the winners. It's very satisfying for me to see the group recognize deserving work that, for whatever reason, never gains traction among the ad blitzes and campaigns. For instance, my two favorite supporting actress performances of 2010 also snagged the top two spots in Muriels voting, which somewhat remedies their near absence in the awards conversation. Such wins also confirm that these awards reflect a passion for cinema, something that gets lost too often in the incresasingly industry-dominated, year-long chatter.

As the season comes to a close with tomorrow night's Academy Awards ceremony, I encourage you to check out the slow roll-out of this year's Muriels. They're not to be treated as alternative Oscars--in fact, some category winners may be in agreement--but the results and idiosyncratic nominations ought to give cinephiles plenty of suggestions for films to search out. And isn't that the whole reason for doing this anyway?

The Company Men

2011-02-15T12:17:00.003-05:00

THE COMPANY MEN (John Wells, 2010)

The reach of the economic crisis extends even into the executive offices in THE COMPANY MEN. The drama focuses on three high level corporate workers who find themselves unemployed when their company’s stock prices need to be goosed. After all, cutting employees is viewed as the fast track to improving the bottom line.

Sales manager Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) initially refuses to alter his ways after losing his six-figure job. He shows up at the outplacement services office confident that, unlike his fellow white collar cubicle companions, he’ll find new work in no time. As the weeks stretch into months, Bobby grudgingly accepts the reality of his situation. Not only is his family’s lifestyle and home too extravagant to maintain while he searches for a job, but they likely won’t be able to keep up with their previous standard when he does get one.

Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) is a company lifer who started on the factory floor and worked his way into a major position. Being laid off hits him extremely hard. Then he’s walloped with the fact that at sixty his age and hard-living appearance are liabilities that may keep him from returning to anything close to what he’s used to doing.

Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) was in on the ground floor when starting the then-shipbuilding company with his friend, the current CEO James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson), yet he’s considered expendable too.

THE COMPANY MEN means well in addressing the hardships that come with losing one’s job, particularly in this economy. There’s an air of resignation hanging over the film as these men confront their powerlessness and inadequacies upon being deprived of something that has defined who they are.

The most poignant moments aren’t visible in outbursts but in how they carry on as though still employed so that family, friends, and neighbors don’t pity them. For Bobby the greatest pains are in realizing that his blue collar brother-in-law Jack (Kevin Costner) is kicking him some extra money in his paycheck and that his son returned a gift because he knows the family can’t afford it.

Writer-director John Wells captures these details well. From the embarrassment of knowing one can’t provide for those you love and the indignity of learning that one’s skill set isn’t unique or in high demand, THE COMPANY MEN observes how unemployment can bring death by a thousand small cuts rather than one major one.

Wells displays a light touch in depicting the adversities these men face. He doesn’t linger on their shame and anger but lets such feelings seep into the performances. Wells also doesn’t hammer his larger points. When Bobby’s brother-in-law asks him if the CEO works hard enough to deserve to be compensated seven hundred times more than the guys on the low end, it calls out the gross inequity of business today without making a scene. Gene mourns the decline of manufacturing and bristles at the blind adherence to Wall Street’s lead.

Nevertheless, THE COMPANY MEN could stand to express a little righteous fury. The film is often so low key that it ignores the urgency pressing down on Bobby and Phil. While the point of telling this story through three main characters is to examine the differences in their circumstances, the impact is often diluted. The loss of status and security for the wealthy is a reasonable premise for a film, but concentrating on individuals pulling in stacks of money like these people once made weakens the audience’s emotional connection in this instance. It’s harder to feel sorry for those who now can’t afford country club dues or biding time until stock options can be cashed in.

Grade: C

The Illusionist (L'Illusionniste)

2011-02-14T11:27:00.002-05:00

THE ILLUSIONIST (L’ILLUSIONNISTE) (Sylvain Chomet, 2010)

Based on an original unproduced screenplay by legendary French filmmaker Jacques Tati, THE ILLUSIONIST tells the story of an old sleight of hand magician as he strives to maintain a career that is going out of style. The days of vaudeville and music halls are waning in the late 1950s, so the illusionist takes whatever small jobs he can find.

One gig brings him to a Scottish pub where he’s practically second fiddle to the newly installed electricity. There he meets the teenager Alice, who works at the pub and is delighted by his tricks. After giving her a much-needed new pair of shoes, she decides to accompany him as he seeks employment in Edinburgh. They check into a ramshackle hotel populated with his fellow struggling entertainers and wait to see what may come of their futures.

Adapted and directed by Sylvain Chomet, THE ILLUSIONIST is the next best thing to a new Tati movie. The main character is modeled on the comic actor, and the film follows the themes, tone, and almost wordless style of his cinematic masterpieces.

While a through line emerges, THE ILLUSIONIST often plays out as a succession of small setpieces packed with charm. Many of these scenes involve improvising within a closed environment, whether it’s finding a way to bide time while waiting to take the stage, coming up with novel methods for painting a billboard, or performing in front of a less than riveted audience. As in Tati’s classics, the humor brings forth gentle smiles more than big laughs, but the accumulation of droll enchantments is just as satisfying.

While Tati’s fingerprints are all over the film, this remains undeniably Chomet’s work. THE ILLUSIONIST’S wistfulness regarding changing times and fashions could just as well apply to the hand-drawn style of animation in which the film is lovingly rendered.

This bittersweet tale does not argue against progress. Much of the film is concerned with transitional stages and discovering what wonders these changes bring. Yet THE ILLUSIONIST also urges for retaining old ways and the beauty and magic that is lost when such things are abandoned. Whether it’s this film’s lovely animation or a variety entertainer’s craft, to dispose of these pleasures in the endless quest for the next best thing is to limit the creative possibilities.

Grade: B

Just Go With It

2011-02-12T12:00:00.001-05:00

JUST GO WITH IT (Dennis Dugan, 2011)

In JUST GO WITH IT Danny (Adam Sandler) detects that wearing a wedding ring and concocting a tale of marital woe is just the ticket for hooking up with any hottie possessing a scintilla of sensitivity. Danny is a plastic surgeon who’s been using this knowledge with great success for more than twenty years.

His technique backfires on him, though, when school teacher Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) finds the ring after a romantic night together on the beach. When he explains that he’s getting a divorce, she insists on meeting his wife to verify the story. Danny bribes his assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) to pose as his spouse. The matter seems to be taken care of, but an ill-timed phone call leaves Palmer with the impression that Danny and Katherine have two kids whom she’d also like to meet.

Lies pile upon lies. To keep up the charade Danny books a trip to Hawaii with Palmer, Katherine, her kids, and his cousin Eddie (Nick Swardson), who pretends to be Katherine’s German lover.

JUST GO WITH IT is an extraordinarily bad match of star and material. Sandler has never been the most energetic screen presence, and his films usually lope along so he doesn’t have to expend too much effort. JUST GO WITH IT, though, is a farce and needs to run at a high speed. The slack pace, as evidenced by its nearly two hour running time, kills any potential humor found in this comedy of deceptions and misunderstandings. The premise practically begs for a flurry of zingers. Instead the screenplay and performances offer soft volleys and returns.

An underlying anger and cruelty exists in Sandler’s films, but except for the movies made with those outside his usual collaborators, he’s too concerned with being likable to let that unfiltered meanness rise to the surface. Again, that makes JUST GO WITH IT a bad fit. This premise requires some acid in the jokes. It certainly has contempt for several of the characters, but the tone here is sickly sweet and sentimental even though nothing about the plot is.

It doesn’t help that the characters come off as beyond stupid. The lies told are never believable and become even more improbable as they escalate. To top it off, JUST GO WITH IT revels in its obnoxiousness, like the little girl who mostly speaks in an exaggerated British accent, and its laziness. Between this and GROWN UPS, it seems like Sandler’s movies are an excuse to subsidize his vacations with friends on screen. Heaven help us when this becomes too much for him and he turns to releasing his home movies with beautiful women fawning over him.

Grade: D-

The Roommate

2011-02-11T12:16:00.001-05:00

THE ROOMMATE (Christian E. Christiansen, 2011)

In THE ROOMMATE Iowa native Sara Matthews (Minka Kelly) arrives in Los Angeles ready to study fashion design and find a more exciting life than the one she left behind in Des Moines. Her first night on campus she makes some friends and meets Stephen (Cam Gigandet), a cute guy who plays in a band. Everything in her new surroundings is looking up, even when it comes to the uncertainty about who she’ll be sharing a dorm room with.

Her roommate Rebecca (Leighton Meester) seems nice enough, and the two of them cement their friendship through interests in clothes and art. Rebecca does tend to be clingy and overprotective of her new friend, but her heart seems to be in the right place. As time goes by, though, Rebecca’s attachment to Sara begins to look more sinister.

Most college students don’t know the people they are assigned to live with as freshmen, so the potential exists for being paired with someone who may be weird or unstable. THE ROOMMATE has the seed of a promising thriller in its premise yet never taps into the anxiety of discovering that the person designated to share your space makes you uncomfortable.

The film’s primary mistake is in giving Sara far too much freedom and alternative living arrangements if things sour between her and Rebecca. Rather than experiencing the culture clash of the heartland versus L.A. and not knowing anyone in her new home, Sara takes like a fish to water to the big city and can move in with a boyfriend or a fashion designer friend with an empty condo if the dormitory isn’t hospitable.

If THE ROOMMATE is to nurture any fear, it has to make Sara feel isolated and alone, not only so she turns to Rebecca for support but also so she feels like she lacks options when her roommate freaks her out. Clearly the outgoing and popular Sara never is aware of such loneliness or doubt, and her experiences never feel like those of a typical college freshman, even when accounting for the movie universe. She might have well met Rebecca via Craigslist.

THE ROOMMATE further cuts all tension with performances that are pretty terrible across the board. Both Kelly and Meester play their roles at surface level, resulting in the former coming off as exceptionally dumb and the latter as self-evidently out of her mind.

THE ROOMMATE is little more than SINGLE WHITE FEMALE: THE COLLEGE YEARS, so nuance isn’t exactly expected from this pulpy story. Still, even when aiming for trashy fun, the plot ought to be invested with some gravity and firmer commitment to the core idea of a disturbed young woman obsessed with her roommate. The film flits around its concept and doesn’t seem awfully interested in it. THE ROOMMATE is easy to watch garbage worth a few derisive laughs and little more.

Grade: D

Video essays of 2010 in Film

2011-02-10T14:24:00.004-05:00

I've been co-hosting and producing NOW PLAYING on WOCC TV3 since March 1997. For this year's Best and Worst of 2010 episode--our 369th, by the way--I decided that the time has arrived to post the pre-recorded segments on YouTube. So, if you'd rather watch the read about my Top 10, Honorable Mentions, and Worsts, now you can see them no matter where you are.

The Top 10

The Honorable Mentions of 2010

The Worst Films of 2010

The Best Films of 2010

2011-02-09T13:50:00.003-05:00

1. LOURDES (Jessica Hausner, 2009)

LOURDES asks what a miracle is, on whose terms one should be determined, and who is deserving of such a blessing. A marvelous Sylvie Testud plays a woman with severe multiple sclerosis who is healed while on a pilgrimage in the southwestern French town. Director Jessica Hausner observes with detached amusement and seriousness how this seeming miracle changes the individual and the crowd in typical and unexpected ways. LOURDES shows reverence to the mystery while skewering how people try to divine it.

2. INCEPTION (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

Dazzling in its conception and execution, INCEPTION continues Christopher Nolan’s reign as the maker of Hollywood’s brainiest and eye-popping films. This multi-layered leap into the dream world electrifies with its visual and narrative construction. Perhaps INCEPTION’S commercial and critical success will plant the idea that blockbusters don’t always have to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

3. TRUE GRIT (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 2010)

Joel and Ethan Coen settle into a vintage western remake that also has room for their signature quirks and humor. TRUE GRIT may be the most classical Hollywood film the brothers have made, but they’ve invested it with a great deal of craftsmanship and personality too. The performances are outstanding across the board. Hailee Steinfeld carries herself well with the immature certainty of youth while while Jeff Bridges’ Dude-ified Rooster Cogburn keeps the laughs coming.

