The Iron Lady

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

 

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

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

Columbus-area critics recognized these screen performers: Best Actor Michael Shannon (Take Shelter); Best Actress Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene); Best Supporting Actor Christopher Plummer (Beginners); Best Supporting Actress Shailene 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, The Tree of Life); and the cast of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy for Best Ensemble.

Other winners include: The Tree of Life’s Emmanuel Lubezki for Best Cinematography; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s Steven Zaillian for Best Adapted Screenplay; Source Code’s Ben Ripley for Best Original Screenplay; Hanna’s The Chemical Brothers for Best Score; Best Documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams; Best Foreign Language Film Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux); Best Animated Film Arthur Christmas; and Margaret as Best Overlooked Film.

Founded in 2002, the Central Ohio Film Critics Association is comprised of film critics based in Columbus, Ohio and the surrounding areas. Its membership consists of more than 20 print, radio, television, and new media critics. COFCA's official website at www.cofca.org contains 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 can be 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, 
            Take Shelter, 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, Take Shelter, 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 and Aaron 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 and Atticus Ross, The Girl with the
            Dragon Tattoo

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-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

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

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (Tomas Alfredson, 2011)

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY opens in the thick of the Cold War.  It is the early 1970s, and British intelligence, referred to as The Circus, has its upper level shaken up by a failed mission in Hungary in which one of their own is killed.  Agency head Control (John Hurt) is ushered out, as is his close colleague George Smiley (Gary Oldman).

It’s not long, though, until Smiley’s retirement is interrupted with a request to lead a secret investigation into another agent’s claim of a mole at the top of The Circus.  Could new chief Percy Alleline (Toby Jones) or his loyal men Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), Roy Bland (Ciaran Hinds), or Toby Esterhase (David Dencik) be double agents for the KGB?  
While Smiley interviews accusing agent Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) and other former Circus employees, his trusted inside man Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch) acquires what he needs from headquarters and is his eyes and ears around the office.  

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY begins with a flurry of information that can be overwhelming to sort out at first, but director Tomas Alfredson encourages focus and patience as practiced by Smiley to make sense of it all.  The gloriously drab visuals, save for some splendid wallpaper and soundproofing, lay bare the difficult work of rooting out answers amid the ambiguity of the characters’ actions.  Yet the information in the frame is carefully ordered in verticals and horizontals, suggesting that while a pattern of rogue behavior may not stand out, it can be spotted with careful examination.

After all, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY is concerned with the art of observation, especially when the stakes are high.  Being able to read people and relationships, catch glimpses in reflected surfaces, and pluck details from notes and audio tapes is critical to the task at hand.  Alfredson’s marvelous precision in showing how an agent might do difficult espionage work is as thrilling as any overblown James Bond setpiece.  Guillam’s plan to smuggle records out of intelligence headquarters doesn’t have him hanging off of buildings but dazzles with an elegant beauty and daring found in the simplicity with which the scheme is conceived and executed.  Whether the spies are functioning in realistic ways or not, their activities have the ring of truth to them, a quality likely indebted to the novel’s author John le Carre, which is the pen name of a former MI6 agent.

As Smiley, Oldman is the epitome of quiet cool.  He’s the studying man putting the pieces together because he can fade into the background.  He doesn’t say much, but his demeanor speaks volumes.  Peering out from his glasses, he sees and processes until the time to take action arrives.

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY conveys a lot with a little.  The exceptional concluding montage, which leaps between the past and present and features devastating match cuts of tears, reveals untold riches about the characters and the secretive lives they lead in the business of intelligence gathering.  TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY is low key, which is only appropriate, but it is also electrifying when it cuts through the noise to the buried truth.   

Grade: A-

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (David Fincher, 2011)

Swedish writer Stieg Larsson’s three posthumously published Millennium novels are an international sensation and already were made into a film trilogy in his native country.  Now comes the first in a presumed American remake trilogy with THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO.

Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) has just lost a libel case and is likely on the verge of losing his magazine when wealthy Swedish industrialist Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) approaches him with a tantalizing offer.  Vanger will pay him a tidy sum and provide damaging information about the businessman who defeated Blomkvist in court.  In return Blomkvist will come to the Vanger family’s island estate under the guise of writing their history while his real work is investigating the disappearance of Henrik’s niece Harriet nearly forty years earlier.  Vanger believes a family member killed her and is continuing to taunt him by sending pressed flowers, which Harriet used to give him on his birthday.

Meanwhile, computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), who did the background check on Blomkvist, finds her well-being subject to the whims of a newly appointed guardian.   Although in her twenties, Lisbeth remains a ward of the state because of a diagnosis of mental incompetence.  She eventually teams up when Blomkvist needs a researcher and is directed to her.

Having seen the Swedish film version of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, it’s somewhat difficult to approach director David Fincher’s take on the pulpy mystery without recognizing how remarkably similar the two are.  Perhaps out of allegiance to the popular source material, both films are crammed with more plot than feels necessary and seem as though they always have just one more thing to wrap up.  The central mystery struggles to sustain interest because Blomqkvist and Salander are sorting through an information dump rather than mixing it up much with the suspects in the Vanger clan.  Nevertheless, Fincher directs the dickens out of scenes involving research with computers, archival records, photographs, and personal mementos.

The story is mostly the pits in both, but Fincher’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO fixes some of its predecessor’s problems and is clearly the superior of the two.  Although slightly longer than the other, this adaptation cuts through the narrative details like a hot knife through butter.  That it plays more efficiently while taking more time indicates editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall’s skill at keeping a brisk pace.

This time around Lisbeth is more of a person, and a highly damaged one at that, than the cartoon avenger she’s positioned as in the Swedish version.  Mara plays her as a feral animal taking tentative steps toward socialization.  Taking this angle on the character makes a big difference in explaining the dubious sexual relationship that develops between Lisbeth and Mikael.  Whereas Mikael’s irresistible magnetism in the Swedish film reeks of authorial wish fulfillment, Fincher’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO shows Lisbeth initiating this contact as her attempt to crack her shell while still asserting control.  Likewise, the suffering and revenge she experiences, while still horrific, are less exploitative under Fincher’s command.

Despite these improvements, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO can’t quite transcend its junk foundation or, at least for me, the familiar beats of the other adaptation.  Applying the sheen of cinematic quality to a lurid airport novel only goes so far when the cheap thrills have lost some luster because they’ve already been had.

Grade: C+

War Horse

WAR HORSE (Steven Spielberg, 2011)

The four-legged protagonist in WAR HORSE is born as a wild thoroughbred, sold at auction to a buyer who must use him to plow fields, resold to the British army, and ultimately serves on both sides in World War I.  The horse named Joey is not intended for working the fields, but that’s what he is needed for when drunken farmer Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan), in a fit of pique, bids up the cost unreasonably high so his landlord Lyons (David Thewlis) will not win the beast.

Ted’s wife Rose (Emily Watson) immediately recognizes the foolishness of such a purchase and insists that he take the horse back.  Their teenage son Albert (Jeremy Irvine) loves the horse and pledges to train Joey to do whatever he must to help the family farm.  Since Ted refuses to back down from his reckless decision, it’s up to Albert and Joey to ready a rocky Devon field for turnips.

Boy and horse succeed when no on expects them to, but their happy time together comes to an end when Ted sells Joey to the British army at the onset of World War I. The officer promises to take good care of the horse, and a tearful Joey vows to see him again.  For Joey, this is merely the beginning of an adventure that will have him charging into battle for the British and pulling artillery for the Germans.

WAR HORSE director Steven Spielberg turns to the films of John Ford for inspiration in looking at war’s devastating and dehumanizing effects.  He adopts the swooningly earnest style in all of its broad emotional sweep, camera placement, and widescreen Technicolor cinematography.  While made with great technical proficiency, WAR HORSE is determinedly old-fashioned in how Spielberg tells the story, which is a fitting creative strategy considering that the film studies the convergence of the old and the modern.