4. FOUR LIONS (Chris Morris, 2010)

Comedies don’t get any nervier than director Chris Morris’s FOUR LIONS, which is built on the exploits of bumbling Islamic terrorists in a cell near London. Boldness in and of itself in a comedy doesn’t mean the material is actually humorous; however, FOUR LIONS is packed with razor-sharp wordplay and glorious slapstick that make it an explosively funny and unsettling film.

5. EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP (Banksy, 2010)

The brash and hilarious survey of the street art scene in the documentary EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP is enough to put one’s head spinning. Banksy, a celebrated graffiti artist and the film’s director, presents a quick history of this underground. Then he turns things around to discuss the nature of art, authorship, commerce, and hype. You never know when the rug will be pulled out below you in this thought-provoking and highly entertaining film.

6. HADEWIJCH (Bruno Dumont, 2009)

HADEWIJCH delves into its study of religious ecstasy and confusion with uncommon thoughtfulness. Julie Sokolowski delivers a great performance as a young woman working to make her proud displays of faith more humble, especially after she is sent from a cloistered life back into society. Her religious belief and assurance is powerfully examined as a lifelong dialogue instead of a simple choice that ends the conversation.

7. TOY STORY 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010)

The well is usually long dry by the time of the third film in a series, but the creative minds at Pixar again prove themselves an exception to the rule. TOY STORY 3 brings what should be a fitting conclusion to the adventures of Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the crew in this breakneck action picture and affecting meditation on family.

8. NEVER LET ME GO (Mark Romanek, 2010)

Spanning 1978 to 1994, NEVER LET ME GO tracks three special children who grow up together in a boarding school. In his skillful adaptation of the fantastic Kazuo Ishiguro novel, screenwriter Alex Garland reveals the secret about these characters basically from the outset, yet the underlying science fiction aspect is treated as a canvas for the relationships and emotional turmoil instead of being the main focus. NEVER LET ME GO can be about the soul, technological innovation, media messaging, or any number of things beyond what the plot spells out. Still, the main story regarding love and purpose plays as its own kind of beautiful heartbreak.

9. THE TILLMAN STORY (Amir Bar-Lev, 2010)

THE TILLMAN STORY is a tough and principled documentary about a family’s loss, their persistent search for the truth, and the manufacturing of myths and heroes. Pat Tillman did the unthinkable for a professional athlete. Months after the September 11, 2001 attacks, he left a lucrative career in the National Football League to become an Army Ranger. Tillman refused to explain his motivation for the choice. After he was killed in action, the official report told of a heroic battlefield death that didn’t mesh with the covered-up facts. Tillman became a symbol for the war that he never wished to be. In telling the story of his family’s pursuit for answers, director Amir Bar-Lev also explores our need for unquestionable heroes and how creating them is a disservice to them.

10. MARWENCOL (Jeff Malmberg, 2010)

The documentary MARWENCOL reveals the imaginative creations that bloomed out of tragedy and need for one man. After being assaulted Mark Hogamcamp lost his memory and turned to a unique way of rediscovering his identity and trying to recover. In his yard Hogancamp builds a World War II-era Belgian town he dubs Marwencol and fills its with dolls that function as the the alter egos of himself and those important to him. Director Jeff Malmberg provides a deeply empathetic view of loneliness and powerful evidence of art as an outlet. He also exercises restraint and displays respect for Hogancamp as he freely and frequently talks about the pain of being alone. This artist born out of necessity discusses his Marwencolian representation and imaginary world with a depth of feeling that most would reserve for real acquaintances. Some of the documentary’s most touching portions provide insight into the expressive and healing properties of the art on the creator.

2010 in Film: The Honorable Mentions

2011-02-09T13:24:00.005-05:00

BLACK SWAN (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)

BLACK SWAN merges the sexual hysteria of Roman Polanski’s REPULSION with the ballet drama of Powell and Pressburger’s THE RED SHOES and throws in a generous dollop of Cronenberg-like body horror for good measure. Director Darren Aronofsky’s lurid mixture of high and low art makes for an often intoxicating film about creative risk and personal development. Natalie Portman’s performance thrills with how she manifests her ballerina’s psychosis, swinging from delicate technical precision and emotional repression to bold, forceful expressions.

CARLOS (Olivier Assayas, 2010)

Although five and a half hours long, Olivier Assayas’s CARLOS is a brisk and absorbing study of the infamous Venezuelan terrorist known as The Jackal. A magnificent setpiece recreating the 1975 raid on OPEC headquarters in Vienna and Edgar Ramirez’s magnetic lead performance are among the treasures in a biopic stocked with plenty to unpack regarding global and personal politics and how their tides shift.

CATFISH (Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, 2010)

Whether CATFISH is or is not a documentary--I don’t think it matters--it stands as a compelling look at the thrills and pitfalls of living in the social media age. The film follows its subject, one of the directors’ brothers, as online communications lead to emotional investment with a family hundreds of miles away and romance with one of the daughters. As doubt creeps in about the truth of the situation, the filmmakers make a surprise visit to find out who they’re talking to. The answers they find have a lot to say about what we’re seeking when we reach out to make connections over the internet.

EVERYONE ELSE (ALLE ANDEREN) (Maren Ade, 2009)

The exquisitely made EVERYONE ELSE is a painfully observed exploration of a relationship and each person’s culpability when it frays. In watching how people interact when they are alone, especially two who want to break away from the pack, the film is astonishingly keen in its intimate insights. As the couple, Birgit Minichmayr and Lars Eidinger do an extraordinary job of conveying the small ways people test and hurt the ones they love.

THE FIGHTER (David O. Russell, 2010)

In THE FIGHTER director David O. Russell tells the true story of underdog welterweight boxer Mickey Ward as part dysfunctional family comedy and part inspirational sports movie. A stellar supporting cast featuring Melissa Leo, Christian Bale, and Amy Adams often swipes scenes from Mark Wahlberg’s understated main character. Humming with humor and working class determination, THE FIGHTER finds that the most important sparring matches often occur outside the ring.

THE GHOST WRITER (Roman Polanski, 2010)

Co-writer/director Roman Polanski fashions THE GHOST WRITER as a '70s-styled potboiler bubbling with paranoia and conspiracy. This isn't CHINATOWN level work from Polanski, but THE GHOST WRITER still succeeds as an above-average thriller that dabbles in the political and the personal. A ghost writer's purpose is to tell someone else's story in that person's voice. As co-writer and director Polanski gets to speak for himself through the film, but for all of it's mirroring of real life circumstances, THE GHOST WRITER'S shrouded revelations are ever transitory.

GOING THE DISTANCE (Nanette Burstein, 2010)

GOING THE DISTANCE is a consistently funny romantic comedy, which is rare enough. It also possesses the wisdom to explore the natural challenges in Drew Barrymore and Justin Long’s bicoastal romance rather than contriving conflicts. Although the set-up is familiar, the film’s warmth, vulnerability, emotional truth, and raunchiness distinguish it from the pack of so-called love stories.

GREENBERG (Noah Baumbach, 2010)

Writer-director Noah Baumbach’s dramedy GREENBERG is a deeply felt observation of flawed individuals trying to cope with life’s problems. Ben Stiller does some of his finest cinematic work as the prickly and self-sabotaging title character. The performance requires looking beyond the surface to see a wounded soul who believes he can only feel better by making others miserable. Greta Gerwig matches Stiller’s performance with a turn that shows how awkward and unguarded optimism can survive among disappointment and sadness.

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (Lisa Cholodenko, 2010)

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT overdoes it in laying out its themes in the final act, but nevertheless, writer-director Lisa Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg have crafted a funny and generous film about family ties. Although gay spouses anchor the film, it illuminates the universal strains that come with coupledom and parenting rather than speaking to anything specific to sexual orientation. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT finds gentle laughs among and enormous sympathy for the trials of family.

MOTHER (MADEO) (Bong Joon-ho, 2009)

MOTHER co-writer and director Bong Joon-ho assembles an expertly constructed thriller with a surprisingly deep well of emotion and ribbons of humor. Kim Hye-ja’s remarkable performance speaks to the fierce devotion and love that a parent can exhibit when protecting a child.

PLEASE GIVE (Nicole Holofcener, 2010)

Writer-director Nicole Holofcener’s PLEASE GIVE humorously grapples with the problems of the fortunate, particularly those burdened with white liberal guilt. PLEASE GIVE shares a comedic sensibility with Woody Allen’s films while taking a female perspective on ordinary family problems, fear of mortality, self-image issues, and the illusion of control one has in life.

SHUTTER ISLAND (Martin Scorsese, 2010)

SHUTTER ISLAND is Martin Scorsese’s sublime version of a 1950s Hollywood thriller. It’s a treat to see one of the all-time greats having fun with a genre film. Scorsese utilizes the overheated tone and vivid colors produced in Robert Richardson’s cinematography to ratchet up the suspense unlike few can.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK (David Fincher, 2010)

THE SOCIAL NETWORK is as elegant and brilliant as a well-written line of code. Director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's fictionalized account of Facebook’s founding dives into some of today’s big questions brought about by technological advancements and boasts a complex and masterful lead performance from Jesse Eisenberg. The script provides the foundation for a hugely entertaining drama that has a fair share of big laugh lines. Fincher’s smooth direction guides us through complicated legal proceedings and a social world not nearly as neatly organized as a social media tree.

SOMEWHERE (Sofia Coppola, 2010)

Although SOMEWHERE throbs with dissatisfaction and longing for purpose, writer-director Sofia Coppola’s film reveals itself as a dryly funny meditation on being adrift in Hollywood. Coppola sympathizes with a movie star’s burdens while observing the inherent absurdity of the profession. Elle Fanning shines as the daughter who helps routine-stuck father Stephen Dorff emerge from his privileged and suffocating cocoon.

WILD GRASS (LES HERBES FOLLES) (Alain Resnais, 2009)

When WILD GRASS was released, French director Alain Resnais was 87 years old and 48 years removed from when his classic LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD debuted, yet his ability to confound hasn’t dimmed. In this puckish and unpredictable romantic comedy-drama-mystery, meaning is elusive as ever, but WILD GRASS is a delight from beginning to end, especially the inscrutable ending.

WINTER’S BONE (Debra Granik, 2010)

Co-writer/director Debra Granik captures an outstanding sense of place yet never condescends in the Ozarks noir WINTER’S BONE. Jennifer Lawrence gives a terrific lead performance as a teenager who embarks on a harrowing journey in search of her no-good father so as to save the family’s house.

The Worst Films of 2010

2011-02-09T12:49:00.008-05:00

1. THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE) (Tom Six, 2009)

The most notorious film of 2010, at least among cinephiles on the internet, was also the year’s worst. Like a carnival barker, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE entices the adventurous with the promise of a repulsive display that begs to be seen but fails in its delivery of gory one-upmanship. The film’s most shocking quality is it’s capacity to bore. THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE is a repellent film, but that's exactly the condemnation it needs to advance its reputation as a transgressive work. Being disreputable is the film's only distinguishing characteristic, even if in this case its offenses have been overhyped to Barnum-esque proportions successfully enough that a sequel is in the works.

2. TRASH HUMPERS (Harmony Korine, 2009)

TRASH HUMPERS, from cinematic agitator Harmony Korine, is a tiresome example of shock for shock’s sake. Shot on VHS and edited to resemble a weird, grubby found videotape, it’s a bunch of performance art nonsense with the director and others in old people masks humping garbage and vandalizing. Just because it’s outré doesn’t mean it’s profound or artful.

3. ENTER THE VOID (Gaspar Noe, 2010)

French provocateur Gaspar Noe’s ENTER THE VOID certainly doesn’t lack ambition. This psychedelic, first person perspective of a young drug dealer’s death, voyage into the hereafter, and rebirth is artistically indulgent in the worst way. With the camera floating around Tokyo, watching ENTER THE VOID is like seeing a sexed-up two and a half hour loop of the old Dolby Digital Broadway promo while on heavy depressants and hallucinogens.

4. JONAH HEX (Jimmy Hayward, 2010)

The adaptation of the graphic novel JONAH HEX was the most ineptly made major studio film of the year. Like PUSHING DAISIES' Ned without the delicious pie-making skills, Josh Brolin's disfigured anithero can resurrect and speak with the dead for a few moments, but making the film comprehensible at all is beyond his powers or anyone else’s powers. JONAH HEX isn’t merely bad; it’s flat out incompetent.

5. THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO’S POND (Gabriel Bologna, 2009)

That the Z-grade horror film THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO’S POND managed to swing a theatrical release is something of a miracle. This is more like a cheap knock-off found in the DVD bargain bin than a multiplex. A despicable group of young, bland, and obnoxious people are stuck on an island playing an evil board game that predictably leads to most of them being killed. The murky visuals and number of scenes reliant on ponderous dialogue show every bit of its low budget on the screen.

6. THE VIRGINITY HIT (Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland, 2010)

The hugely off-putting teensploitation comedy THE VIRGINITY HIT purports to be a documentary about a hateful group of friends seeking to document the last of the bunch having sex for the first time. The premise itself isn’t drastically different from other teen sex comedies, but what makes it truly insufferable is the conceit that these are real home videos of their adolescent shenanigans. For these characters, personal privacy and intimacy are just obstacles to putting every experience on YouTube.

7. THE WARRIOR’S WAY (Sngmoo Lee, 2010)

THE WARRIOR’S WAY mashes up genres and styles in an unlikely and catastrophic manner. Imagine a martial arts western as directed by a Prozac-addled Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Imagine how terrible that sounds, even with some late arriving ninjas. That’s THE WARRIOR’S WAY.

8. THE NUTCRACKER IN 3D (Andrey Konchalovskiy, 2010)

The hideous poster for THE NUTCRACKER IN 3D practically promised that it would be one of the year’s worst. Call it truth in marketing, even if that surely wasn’t the intent. Unfortunately this adaptation of the classic ballet is just a dull, badly conceived, effects-heavy farrago than the amusingly terrible movie I’d hoped for. Still, it does have Nathan Lane playing Einstein, or someone suspiciously close to him, and an impending toy holocaust that is sure to horrify any kids with the bad luck to see it.

9. CATS & DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE (Brad Peyton, 2010)

I can’t imagine any poor souls were holding their breath for nine years in anticipation of a CATS & DOGS sequel, but 2010 produced this inessential follow-up anyway. As the titles suggests, CATS & DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE is a lame spy movie parody with talking animals. Does it recycle all the tired cliches one expects? You bet.

10. SEX AND THE CITY 2 (Michael Patrick King, 2010)

SEX AND THE CITY 2 takes self-absorption in front of and behind the camera to new levels. The comedy represents all of the worst stereotypes of Americans at home and abroad. It’s an amazingly tone deaf film with the audacity to pat the nation’s mothers on the head when two of the spoiled characters bemoan the weight of parenting without a nanny. The critics heaped scorn on SEX AND THE CITY 2, and it was all deserved. But never mind that. SHOES!!!

Somewhere

2011-02-01T12:25:00.000-05:00

SOMEWHERE (Sofia Coppola, 2010)

Holed up in the famous West Hollywood hotel Chateau Marmont, movie star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) floats through his days with an abundant supply of cigarettes, alcohol, and women wanting to sleep with him. Occasionally work interrupts his unhurried daily routine, but posing for publicity photos, fielding inane interviews questions, and sitting for a prosthetic mask fitting aren’t the most demanding or energizing tasks.

Johnny is in a rut, and the circumstances encourage him to stay in it. He’s acquired enough fame and money that he can have whatever he wants. By all appearances he doesn’t get much pleasure out of his good fortune, but there could be worse problems to have.

One day his willowy eleven-year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) is dropped off at his door. When her mother will return for her is uncertain. Johnny isn’t an uninterested father, but the impression is given that he doesn’t play the role of parent on a regular basis. As he and Cleo hang out, the emptiness in his life becomes more apparent to him.

SOMEWHERE writer-director Sofia Coppola’s body of work explores lives in suspended isolation. This marks her third consecutive film about privileged people living in gilded cages. So it’s fitting that SOMEWHERE opens in the desert with Johnny driving his sports car in circles. The image is an obvious one, yet it’s still an effective and efficient way of conveying the existential crisis nagging the protagonist. Whether it’s the career or race track, Johnny has the means and the horsepower at his service to venture off the courses he’s found himself on. Nevertheless, he can’t or won’t get out of the infinite loops.

Although the film throbs with dissatisfaction and longing for purpose, SOMEWHERE plays as a dryly funny meditation on being adrift in Hollywood. Coppola sympathizes with a movie star’s burdens while observing the absurdity of the profession. Johnny’s presence at the junket roundtable with foreign press seems almost unnecessary as they pepper him with stupid questions yet barely wait for his equally pointless answers. His photo shoot with a co-star puts him through the indignity of being propped up on a board to reach her height. Additionally, both of them have to smile their way through being in close proximity and fake enjoying one another’s company when she clearly resents how he treated her.

The peak of “I get paid for this?” ridiculousness comes as Johnny must sit still for forty minutes while he’s slathered with goop that he waits for it to harden into a mold of his head. The medium shot of him sitting there encased in it highlights the absurdity of it all.

Johnny’s connection with Cleo becomes his life raft and throws into sharp relief how he relates to the women around him. Almost without exception the women he encounters bend over backwards, literally and figuratively, to please him regardless of if he’s shown an interest in them. They don’t need him to be anything more than what they’ve seen on movie screens and in magazines. He doesn’t ask of them to be something beyond outlets for his sex drive.

Cleo’s presence doesn’t erase this behavior in himself or those offering themselves to him, but Johnny slowly awakens to the harmful example he may be setting for the girl who is counting on him to be more than a movie star. In a strong supporting performance, Fanning fills Cleo with unconditional affection for Johnny. It’s possible to understand how the innocence and love beaming from her could shake him out of his static life.

SOMEWHERE doesn’t really earn its ending. Whether it’s the screenplay’s small scale view of the character, Dorff’s limitations, or a combination of both, the resolution feels as though it’s been arrived at too quickly and easily. Regardless, SOMEWHERE finds Coppola mining similar territory and discovering new elements.

Grade: B+

Blue Valentine

2011-01-28T12:24:00.000-05:00

BLUE VALENTINE (Derek Cianfrance, 2010)

Two people don’t enter into a relationship with the expectation that it will develop into something in which both parties are unhappy, but inevitably that’s how some of them turn out. The drama BLUE VALENTINE crosscuts between the beginning of a romance between Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) and a few years into their rocky marriage.

When they meet he works for a Brooklyn moving company while she is a student with an eye toward becoming a doctor. The future seems full of potential. Years later Dean is a painter, a job that affords him the freedom to start the day with a drink, she’s a nurse, and they have a daughter. In what feels like an attempt to reignite a marriage whose passion and hope has been nearly extinguished, Dean books a room in an out-of-town theme motel to take them away from the problems at home.

BLUE VALENTINE’S structure sets up comparisons and contrasts of the way they were and how they are. While this stylistic choice allows for acknowledgment of the most glaring examples of how Dean and Cindy have changed, by eliminating the messy in between days, the film skips the crucial journey from happy times to marital dissatisfaction. Neither half is instructive regarding the other. Knowing where the relationship is headed lends bittersweet notes to the scenes from the past, but the conclusions BLUE VALENTINE draws ultimately feel pat.

It doesn’t help that scenes from the start of their relationship suggest that they were never an ideal pair. The seeds of a romance that will turn rancid are visible early on. The film often seems less than charitable to Cindy and favorable toward Dean, which doesn’t add up if it is director and co-writer Derek Cianfrance’s intention.

Gosling and Williams deliver good, full-bodied performances that make BLUE VALENTINE impossible to dismiss completely. Dean playing his ukulele and singing to Cindy while she humors him and his proud presentation of a song that can be exclusively theirs show the tenderness and charm these two are capable of. The contrast is especially jarring when seeing them as hardened shells of individuals alone together and going through the motions of a loving couple in a cheap motel room. Gosling and Williams work hard to depict how much these people have fallen out of love. If only the screenplay had provided more of a foundation for sharing the pain in their crumbling relationship.

Grade: C

Marwencol

2011-01-27T12:33:00.000-05:00

MARWENCOL (Jeff Malmberg, 2010)

The documentary MARWENCOL reveals the imaginative creations that bloomed out of tragedy and need for one man. On April 8, 2000 five men assaulted Mark Hogancamp outside a bar in Kingston, New York. He suffered brain damage, needed to have his face rebuilt, and was in a coma for nine days. Hogancamp also lost his memory of life before the incident.

Unable to afford therapy, he developed a unique way of rediscovering his identity and trying to recover. In his yard Hogancamp builds a World War II-era Belgian town he dubs Marwencol and fills its with dolls that function as the the alter egos of himself and those important to him. Hogancamp invests these dolls with his fantasies and photographs the scenes.

MARWENCOL provides a deeply empathetic view of loneliness and powerful evidence of art as an outlet. Director Jeff Malmberg exercises restraint and displays respect for Hogancamp as he freely and frequently talks about the pain of being alone. This artist born out of necessity discusses his alter ego and imaginary world with a depth of feeling that most would reserve for real acquaintances. Of course, the people in his one-sixth scale artistic fantasies do exist, but like his past, they cannot be accessed in the ways that he often desires.

Perhaps in a different vein Hogancamp’s channeled energies might come off as bordering on creepy, but within the context of self-therapy it seems like a healthy way to work out his demons. Some of the documentary’s most touching portions provide insight into the expressive and healing properties of the art on the creator. One storyline in his miniature world mirrors his attack. While it’s clear that the assault still haunts him, the Marwencol plot lets him manage his anger in a constructive way. The same applies to a secret revealed later on--and also echoed with his alter ego--that allows Hogancamp to feel more at ease about what makes him him.

A viewer of Hogancamp’s art remarks that the work distinguishes itself with its lack of irony. Malmberg’s documentary takes a great deal of care to duplicate that perspective on its subject. Hogancamp is not presented as a whimsical outsider with a monopoly on the answers to life’s problems or as an eccentric tortured genius. He’s simply a traumatized individual trying to do the best he can to pick up the pieces in a way that works for him and also happens to speak to others.

Grade: A

No Strings Attached

2011-01-26T15:04:00.004-05:00

NO STRINGS ATTACHED (Ivan Reitman, 2011)

To Adam (Ashton Kutcher) the proposal sounds too good to be true. Longtime acquaintance Emma (Natalie Portman) suggests that they become, to use a euphemism, friends with benefits. As the film’s title explains, they’ll have sex with no strings attached. They won’t go on dates or take vital roles in one another’s lives. Developing feelings, like post-coital cuddling, isn’t just discouraged but is strictly forbidden. They’ll use each other for sex. That’s it.

The pact seems ideal for Adam, who receives this offer after coming off a bender inspired by learning that his ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Ophelia Lovibond) is now sleeping with his dad (Kevin Kline). After such an emotionally traumatic experience, he can limit his vulnerability if involved with Emma in a purely physical way. Plus, he’s been interested in her since they attended summer camp together as kids.

As with most deals that defy belief, being best sex friends is more complicated than Adam anticipated. He feels jealous of a co-worker who pays her attention and begins to crave something akin to a dating relationship. Emma rebuffs the idea and encourages him to sleep with another woman so they won’t become too dependent on each other. Inevitably, though, Emma regrets pushing him into someone else’s embrace while remaining uncertain of what she wants.

NO STRINGS ATTACHED entices with its libertine premise about the joys of relationship-free sex, but the come-on is really just a lusty tease for a standard romantic comedy. Aside from an early montage of Kutcher and Portman coupling in beds, showers, and storage closets, Elizabeth Meriwether’s screenplay ditches the central conceit to get down to the business of making the leads acknowledge their love for each other.

The problem isn’t that NO STRINGS ATTACHED resolves itself in traditional moral terms but that it lacks the conviction to explore the very basis of the plot. A better version of the film might still arrive at the same conclusion while also considering the dynamics of a sex-based relationship free of emotional ties. NO STRINGS ATTACHED doesn’t allow room for such reflection. Rather, it sees two attractive people and decrees that they should be together happily ever after. Leave it to Joe Swanberg or the French to examine hook-up culture.

Then again, maybe a more thoughtful approach wouldn’t have worked because Portman’s character verges on having a full-blown personality disorder. Her refusal to develop close connections to anyone indicates issues beyond a mere desire for casually indulging in pleasures of the flesh. Emma is written crueler than Portman seems capable of playing her, which makes for a lighter film and a fine bit of irony with NO STRINGS ATTACHED coming on the heels of BLACK SWAN. She and Kutcher make an appealing on-screen pair, although not one with much spark or color. They seem like nice but boring people.

The more interesting characters are hidden in the margins, and director Ivan Reitman gets his money’s worth when briefly giving them the spotlight. Stuck in the sidekick zone are Greta Gerwig, Mindy Kaling, and Guy Branum as Emma’s fellow doctors and roommates, Olivia Thirlby as her engaged sister, and Jake Johnson and Ludacris as Adam’s pals. NO STRINGS ATTACHED tends to perk up and be funnier when the extensive supporting cast chimes in with their opinions about the predicament Adam and Emma have boxed themselves in. It even produces a greater sense of romantic longing missing in the main couple when the attention shifts to the hesitant and flirtatious interactions between Adam and his infatuated co-worker Lucy (Lake Bell).

Reitman guides NO STRINGS ATTACHED with an old pro’s workmanlike abilities, but when it comes to love, sex, or just a couple hours at the movies, achieving efficient competence isn’t the most satisfactory outcome.

Grade: C

The Dilemma

2011-01-14T18:30:00.002-05:00

THE DILEMMA (Ron Howard, 2011)

Best friends and business partners Ronny (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Kevin James) are in the middle of a major project that could make or break their auto design company when Ronny sees Nick’s wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) kissing another man. Ronny knows that Nick is already under a lot of pressure at work, so rather than drop the news on his friend, he attempts to fix the situation by talking to Geneva about it first.

When he confronts her, she threatens to to tell Nick about a one night stand she had with Ronny in college before she met her husband-to-be and lie about Ronny making advances on her for years. Due to the circumstances, Ronny can’t tell his longtime girlfriend Beth (Jennifer Connelly) what he knows, so his secretive behavior makes it appear as though his gambling problems have resurfaced.

Rather than the rollicking comedy that the ads make it out to be, THE DILEMMA is more along the lines of THE BREAK-UP, another dramedy starring Vaughn that took a tougher look at trust in relationships than most of its cinematic brethren do. Although not without laughs, THE DILEMMA seriously examines the movie cliché of swallowing a burning secret and the ill effects suffered from doing so. Consider it a corrective to the hundreds of films in which a simple misunderstanding or problem could be cleared up if one person would simply speak up.

In this case, Ronny doesn’t have an easy choice. Withholding the information is ruining Ronny’s peace of mind and relationship with his girlfriend, but if he tells Nick, particularly at this sensitive point in time, the truth could wreck their friendship and company. Plus, it comes to light that Nick and Geneva’s picture perfect marriage may not be as unblemished as it seems from the outside.

The barbed humor comes in observing the smooth-talking Vaughn take his lumps as he tries to figure out the right thing to do while backed into a corner. THE DILEMMA requires a director willing to indulge the dark comedy to its fullest. One name that style doesn’t bring to mind for the job is Ron Howard, yet that’s who is at the helm. Howard tries to tame the film into becoming more agreeable and leaven the discomfort with good cheer and silliness.

The clash in tones reaches its apex with Ronny’s awkward speech at the anniversary celebration for his girlfriend’s parents. The train wreck of a monologue could have been a terrific summation of the film’s theme, but the harsh and misguided sincerity in it has to be exaggerated to the point that no one would blurt out the things Ronny finds himself saying.

In spite of its commendable aspiration to put a nuanced spin on the value of truth-telling in relationships, THE DILEMMA struggles to be honest with itself as to its sober nature.

Grade: C+

Central Ohio Film Critics Association 2010 Awards

2011-01-11T10:41:00.005-05:00

For the 9th annual Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards party, I put together this piece featuring the winners and runners-up. The group's site also lists the 2010 winners, but this short delivers the information with a little more pizazz.

Country Strong

2011-01-09T12:31:00.001-05:00

COUNTRY STRONG (Shana Feste, 2010)

In COUNTRY STRONG country music star Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets yanked early from her rehab facility and put back on the road to perform a trio of comeback concerts across Texas. Kelly’s drunken antics on a Dallas stage resulted in a public relations fiasco, not the least of which is because the pregnant singer lost her baby in the incident.

Her husband-manager James (Tim McGraw) is eager to get Kelly back in front of her fans and push aside the tabloid covers. Joining her on the road are up-and-coming singer-songwriter Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund), a rehab worker Kelly became familiar with, and precocious beauty queen Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester).

COUNTRY STRONG is essentially a TNN or CMT original production with a bigger star than would appear in a TV movie. With her regal bearing, Paltrow might seem miscast, but since Kelly is more countrypolitan than down home, she acquits herself well enough in the thinly conceived role.

Even with Paltrow headlining as a Shania Twain-type superstar, writer-director Shana Feste seems uncertain just exactly who the film is about. Kelly influences much of what develops, yet she’s off screen for long stretches and incidental to the major thread regarding Beau and Chiles’ complicated but thoroughly uninteresting relationship.

Is COUNTRY STRONG a cautionary tale about the burdens of Kelly’s fame? Is it a catty backstage drama about the rivalry between a potentially falling and rising star? Is it merely a glimpse at the inner workings of the industry from the perspective of newcomers Beau and Chiles? Like an electronic gadget that can perform multiple tasks but none of them well, COUNTRY STRONG attempts to address a variety of pitfalls in the entertainment business but doesn’t deal with any of them satisfactorily. Feste needed to make a choice rather than cramming three movies into one.

With so many storylines battling for supremacy, COUNTRY STRONG never conveys who these people are and is often inconsistent in portraying them. Kelly speaks of how love and fame are incompatible, yet the film does little more than give glancing acknowledgement of the necessity of placing publicity above personal well-being. Beau is supposed to be a rebel with artistic integrity, but he is easily and willingly coopted by the machine. Chiles is established as an ambitious careerist, yet she’s far too passive and uncalculating in chasing the golden ring.

Among its muddled subplots COUNTRY STRONG credibly features a lot of music. Since none of the actors seem destined for the Grand Ole Opry, it doesn't hurt that they are essentially performing pop with pedal steel guitar than being called on to pass as hardcore country and western artists. Adopting a twang and putting on the right clothes help them look and sound the part, but without a more focused screenplay better grounded in the industry, they're really doing nothing more than playing dress up.

Grade: C-

Ranked 2011 Film List

2011-01-01T20:59:00.013-05:00

I attempted to keep two screening logs on this blog in 2010. The chronological list proved too daunting to keep up with, especially come the Cleveland International Film Festival, but I did manage to maintain the ranked film list. So this year I'm going to chuck the former and stick with the latter. It's probably more useful anyway.

Ranking of older films is more for informational purposes. It may or may not have any real apples-to-apples value.

Last year I experimented with the 100-point scale and liked it enough that I will stick with it. Letter grades will remain the official evaluations--it's what I use on the TV show--but I discovered that also using points allowed me to sort out the degree of my feelings about the films in question.

For what it's worth, 60 points equals the lowest total that still equates to a positive review.

A range=80-100, B range=60-79, C range=40-59, D range=20-39, F=0-19

Unrated means either that I felt I was too tired during the viewing (and may have dozed off) or that I did a sloppy job of record keeping and don't have a number available.

Last update: December 31, 2011
Total features: 331 (2011 qualifiers: 213)
Total shorts: 21

2011 Films

The Tree of Life - 96
Certified Copy - 92
Margaret - 90
Source Code - 87
Super 8 - 87
Take Shelter - 87
Melancholia - 85

Tabloid - 78
50/50 - 77
The Descendants - 77
Martha Marcy May Marlene - 75
Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux) - 75
War Horse - 75
Contagion - 74
Putty Hill - 74
Arthur Christmas (3D) - 73
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (3D) - 73
Hanna - 73
Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, a Tale of Life - 73
The Ides of March - 72
Beginners - 71
Crazy, Stupid, Love. - 70
The Interrupters - 70
J. Edgar - 69
Meek's Cutoff - 69
Midnight in Paris - 69
Senna - 69
Terri - 69
The Trip - 69
Cold Weather - 68
Project Nim - 68
Rise of the Planet of the Apes - 68
Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest - 67
Drive - 67
Friends with Benefits - 67
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D) - 67
The Robber (Der Räuber) - 67
The Arbor - 66
Buck - 66
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff - 66
Fright Night (3D) - 66
The Guard - 66
The Human Resources Manager - 66
Moneyball - 66
X-Men: First Class - 66
The Devil's Double - 65
The Help - 65
Hugo (3D) - 65
The Muppets - 65
The Thing - 65
Dolphin Tale - 64
Margin Call - 64
The Mechanic - 64
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - 64
Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles - 64
Submarine - 64
The Adventures of Tintin - 63
Hobo with a Shotgun - 63
Potiche - 63
Rubber - 63
Arthur - 62
Captain America: The First Avenger (3D) - 62
The Debt - 62
Everything Must Go - 62
Rampart - 62
We Bought a Zoo - 62
Winnie the Pooh - 62
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - 61
The Green Hornet (3D) - 61
Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires) - 61
The Housemaid (Hanyo) - 61
Puss in Boots - 61
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - 61
Water for Elephants - 61
The Adjustment Bureau - 60
African Cats - 60
Another Earth - 60
Footloose - 60
Limitless - 60
My Week with Marilyn - 60
Our Idiot Brother - 60
Paranormal Activity 3 - 60

Queen to Play (Joueuse) - 60
Real Steel - 60
Trust - 60
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil - 60
Win Win - 60

The Conspirator - 59
The Dilemma - 59
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 59
Jane Eyre - 59
The Rum Diary - 59
Young Adult - 59
Cars 2 (3D) - 58
A Good Old Fashioned Orgy - 58
Like Crazy - 58
The Lincoln Lawyer - 58
Page One: Inside the New York Times - 58
A Somewhat Gentle Man (En ganske snill mann) - 58
Weekend - 58
Attack the Block - 57
Bridesmaids - 57
Glee: The 3D Concert Movie - 57
The Oscar Nominated Shorts 2011: Live-Action - 57
Restless - 57
Kung Fu Panda 2 - 56
Rio - 56
Machine Gun Preacher - 55
Sarah's Key (Elle s'appelait Sarah) - 55
Something Borrowed - 55
Tower Heist - 55
Cracks - 54
Rango - 54
Born to Be Wild (IMAX 3D) - 53
The Big Year - 52
The Eagle - 52
Larry Crowne - 52
Straw Dogs - 52
Warrior - 52
I Am Number Four - 51
Immortals - 51
Fast Five - 50
The Hedgehog (Le hérisson) - 50
I Don't Know How She Does It -50
Miral - 50
Point Blank (À bout portant) - 50
Scream 4 - 50
Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Loong Boonmee raleuk chat) - 50
Life in a Day - 49
Paul - 49
POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold - 49
The Princess of Montpensier (La princesse de Montpensier) - 49
Special Treatment (Sans queue ni tête) - 49
Bad Teacher - 48
Jack and Jill - 48
Mars Needs Moms (3D) - 48
No Strings Attached - 48
The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito) - 48
Unknown - 48
What's Your Number? - 48
Your Highness - 48
Film socialisme - 47
Green Lantern (3D) - 47
Happy Feet Two - 47
Life, Above All - 47
The Rite - 47
The Beaver - 46
Blank City - 46
Carancho - 46
Cedar Rapids - 46
Incendies - 46
The Sitter - 46
Soul Surfer - 46
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas - 46
Gnomeo & Juliet - 45
In Time - 45
I Saw the Devil (Akmareul boatda) - 45
Last Night - 45
Mozart's Sister (Nannerl, la soeur de Mozart) - 45
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) - 45
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (3D) - 45
Cowboys & Aliens - 44
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (Di Renjie) - 44
In a Better World (Hævnen) - 44
Super - 44
Take Me Home Tonight - 44
The Three Musketeers (3D) - 44
A Little Help - 43
Mr. Popper's Penguins - 43
Sucker Punch - 43
Texas Killing Fields - 43
Anonymous - 42
Black Death - 42
Delhi Belly - 42
Drive Angry (3D) - 42
Hall Pass - 42
The Hangover Part II - 42
Horrible Bosses - 42
A Lonely Place to Die - 42
One Day - 42
The Smurfs - 42
30 Minutes or Less - 41
The Art of Getting By - 41
Columbiana - 41
Dream House - 41
Final Destination 5 (3D) - 41
Insidious - 41
Johnny English Reborn - 41
Kaboom - 41
Mia and the Migoo (Mia et le Migou) - 41
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure - 41
The Future - 40
Hop - 40

Shark Night (3D) - 39
The Change-Up - 38
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - 38
Abduction - 37
Red Riding Hood - 37
Season of the Witch - 37
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1 - 37
Thor (3D) - 36
Killer Elite - 35
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (4D) - 35
Priest (3D) - 33
Conan the Barbarian (3D) - 32
Beastly - 29
The Roommate - 26
Zookeeper - 26
Just Go With It - 20

New Year's Eve - 19
The Darkest Hour (3D) - 17
Apollo 18 - 15
Bellflower - 9
Battle Los Angeles - 2

Festival Films (undistributed/to-be-distributed)

The Loneliest Planet - 88
Goodbye First Love (Un amour de jeunesse) - 83

Life Without Principle (Dyut meng gam) - 79
Your Sister's Sister - 78
Damsels in Distress - 77
Crazy Horse - 76
The Redemption of General Butt Naked - 76
This Is Not a Film (In film nist) - 75
I Wish (Kiseki) - 74

Trishna - 69
From Up On Poppy Hill (Kokuriko-zaka kara) - 66

Miss Bala - 66
The Raid - 61

Killer Joe - 58
You're Next - 58
Oslo, August 31st (Oslo, 31. august) - 52
Outside Satan (Hors satan) - 48
Twiggy (La brindille) - 47
Keyhole - 45

Natural Selection - 43
(818) - 42
Twixt - 41

Girl Model - 35

Faust - unrated

Shorts (2011)

Small Fry - 69
Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 - 57
I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat - 44
Hawaiian Vacation - unrated

Older Films

After Life (Wandâfuru raifu) (1998) - 100
City Lights (1931) - 100
Modern Times (1936) - 100
Metropolis (1927) - 100
Maborosi (Maboroshi no hikari) (1995) - 98
WarGames (1983) - 91
Badlands (1973) - 90
The Far Country (1954) - 90
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - 90
Hadewijch (2009) - 88
The Kid (1921) - 88

Marwencol (2010) - 87
The House of the Devil (2008) - 84
The Thing (1982) - 83
Limelight (1952) - 80

Monsieur Verdoux (1947) - 78
Black Swan (2010) - 77
Days of Heaven (1978) - 77
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) - 77
Back to the Future (1985) - 76
The Man From Laramie (1955) - 76
The New World (2005) - 75
Somewhere (2010) - 75
Umberto D. (1952) - 75
Adventures in Babysitting (1987) - 73
The King of Kings (full road show cut) (1927) - 73
Me and Orson Welles (2008) - 73
Another Year (2010) - 72
I Am Love (Io sono l'amore) (2009) 72
Rabbit Hole (2010) - 71
Secret Sunshine (Milyang) (2007) - 71
The Docks of New York (1928) - 70
The Way Back (2010) - 70
Barney's Version (2010) - 69
Island of Lost Souls (1932) - 69
The Illusionist (2010) - 68
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1994) - 68
The Ugly Duckling (Gadkiy utyonok) (2010) - 68
Back to the Future Part III (1990) - 67
The Great Dictator (1940) - 67
Waste Land (2010) - 67
I Love You Phillip Morris (2009) - 66
Shoah (1985) - 65
Hamilton (2006) - 64
A King in New York (1957) - 64
Louder Than a Bomb (2010) - 64
Copacabana (2010) - 63
White Material (2009) - 63
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936) - 62
Stalker (1979) - 62
Leaves of Grass (2009) - 61
Vengeance (Fuk sau) (2009) - 61
The NeverEnding Story (1984) - 60
Only You (1994) - 60

All Good Things (2010) - 59
Made in Dagenham (2010) - 58
Win/win (2010) - 58
A Woman of Paris (1923) - 58
Autumn Gold (Herbstgold) (2010) - 57
Ne Change Rien (2009) - 57
Big Trouble in Little China (1986) - 52
Blue Valentine (2010) - 51
Weird Science (1985) - 50
Back to the Future Part II (1989) - 49
Tiny Furniture (2010) - 48
Summer School (1987) - 47
A Small Act (2010) - 46
City Beneath the Sea (1953) - 45
The Last Boy Scout (1991) - 44
Country Strong (2010) - 43
The Last Starfighter (1984) - 43
Inspector Bellamy (Bellamy) (2009) - 42
Biutiful (2010) - 40

Hayfever (Febbre da fieno) (2010) - 39
Nénette (2010) - 39
Almost Kings (2010) - 38
My Dog Tulip (2009) - 38
The New Protocol (Le nouveau protocole) (2008) - 36
The Black Hole (1979) - 35
RoboCop 2 (1990) - 35
Permanent Vacation (1980) - 34
The Transformers: The Movie (1986) - 33
Unmade Beds (1976) - 28
Cremaster 3 (2002) - 22

My Science Project (1985) - 11
Amer (2009) - 9
The Aztec Mummy vs. the Human Robot (La momia azteca contra el robot humano) (1958) - 0
Pepperminta (2009) - 0

Close-Up (Nema-ye Nazdik) (1990) - unrated
Diary of a Country Priest (Journal d'un curé de campagne) (1951) - unrated
The Gold Rush (1925/1942) ("daddy" version) - unrated
Kuroneko (Yabu no naka no kuroneko) (1968) - unrated
Onibaba (1964) - unrated
Ran (1985) - unrated

Shorts

God of Love (2010) - 90
The Idle Class (1921) - 90
A Dog's Life (1918) - 74
Pay Day (1922) - 73
Scrat's Continental Crack Up (2010) - 72
The Pilgrim (1923) - 65
Shoulder Arms (1918) - 65
A Day's Pleasure (1919) - 61

Sunnyside (1919) - 57
Na Wewe (2010) - 56
The Crush (2010) - 52
Atlantiques (2010) - 50
Night Falls on the Ménagerie (2010) - 49
Wish 143 (2009) - 44
The Confession (2010) - 42
Hungry for Health: A Journey Through Cleveland's Food Desert (2010) - 42

Paradise Hotel (Hotel Rai) (2010) - 35

Four Lions

2010-12-30T12:47:00.001-05:00

FOUR LIONS (Chris Morris, 2010)

Comedies don’t get any nervier than director Chris Morris’s FOUR LIONS, which is built on the exploits of bumbling Islamic terrorists in a cell near London. By all appearances the group’s levelheaded leader Omar (Riz Ahmed) wouldn’t be involved with such a bunch. He has a comfortable middle class life with a loving wife and admiring son, yet there he is telling a bedtime story attempting to recast THE LION KING as a tale of jihad and groaning over the numerous outtakes from videos supposed to present them as fearsome ideological warriors.

Omar and the easily malleable Waj (Kayvan Novak) depart England for a training camp in Pakistan, but they make a hasty return home after demonstrating their ineptitude with artillery. During their absence, Barry (Nigel Lindsay), a blowhard incapable of keeping a low profile, meets a kindred spirit in Hassan (Arsher Ali), who tries to make a point about prejudice toward Muslims by pretending to be strapped with explosives at an Islamic relations panel. Barry invites Hassan to join him and the sheepish Fessal (Adeel Akhtar) in plotting some kind of attack.

The desire to put belief into action becomes more urgent when Omar and Waj reconnect with the others. They just need to determine the proper target, and no, it won’t be the mosque, no matter how much Barry insists that blowing it up will inflame their spiritual brothers to fight the heathens.

FOUR LIONS is merciless in its mission to find humor where few would dare seek it. Morris and co-writers Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, and Simon Blackwell present these modern boogeymen as buffoons and hold them up to ridicule for their vanity and tortured logic. The film’s point is neatly summarized in the scene with Omar contorting himself to convince his confused accomplice Waj that killing innocent civilians and themselves to promote their cause is a good thing that he wants to do. From an outside perspective, such talk would sound clearly insane, and it’s not simply because individual bombers in the group are dressed as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and a guy riding an ostrich. In letting the characters accept such philosophical views as wise and noble, Morris and company highlight the absurdity of these positions to devastating comedic ends.

It may not seem very risky for the filmmakers to take potshots at terrorists. Who’s going to object? In FOUR LIONS the courage comes in putting front and center the disquieting notion that terrorism is as simple as any group of fools with the ability and desire to assemble and detonate rudimentary bombs. It’s easy enough to find the hilarity in those who would do us harm hurting themselves. It’s something quite different to be reminded that militaries and intelligence agencies aren’t necessarily fighting brilliant or deeply pocketed opponents. FOUR LIONS allows the audience to laugh at these dimwits, which has enormous cathartic power, yet in not sparing the deadly consequences of their beliefs and actions, the film adds an extra layer of resonance regarding what’s at stake in this clash of worldviews.

Boldness in and of itself in a comedy doesn’t mean the material is actually humorous; however, FOUR LIONS is packed with razor-sharp wordplay and glorious slapstick that make it an explosively funny and unsettling film.

Grade: A

Black Swan

2010-12-24T12:37:00.001-05:00

BLACK SWAN (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)

BLACK SWAN ballerina Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) finally gets her shot at being a star, but the pressures may be more than she can handle. Nina comes off as quiet and unassuming, which makes her ideal for the virginal white swan in a new production of SWAN LAKE, but the director (Vincent Cassel) has doubts that she can also embody the bold and lusty black swan, qualities that she must show if she is to play the Swan Queen.

To claim the leading role, Nina takes actions that surprise the director and herself, which may be the first signs that she’s losing her mind. The paranoia increases when Nina suspects that Lily (Mila Kunis), the newest dancer in the company, is angling for her treasured lead role.

BLACK SWAN merges the sexual hysteria of Roman Polanski’s REPULSION with the ballet drama of Powell and Pressburger’s THE RED SHOES and throws in a generous dollop of Cronenberg-like body horror for good measure. Director Darren Aronofsky’s lurid mixture of high and low art makes for an often intoxicating film about creative risk and personal development.

At the center of it is Portman delivering a tour de force performance that conveys BLACK SWAN’S dualities. The tiny actress looks the part of a fragile dancer, like one that could adorn the top of a music box. She’s every bit mommy’s little girl, from having her mother (Barbara Hershey) undress her and clip her nails to inhabiting a child-like bedroom in her parent’s apartment. Nina acts and is treated like a pretty little princess. Portman wears this sheltered quality as though it is a comfortable straitjacket.

When Nina’s shadow self thrashes to escape this coddled existence, Portman’s transformative acting is thrilling in how it manifests the psychosis. Delicate technical precision and emotional control gives way to bold, forceful expressions, particularly in the SWAN LAKE scenes that conclude the film on a dizzying high. Aronofsky is completely serious about the fever dream that is BLACK SWAN, which is how he’s able to pull off material that is inherently unserious.

Grade: B+

Love & Other Drugs

2010-12-01T12:49:00.000-05:00

LOVE & OTHER DRUGS (Edward Zwick, 2010)

LOVE & OTHER DRUGS opens in 1996 with charismatic electronics salesman Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) out of a job due to his influential way with women, especially one he shouldn’t be charming. He transitions into a job as a pharmaceutical salesman for Pfizer and is assigned to sell Zoloft in the Ohio Valley.

While posing as an intern and trying to persuade a doctor to switch from prescribing Prozac to the pill he’s pushing, Jamie meets Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway). Initially she is angered that Jamie violates her privacy in the doctor’s examination room, but his persuasiveness and mutual desire for a commitment-free relationship win her over while she also keeps him at arm’s length. Maggie has early onset of Parkinson’s and doesn’t wish to be obligated to anyone or anything long term.

Among the medications involved in LOVE & OTHER DRUGS is a certain little blue pill that Jamie sells like gangbusters when it reaches the marketplace. Strange how for a movie about a Viagra salesman, we don’t see the growth of the characters. Several featured scenes in the bedroom leave Jamie and Maggie’s physical chemistry undisputed, but evidence of their emotional attachment and development is far less obvious. Jamie begins to change because the screenplay demands it. Maggie opposes any deviations in their arrangement because the script insists so.

The film’s central relationship wouldn’t feel so prescribed if LOVE & OTHER DRUGS weren’t pitched at a sitcom level. Rather than allowing two non-conformists to find their own way, director and co-writer Edward Zwick makes sure they are altered to fit the formula. Gyllenhaal looks and feels too young for the role and seems too eager to please for the incorrigible type he’s supposed to be.

Whereas Gyllenhaal is all surface level, Hathaway suggests a flesh and blood being dealing with a multitude of issues spoken and unspoken. Performance-wise she fares better, perhaps because Maggie functions as the redeemer than the redeemed. The role is more complicated than the usual dreamgirl. Unfortunately the film is more interested in her slick, straightforward other half. LOVE & OTHER DRUGS is a cutesy love story tempered by an illness and a smidgen of commentary about pharmaceutical sales in the United States.

Grade: C-

Faster

2010-11-30T12:57:00.000-05:00

FASTER (George Tillman Jr., 2010)

Identified simply as Driver, Dwayne Johnson's protagonist stews during his time behind bars as he plots his revenge in FASTER. The tag references his getaway vehicle driving duty with his brother’s bank robbing crew.

Driver’s skills behind the wheel help them elude the police, but their misdeeds catch up with them when a rival group of thieves invade their home to take the stolen money. They kill Driver’s brother and leave him for dead with a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Miraculously Driver survives the point blank shot and emerges from the injury with a nasty star-like scar, a metal plate, and a prison sentence.

Upon his release, Driver hunts down those who did him wrong and takes justice into his own hands. In pursuit are drug-addled cop (Billy Bob Thornton) and an assassin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) hired to take out Driver.

If FASTER were made 35 years ago or by the French or Japanese, it would be one of those grimy, long forgotten films you expect Quentin Tarantino to be touting. In the beginning this lean piece of revenge cinema looks like it might be that kind of rough around the edges B-movie whose fun derives from its no-nonsense approach and hard-hitting action. It’s streamlined to the point where most of the main characters don’t have names, just descriptors.

Johnson and Thornton lead a surprisingly strong cast, which also includes Carla Gugino as Thornton’s by-the-books co-investigator and Tom Berenger as the warden. For something that otherwise resembles countless direct-to-video titles, there’s a lot of talent on screen.

FASTER has collected the right pieces, but director George Tillman Jr. and screenwriters Tony and Joe Gayton struggle to assemble them properly. FASTER’S set-up feeds on the guilty pleasure of vengeance, yet it resists giving in to that impulse. The reason for the solemn tone eventually becomes clear and reveals the film to have more going on than expected, but with so much of FASTER dedicated to righteous rage, withholding visceral satisfaction weakens the action and the message.

Muddling matters is the three part structure divided among Driver, Cop, and Killer. The assassin’s scenes seem to belong to another film altogether and merely take away time and urgency from the main story. FASTER also could use a healthy dose of humor to lighten the burdened tone.

Ultimately FASTER is a film at conflict with its own nature. Too contemplative to indulge its pure screaming id and too vicious to be swayed by the bigger philosophical questions it proposes, FASTER doesn’t satisfy the appetite for enlightenment or destruction.

Grade: C-

The Next Three Days

2010-11-19T13:03:00.001-05:00

THE NEXT THREE DAYS (Paul Haggis, 2010)

In THE NEXT THREE DAYS John and Lara Brennan’s happy marriage is shattered when Pittsburgh police turn up at their front door one morning to arrest her for murder. Lara (Elizabeth Banks) is convicted to a life sentence, but John (Russell Crowe) holds out hope that the appeals process will ultimately free his wife. Eventually he realizes that the legal system will not overturn her conviction, so he plots to break her out of prison and escape out of the country with her and their son.

John’s singular focus and dogged mission planning propels THE NEXT THREE DAYS for a considerable amount of the running time. He’s a man obsessed with doing whatever he can in the hope of reuniting his family. The film hums from his intensity and the detail-oriented approach, even if it passes along as truth the MYTHBUSTERS-busted technique of using a tennis ball to unlock a locked vehicle.

Crowe delivers a lived-in, no-nonsense performance that has come to define his body of work. Although in comparatively few scenes, Banks is good at conveying her character’s weariness through this ordeal.

THE NEXT THREE DAYS co-writer and director Paul Haggis succeeds at exploring the psychological burdens of this situation while leaving some of the more interesting questions untouched. The audience may take it on good faith that Lara is innocent and wrongly imprisoned, but the film is less clear about that for an astonishingly long time yet doesn’t factor it into the equation. John is warned that he should be prepared to leave his son behind, but that doesn’t feel like a choice the film is ever committed to make.

The bulk of THE NEXT THREE DAYS consists of the build-up to the escape plan, which is probably just as well since this is a thriller surprisingly light on thrills. THE NEXT THREE DAYS mostly works as a dramatic study, but for a movie with a daring prison break, it needs more sizzle in the action.

Grade: C+

Unstoppable

2010-11-12T14:52:00.001-05:00

UNSTOPPABLE (Tony Scott, 2010)

An unmanned runaway train carrying toxic materials speeds across Pennsylvania, and it’s up to Denzel Washington and Chris Pine to stop it in UNSTOPPABLE. Washington is Frank, a longtime engineer, and Pine plays Will, a relatively new conductor with family matters on his mind more than the job at hand. Once they discover that there’s a virtual missile on the tracks heading south toward their hometown, they commit to a risky plan to stop the train.

UNSTOPPABLE takes a simple premise and spins it into an entertaining film surging with pure energy. Director Tony Scott’s manic style is perfectly suited for this propulsive piece of action filmmaking. In addition to its exhilarating speed, UNSTOPPABLE’S efficiency is also an asset. The characters are introduced quickly and provided with a few key details to flesh them out. Washington and Pine are engaged in action hero work, not character studies, so getting the brushstrokes of their backstories is perfectly acceptable. Frank’s near the end of his career, Will’s near the end of his rope. That’s enough. And oh, by the way, they’re trying to stop a speeding train.

The performances hinge on the personalities of the actors, not their character’s origins, and the two leads work well together. Washington’s unflappable nature and Pine’s solemn determination complement each other when things get down to the nitty gritty.

Likewise, UNSTOPPABLE appreciates the spectacle of this tale, but it keeps the stakes high and takes them seriously, perhaps in a tip to its roots as a true story. The film climaxes with an audacious, last ditch attempt to bring the train to a stop that seems all the more exciting because there’s a real engine hurtling down the line.

Grade: B

Megamind

2010-11-06T13:04:00.001-04:00

MEGAMIND (Tim McGrath, 2010)

What’s a supervillain without a superhero?

In MEGAMIND the eponymous evil genius discovers that he has lost his purpose after defeating his square-jawed nemesis Metro Man. Like Superman, the Will Ferrell-voiced Megamind and Brad Pitt-voiced Metro Man are sent to Earth to escape destruction on their home planets. Their paths diverge when a young Metro Man’s pod lands in a mansion while wee Megamind’s is deposited in a prison.

As adults they square off repeatedly, usually due to Megamind’s abduction of TV reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey), until Megamind bests his foe. Left to indulge his every whim, Megamind loses his zest for evildoing and schemes to create a new hero so he can get his mojo back.

The blue-skinned, wrong syllable emphasizing Megamind is less immediately sympathetic than Gru from this summer’s DESPICABLE ME. Consequentially, it’s harder to laugh at his diabolical antics. Megamind is established as a figure capable of causing real harm. While the film isn’t as dark as it seemingly sets itself up to be, it suffers from the miscalculation of centering a CGI-animated kids film on what appears to be, at least superficially, The Bad Guy.

Naturally, MEGAMIND tries to sweep this under the rug as fast as possible, but the damage has already been done. MEGAMIND is a visually sleek film, especially when viewed in 3-D. The sparkling, futuristic design combines with terrific depth of field to conjure a world in which good and evil do battle in and above the streets, but the look of the film is the main thing going for it.

MEGAMIND is dramatically and comedically inert. It fails to distinguish itself from other tongue-in-cheek superhero and supervillain cartoons mainly because the characters don’t impress as being all that unique. Simply put, MEGAMIND isn’t funny or interesting enough.

Grade: C

Conviction

2010-11-05T13:06:00.000-04:00

CONVICTION (Tony Goldwyn, 2010)

Hilary Swank has gravitated to roles in which her character has a singular purpose and is vigilant in staying on course. In the fact-based CONVICTION she’s found another determined woman to add to her roster. Swank plays Betty Anne Waters, a high school dropout who makes it through a rough upbringing with her brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell).

Kenny has his share of encounters with the Ayers, Massachusetts police, but things get serious in 1980 when he’s brought in for questioning about a local murder. Three years later he is convicted of the crime despite his protestations of innocence. Betty Anne believes her brother and vows to get all of the necessary education to prove that he didn’t do it, no matter how long it takes.

CONVICTION’S title refers more to the dedication of Betty Anne Waters than the judgment rendered against Kenny. The film isn’t anything fancy and doesn’t contain much in the way of surprises, but it wields an enormous amount of power in depicting the bottomless love and devotion that a sister has for her brother. After Kenny was convicted Betty Anne earned her GED, Bachelor’s, Master’s, and law degrees and located the key evidence presumed to have been destroyed years earlier. All in all, it took around twenty years for her persistence to pay off.

Swank plays the role with a quiet intensity that beautifully conveys the selflessness and personal cost that such an endeavor must require. Director Tony Goldwyn and screenwriter Pamela Gray don’t shy from showing the toll Betty Anne’s decisions have on her life, but like Swank, they don’t oversell the sacrifices or thickly apply sentimentality.

This unassuming film features a moving story that’s well-told and well-performed. Instead of concerning itself with slick legal maneuvers and courtroom grandstanding, CONVICTION is unashamedly straightforward in showing how a lot of hard work and sheer willpower was able to correct an injustice.

Grade: B

Paranormal Activity 2

2010-10-22T18:07:00.001-04:00

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (Tod Williams, 2010)

Rather than picking up where PARANORMAL ACTIVITY left off, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 goes back to explain where the demon that tormented Katie and Micah came from and what it wants. This sequel/prequel observes Katie’s sister Kristi Rey (Sprague Grayden) and her family, which includes husband Dan (Brian Boland), stepdaughter Ali, and their infant son Hunter.

One day the Reys come home to find that an intruder has wrecked their house, although the only thing that seems to be missing is a necklace Katie gave Kristi. Sufficiently spooked, they install multiple security cameras, but strange things happening around the house keep Kristi in particular on edge. Unexplainable noises awaken the baby. A pan is knocked from its secured storage spot. The pool cleaner mysteriously is removed from the pool overnight. Over time the disturbances become more aggressive.

Following the series’ conceit of presenting edited found footage, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 consists of house surveillance videos and some interactions caught by camcorder. Much of what’s captured on tape and hard drives is mundane, but it’s precisely the ordinariness and long takes in these scenes that can make them so unnerving when the supernatural element disrupts the tranquility. For instance, watching someone sit at a kitchen island isn’t inherently compelling, but the anticipation of something happening while patiently focusing on the scene pays off with a massive jolt when the cabinets and drawers explode open for no reason.

It’s in this manner that PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 consistently succeeds at constructing jump moments with deliberation during routine home settings. The scares in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 aren’t as frequent or always as well built as the original film’s, but those that exist are still pretty effective. In day-to-day life, unseen things that go bump in the night, or the daytime for that matter, have a way of frightening the living daylights out of us. The same applies to the movies.

Grade: B-

Session 9

2010-10-22T13:26:00.002-04:00

SESSION 9 (Brad Anderson, 2001)

In SESSION 9 a five man crew is hired to remove the asbestos from an old, abandoned Massachusetts mental hospital shuttered due to rumors of sexual and satanic abuse. Exhausted from having a new baby at home and pinched financially, crew leader Gordon (Peter Mullan) does whatever it takes to undercut the other bidders and secure the contract. His ambitious promise to complete the work in a week looks daunting, but a ten thousand dollar bonus is there for the taking if they are successful.

The domestic and work pressures on Gordon are readily apparent, and the rest of the crew is similarly on edge. Phil (David Caruso) and Hank (Josh Lucas) are not on the friendliest of terms since Hank stole the other’s girlfriend. Mike (Stephen Gevedon) is a law school washout treading water in a job below his skills and interests. Gordon’s nephew Jeff (Brendan Sexton III) has an abnormal fear of the dark. The dilapidated asylum with a spooky history may be a stressful place for a well-adjusted person to work, let alone for the tense and highly suggestible.

SESSION 9 is heavy on mood and light on narrative substance, but the pervasive sense of dread that it sustains trumps the slightness of plot. Credit a fantastic location and smart sound design for inducing a tangible state of fear. Viewed from above, the imposing mental hospital in the countryside resembles a bat with large wings. The interior’s decaying walls and broken tiles bear the marks of a place ravaged by psychological pain trying to escape.

SESSION 9 draws its title from the last in a series of doctor and patient reel-to-reel tape recordings that one crew member finds and becomes obsessed with listening to. The slight wobble in the playback enhances the unsettling nature of interviews conducted with the alters of a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder. These chilling talks play out as little more than theater of the mind, yet they’re as scary as anything the film depicts. The same applies to the telling of the reason for the asylum’s downfall as a working facility. Like a good ghost story around the campfire, the recounting of supposed atrocities is horrible enough to hear to give one goosebumps.

Since SESSION 9 opened in 2001, director and co-writer Brad Anderson has done a lot of TV work. He directed an episode of the anthology programs MASTERS OF HORROR and FEAR ITSELF and helmed seven episodes of FRINGE. SESSION 9 might have been tighter as an anthology short or an investigation into the paranormal on episodic television. The thinly developed characters wouldn’t be as much of a problem in those formats, and a shorter version could pare down plot misdirects that add running time and little else.

The one area SESSION 9 benefits from being a feature film is in how Anderson draws out the atmosphere and mystery in a manner that would suffer with commercial breaks. SESSION 9 may feel a bit incomplete or small in scale at film’s end, but even if the answer isn’t as compelling as the secret, it gets under your skin for the duration and digs a little deeper with a creepy concluding line.

Grade: B-

Audition (Ôdishon)

2010-10-21T13:27:00.001-04:00

AUDITION (ÔDISHON) (Takashi Miike, 1999)

After seven years widowed Japanese TV producer Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) feels that it is time to find a new wife in AUDITION. A co-worker offers to assist by putting out a casting call for a film no one intends to make and letting Aoyama pick thirty applicants. They will interview the women, which then gives Aoyama the opening to charm whichever prospective actress he selects as a potentially viable spouse.

Even before the audition, he is captivated by the submitted profile of Asami (Eihi Shiina). This demure young woman with an old soul possesses all the qualities Aoyama wants in a wife, and his enthusiasm for her is undisguised during the audition.

It isn’t hard to imagine a Hollywood film taking AUDITION’S scenario and making a drama or romantic comedy. A lonely man seeking love is a familiar set-up, and about the first third of AUDITION plays like a standard melodrama. However, AUDITION is directed by Takashi Miike, an unbelievably prolific filmmaker who is notorious for turning out movies that get placed under the Asian extreme classification. At some point things are going to take a wrong turn in AUDITION, and boy do they ever.

The drastic shift in tone and style is the film’s ace in the hole. When AUDITION changes gears, the main character and the audience are equally disoriented. It’s the rare film that provides the experience of being caught off guard on a consistent basis or acquires a feeling of danger because it doesn’t play according to the rules. That’s what Miike accomplishes with great skill in AUDITION and varying degrees of success in his other movies.

AUDITION’S second half is packed with disturbing surprises and a pitch black sense of humor. The climax is as unrelenting and difficult to watch as anything I’ve seen in a horror film because it embraces the pain that its counterparts never dare too. Whether reading AUDITION as a portrait of coming to terms with grief, a feminist revenge tale, or a graphic exploration of romantic attachment and idealism, it remains a terrifying film.

Grade: B+

Never Let Me Go

2010-10-09T13:15:00.000-04:00

NEVER LET ME GO (Mark Romanek, 2010)

NEVER LET ME GO follows the lives of friends Kathy H. (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield), and Ruth (Keira Knightley), who grew up together at Hailsham, a boarding school for special children like them. The film begins in 1978 with them as children and concludes in 1994 with the three as adults trying to make sense of the world. Kathy is the pensive one of the group, and her thoughts and observations provide the narration to NEVER LET ME GO. To say much more about the veiled truths in the plot would ruin the experience of discovering them.

The rich subtext in NEVER LET ME GO wouldn’t mean anything without the care given to the story. Screenwriter Alex Garland’s skillful adaptation of the fantastic Kazuo Ishiguro novel reveals the secret about these characters basically from the outset, yet the underlying science fiction aspect is treated as a canvas for the relationships and emotional turmoil instead of being the plot’s main focus.

NEVER LET ME GO can be about the soul, technological innovation, media messaging, or any number of things beyond what the plot spells out. While the characters are vessels for various interpretations of their existential crises, the main story regarding love and purpose plays well enough on its own.

NEVER LET ME GO also digs into the foundation of our beliefs and the astronomical impact of how we often accept unquestioningly what we are taught and what we view, especially as children. The carefully chosen euphemisms convey concepts with large implications for the kids, yet it is through such words that passivity is branded into them. Director Mark Romanek and cinematographer Adam Kimmel employ a nostalgic and otherworldly visual sensibility to evoke the golden years of innocence and ignorance. The film looks and feels like beautiful heartbreak.

Grade: A

Life as We Know It

2010-10-08T13:17:00.001-04:00

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT (Greg Berlanti, 2010)

In LIFE AS WE KNOW IT married couple Peter and Alison Novak (Hayes MacArthur and Christina Hendricks) try to set up their best friends with each other, but the disastrous first date between Holly Berenson and Eric Messer (Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel) assures there won’t be a love connection in the near future.

During the next couple years Holly and Messer only cross paths when attending their friends’ parties and doting on Peter and Alison’s baby. One day news arrives that Peter and Alison have died in a car accident and left their two single friends with shared custody of their one-year-old Sophie.

Neither Holly nor Messer were aware of the big responsibility their friends were entrusting them with. The love for their friends and orphaned daughter transcends their dislike for one another, so they try their best to raise a child together and live under the same roof.

Reviewing films usually means assessing the stylistic treatment of a subject rather than critiquing the subject itself. LIFE AS WE KNOW IT is a special case where the core idea of the film is as off-putting as the way in which the premise is depicted. When it comes to films featuring characters engaging in controlling behavior from beyond the grave, LIFE AS WE KNOW IT ranks up there with the romance P.S. I LOVE YOU, in which Hilary Swank’s dead husband’s letters dictate her day-to-day life.

Screenwriters Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson set up a scenario in which the loss of two close friends isn’t traumatic enough. Instead the protagonists must also rearrange their entire lives, give up their own places, and become unwitting caretakers to an orphaned child in their deceased friends’ home. No worries, though. It’s all to be accepted because those friends knew these two single people were meant to be together despite all evidence to the contrary.

Director Greg Berlanti’s romantic comedy approach makes LIFE AS WE KNOW IT’S rather repellent set-up even more unpalatable. The cutesy but chemistry-free banter, scenes of playing house, and Holly and Messer’s neighbors finding the situation so adorable are among the major miscalculations in tone.

In fairness, the film doesn’t ignore the strains on the main characters. It simply chalks them up to the worthwhile costs of Holly and Messer getting necessary life makeovers. The film’s comfortable sitcom-like form allows LIFE AS WE KNOW IT to settle into a groove in which the goings-on are taken for granted no matter how deeply dysfunctional this arrangement is. While Sarah Burns’ funny performance as a frazzled social services case worker deserves a better film than this, thankfully she brings the needed acknowledgement of how absurd the basis of it is.

Grade: C-

The Black Cauldron

2010-10-03T13:25:00.001-04:00

THE BLACK CAULDRON (Ted Berman and Richard Rich, 1985)

THE BLACK CAULDRON was Disney’s 25th animated feature, their first to use CGI, and the studio’s first PG-rated cartoon. At the time it was the most expensive animated movie ever made.

The fantasy adventure tells the story of Taran (Grant Bardsley), a boy who daydreams of being a great warrior while he goes about his work as an assistant pig keeper. He’s not watching after any ordinary pig, though. Hen Wen is an oracle capable of seeing where the The Black Cauldron is. The Horned King (John Hurt) wishes to capture Hen Wen so he can find the Cauldron and use it to reanimate an army of deathless warriors.

THE BLACK CAULDRON is based on the second book in Lloyd Alexander’s fantasy series THE CHRONICLES OF PRYDAIN and rooted in Welsh mythology. The source material offers a rich foundation for an epic quest not unlike THE LORD OF THE RINGS, but in attempting to spin a compelling tale for kid and adult sensibilities, the adapted screenplay struggles to satisfy either audience.

The characters, especially bland hero Taran, lack the personality found in the enduring and beloved Disney protagonists. THE BLACK CAULDRON is too frightening for younger viewers, and appeals to them, like a cutesy creature in a comic relief role that functions as a proto Jar-Jar Binks, throw off the tone in what is at heart a serious journey.

THE BLACK CAULDRON is much darker and more violent than expected from Disney or animated movies in general 25 years ago, which may explain why it was a commercial failure. In spite of its shortcomings, this is a film and series of novels ripe for remaking. From today’s vantage point, THE BLACK CAULDRON looks like it was ahead of the curve. A rip-roaring adventure that can be spread over several films and attract all age ranges fits perfectly into the franchise model that studios are following. Fantastical elements, like an army of the undead, can be better realized with today’s technology.

As is to be expected from Disney, THE BLACK CAULDRON is beautifully animated and has the added interest of using a darker-than-usual palette. It’s not a good film, but for one with the reputation of being the studio’s worst animated feature, it shows that interesting work is done in it.

Grade: C-

Legend of the Guadians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

2010-09-24T13:21:00.001-04:00

LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE (Zack Snyder, 2010)

Sneaking off to improve their flying has terrible consequences for brother owlets Soren and Kludd in LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE. The two barn owls, voiced by Jim Sturgess and Ryan Kwanten, tumble to the ground during practice and are abducted.

Along with other owlets, Soren and Kludd are told that their new family is with the Tytos, a parliament of warmongering pure ones led by Metalbeak (Joel Edgerton). Soren resists his captors’ persuasion and is sent off to be a picker while Kludd elects to be a soldier in Metalbeak’s army. Soren and a friend escape and set off in search of the legendary owls of Ga’Hoole, who they hope can save and protect everyone.

LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE director Zack Snyder also made 300, which was virtually a live-action cartoon, and his love of super slo-mo action poses accelerated into full speed clashes is lavished on this CGI-animated film. In other words, LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS is the kids movie version of 300 featuring owls. It is short on story, which is actually a plus in this instance, and long on that full battle rattle.

The breathtaking aerial assaults convey a palpable sense of velocity and force, especially in 3-D. On-screen violence and its aftermath is suggested more than depicted so that the film keeps a PG rating, although the intensity may be enough to inspire nightmares in younger children.

Unlike Snyder’s humorless 300, LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS incorporates some lighter comedic moments, such as when the owlets pretend to be hypnotized by the moon to fit in with the other pickers and meet with a mystical spiny anteater who claims to know everything about them. The animation is top notch, with each barb in the feathers rendered in photorealist detail. The repetition fatigue that plagued 300 also weakens LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS, but otherwise it's an entertaining, action-packed fable.

Grade: B-

Easy A

2010-09-17T17:24:00.004-04:00

EASY A (Will Gluck, 2010)

In the comedy EASY A high school student Olive (Emma Stone) has her reputation soiled when an overheard and misunderstood conversation in the restroom leads to rumors of her promiscuity. The gossip improves her social standing, so Olive doesn’t make an effort to clear the air. When a classmate asks her to fake having sex with him so he’ll stop being bullied due to his homosexuality, she finds herself as the sole provider in a cottage industry to help the school’s outcast virgins.

By dressing more provocatively and SCARLET LETTER-like through the affixing of a large A to her clothes, Olive embraces the notorious position she now has within the school . Meanwhile, sanctimonious classmate Marianne (Amanda Bynes) leads a group of conservative religious students in a campaign to ostracize their presumably promiscuous peer.

Stone earns high marks in EASY A for her confident and vulnerable performance. She displays a good sense of timing and reaction when playing the comedic parts of the role, especially when it comes to verbal sparring. Stone also hits the right emotional notes when it becomes clear that the scrutiny and judgment by Olive’s peers have begun to take their toll. Like Carey Mulligan’s character in AN EDUCATION, Olive’s intelligence can be her greatest asset and shortcoming, and Stone locates the pain that comes in having her cleverness get the better of her and the superficial apathy she wears.

With EASY A director Will Gluck and screenwriter Bert V. Royal undertake an ambitious effort to make a movie about teen sexuality and double standards. The dialogue is sharp and funny throughout, even when the writer is obviously a little too pleased with his own wit. EASY A treats the issues and social pressures with a seriousness uncommon in similar films, although it tends to retreat when beginning to dig into tough questions.

The role of technology in the rapid distribution of rumors and instantaneous ability to ruin someone’s life goes unexplored, which is a missed opportunity considering that EASY A is framed by a webcast Olive uses to explain her story to the entire school. Examining the effects of social media in such a situation would have been a better use of time than the self-reflexive John Hughes references that the filmmakers indulge.

The film also take a wrong turn when complicating matters with a more comparable SCARLET LETTER scenario than Olive’s circumstances. Despite its faults, EASY A passes due to Stone’s star turn and a knowing screenplay that needed a little more bravery to elevate it to a top achievement.

Grade: B-

Machete

2010-09-03T16:18:00.003-04:00

MACHETE (Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis, 2010)

In MACHETE Danny Trejo plays the Federale who wields the type of blade with which he shares a name. An operation to take down a drug lord ends badly, and for the next three years the now former Mexican law enforcer must scrounge out a living with the other undocumented day laborers in Texas.

After Machete delivers an impressive display of cunning and brute force in a street fight, a stranger approaches him with the offer of a big payday in exchange for assassinating Senator McLaughlin (Robert De Niro), whose campaign demonizes illegal immigrants. Machete accepts the job but soon finds out that he’s being set up. He bands together with taco truck owner Luz (Michelle Rodriguez) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Sartana (Jessica Alba) to crush the bad guys and help his fellow downtrodden countrymen.

MACHETE originated as one of the fake trailers between the Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino features in GRINDHOUSE. Now expanded to feature length, this indulgent homage to exploitation films resembles its inspirations in good and bad ways.

MACHETE starts like gangbusters with Trejo as a one-man Chop-O-Matic invading the villain’s turf. The pre-opening credits sequence blends extreme violence and riotously funny gags to perfection. There’s no question that Rodriguez and co-director Ethan Maniquis know they’re making trash, and they delight in being as outrageous and inappropriate as they can be.

Their no-holds-barred approach in MACHETE’S vengeance tale can be genuinely thrilling, but it also permits a lot of sloppiness. MACHETE’S less than rigorous direction and editing trim as much expository fat as possible so there can be more of the good parts, meaning one-liners and action and sex scenes. It’s not a coincidence that MACHETE first existed in trailer form. As a feature it unspools like a loosely connected highlight reel that starts to feel repetitive after awhile.

Fueling MACHETE is on-the-nose commentary regarding the immigration debate. It’s a more political movie than one might expect from an ode to junk cinema, although dabbling in the issues while trafficking in schlock fits in the tradition. Nevertheless, MACHETE’S blunt blade can be unsheathed more than is necessary to make a philosophical point. The lack of subtlety and discipline is what can make MACHETE a disreputable pleasure and less than a full success.

Grade: C+

Going the Distance

2010-09-03T09:00:00.001-04:00

GOING THE DISTANCE (Nanette Burstein, 2010)

Drew Barrymore and Justin Long attempt to maintain a bicoastal relationship in the romantic comedy GOING THE DISTANCE. Long’s record label employee Garrett and Barrymore’s aspiring journalist Erin hit it off immediately, but they promise not to get too serious because in six weeks she’ll be leaving New York City for grad school in California. When the time comes for her to head west, Garrett and Erin realize that they want to continue their young romance in spite of whatever difficulties the distance might bring.

Not only is GOING THE DISTANCE a consistently funny romantic comedy, it possesses the rare wisdom to explore the relationship rather than contriving conflicts. So many films in this genre get bogged down in generating immediate artificial discord to split the couple apart for the inevitable big reunion. This strategy loses sight of developing a romance that stokes the desire for such a reconciliation in the first place. Building with scene upon scene of Garrett and Erin showing their funny, warm, and vulnerable sides, GOING THE DISTANCE lets the characters fall in love and gives the audience a reason to root for them before they have reasonable problems to overcome.

It helps that Barrymore either has a nose for the right script or knows how to tailor them to her strengths. She’s again playing a variation on her usual role of the down to earth free spirit, but why complain when she is so good at creating appealing and relatable characters like she does here?

GOING THE DISTANCE gives both elements of this film type equal weight. While the romance is nurtured, the laughs never wane in this sharply timed comedy. Director Nanette Burstein and screenwriter Geoffrey LaTulippe spread the wealth, and the raunch, among the strong ensemble, which includes Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate, and Jim Gaffigan. As Garrett’s strange, good-natured roommate Dan, Charlie Day swipes the most scenes, whether it’s by listening too attentively through the bedroom wall or conducting conversations with the bathroom door open. GOING THE DISTANCE is concocted from a familiar formula. It just happens to be a really good example of what can be done with it.

Grade: B+

The Expendables

2010-08-19T17:20:00.001-04:00

THE EXPENDABLES (Sylvester Stallone, 2010)

THE EXPENDABLES combines two generations of action stars for an exponential increase in cinematic firepower. Among those joining director, co-writer, and star Sylvester Stallone are Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, and Mickey Rourke. Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger appear in cameos to set the plot in motion.

THE EXPENDABLES draws its name from the Stallone-led band of mercenaries ready to be hired by employers with deep pockets. Their latest job takes them to a South American island where the Expendables are supposed to overthrow a dictator. As might be expected, the situation on the ground doesn’t exactly conform to how it was represented to them.

THE EXPENDABLES has one foot in ‘80s action films and the other in older tough guy movies like THE DIRTY DOZEN. Computer-generated effects take a back seat to the sheer brawn of the stars and the size of the explosions. As technology has granted filmmakers the ability to make almost anything on screen believable, it’s refreshing to see a return to the basics of action movies, in which physical presence and practical effects rule the day. If only THE EXPENDABLES were a better film.

The surplus of beefy heroes and villains leaves little room for turning these types into characters worth cheering or jeering. The hodgepodge plot, dominated by standard-issue mission details, is at once straightforward and yet jumbled to the point where it’s not entirely clear what’s going on. Most importantly, the fight scenes, while plentiful, aren’t memorable in the least.

The elite guns-for-hire premise doesn’t do much on its own in a year that has also produced the aptly named THE LOSERS and the erratic but overall entertaining THE A-TEAM. Despite it’s top shelf roster of action’s biggest from yesterday and today, The Expendables are more like The Unremarkables.

Grade: D+

Salt

2010-07-25T12:40:00.002-04:00

SALT (Phillip Noyce, 2010)

CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) learns the hard way that it’s almost always a bad idea to hang around the office to handle a work matter that pops up at the last minute. Salt has her world shaken when Russian defector Vassily Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) spills the details about a forthcoming day of terror and her complicity in the plot known as Day X.

Orlov spins a wild tale of sleeper agents trained as children during the Cold War, yet the agency’s diagnostic tools indicate that he is telling the truth. The interrogation ends with a bombshell. The Russian president will be assassinated by a sleeper agent named Evelyn Salt.

While her co-worker Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) considers the accusation to be ridiculous, CIA official Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) insists that Salt be placed in temporary custody. Fearing that her husband may be in danger, Salt executes an escape that serves to make her look more suspicious.

The premise of SALT gets a credibility boost with the recent news of implanted Russian spies being arrested in the United States. Otherwise, thinking too much about the ins and outs of SALT will only highlight how ridiculous the film is.

As a nuts and bolts action movie, this is an entertaining piece of adrenaline-pumping entertainment. While the action can be chopped up a little more than is preferable, director Phillip Noyce weaves together chase scenes and gun battles that allow for greater comprehension of screen geography and practical stunt work. What’s happening in SALT may be implausible, but it’s shot and edited in a way that lets the action be visible rather than unfolding in an impressionist blur of smash cuts and whip pans.

SALT doesn’t spring many surprises, but settling for smartly staged setpieces over twists and turns in an action movie sounds like a square deal.

Grade: B-

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

2010-07-16T13:33:00.001-04:00

THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE (Jon Turteltaub, 2010)

In THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE Balthazar (Nicolas Cage) has searched for hundreds of years to find the rightful successor to his master Merlin. Balthazar was one of three apprentices to his legendary mentor. When one of them, his friend Horvath (Alfred Molina), joins forces with an evil sorceress and kills Merlin, Balthazar is entrusted with the responsibility of identifying the Prime Merlinian, who will be the proper inheritor of the Arthurian wizard’s powers.

In the year 2000 Balthazar finally stumbles upon him in the form of ten-year-old Dave, but the kid’s training is stalled when he accidentally releases Horvath from the Grimhold, a Russian nesting doll that imprisons evil sorcerers. Due to circumstances too convoluted to go into, flash forward ten years when Dave (Jay Baruchel) is now a physics major at NYU. Balthazar returns and begins training his protege to keep evil magicians at bay.

Whether intentional or not, THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE plays like Disney’s stalled attempt to launch a stripped down Harry Potter-like franchise. While the special effects are suitably impressive and Cage brings the occasional flourish of oddball humor to the affair, the film as a whole lacks a strong idea of what it should be. In trying to be everything to everybody, it amounts to a fitfully entertaining nothing.

In the best sequence, THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE calls back to the FANTASIA cartoon with Mickey Mouse that the film draws its name from. Dave uses magic to set the mops into action in the workshop with disastrous results. It’s one of the rare spots when effects, humor, and action work in concert. As for other highlights, a Chinese dragon puppet made flesh and blood and a Chrysler Building eagle turned into an unconventional mode of transportation are a couple of the visual effects technicians’ more inspired creations.

Nevertheless, a little bit of CGI sizzle isn’t enough to hinge a film on these days, especially when it’s so commonplace in big studio movies. As the 20-year-old brainiac Dave, Baruchel can be a nice foil for Cage, but he’s never given enough to work with to allow his twitchy nature from solely defining the character. That awkwardness served Baruchel well in the comedy SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE, but here the trait is too prominent. In theory Dave’s training would be front and center, but it often takes a back seat, especially to a halfhearted romantic subplot about a reunion he has with a grade school crush played by Teresa Palmer.

If magic relies on misdirection, then THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE knows well enough to be distracting enough to divert attention for awhile. If only there were a satisfying payoff to the feature-long trick.

Grade: C