The battle sequences are as thrillingly directed as the World War II fighting Spielberg thrust viewers into during SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and just as tragic in depicting the great loss of life.  A British charge on horseback into a German camp becomes a slaughter at the edge of the woods, where man and animal are no match for machines.  Spilling out of the trenches for combat in no man’s land is a near certain death sentence no matter which side one enters from.  The men’s lives may be more valued, but they’re protected with little more care than the horses that are literally worked to death.  None of this is as a graphic as in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Rather, it’s more in line with the standards in the 1940s and ‘50s, yet the impact in observing this wasteful sacrifice is no less powerful.

Charges of sentimentalism are lobbed freely at Spielberg.  There’s no question that the director works to yield big emotional payoffs, especially in this traditional melodramatic form.  Still, WAR HORSE’s ostensibly happy ending comes with the knowledge that the boy and the horse have witnessed many atrocities that may haunt them in the years to come just as Ted is stalked by his memories from military service.  The deep red sky hanging over the Narracott homestead and drenching everything under it in its color is a stark contrast to the blue heaven and green landscape they once knew.  Man and horse have been forced to act contrary to their nature.  Like the donkey in Robert Bresson’s AU HASARD BALTHAZAR, the beast suffers for humanity’s failings.  While Albert and Joey have survived, some stains, like the looming color above and around them, cannot be escaped.

Grade: B+

Press release: 2011 Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards nominees

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

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

Melancholia

MELANCHOLIA (Lars von Trier, 2011)

If ever there was a director prepared to make a film about depression and the end of the world, Danish provocateur Lars von Trier would be the one.  His well-publicized battles with depression informed his notorious previous effort, ANTICHRIST, and pervade his latest, MELANCHOLIA.  

After a prologue that beautifully envisions a terrible end, MELANCHOLIA splits into two halves, each devoting attention to the sisters Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg).  Justine has wrestled with depression for a long time, and not even her wedding day, which comprises the film’s first half, can keep her in high spirits.  

The title is also the name of a massive, newly discovered planet that had been hiding behind the sun.  Scientists expect its orbit to pass by close to Earth, but in MELANCHOLIA’s second half Claire fears that this heavenly body will smash our planet to bits.  

Words associated with depression, like dreary, bleak, and sluggish, aren’t applicable to MELANCHOLIA.  Manuel Alberto Claro’s gorgeous cinematography produces slick, saturated colors in the prologue; warm, deep browns and yellows at the reception; and light and hazy blues and white in the second half.  

Considering its subject matter, MELANCHOLIA is quite funny, especially during the wedding reception.  Von Trier, who is likely riffing on fellow Dogme 95 filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg’s THE CELEBRATION, has great fun observing a festive ceremony fall apart.  Udo Kier’s fussy wedding planner, Charlotte Rampling’s grouchy mother of the bride, and a peeved Kiefer Sutherland, who never fails to remind the necessary parties that he’s paying for it all, highlight the prickly humor around this supposedly happy occasion.

While existence hangs in the balance in MELANCHOLIA, von Trier’s fatalistic embrace of impending doom is starkly beautiful and strangely reassuring.  Without question Justine is the director’s surrogate, someone who finds comfort in the awareness that years of despondency and anxiety were not for naught.  Dunst’s remarkable performance conveys the emotional swings and physical effects from her long, internal struggle and the peace she makes with it.  Now that her worst possible fear can be confirmed, what else is there to do but submit to the inevitable?  In a film full of strong images, its final one is most striking for what it says about accepting those things that cannot be changed.  

Grade: A-

Jack and Jill

JACK AND JILL (Dennis Dugan, 2011)

In the comedy JACK AND JILL Adam Sandler pulls double duty starring as Los Angeles advertising executive Jack and his insecure, Bronx-dwelling twin sister Jill.  Even before Jill’s plane has landed in California for her Thanksgiving visit, Jack is counting the hours until she is on a return flight to New York.  He loves his sister, but she gets on his nerves.

To Jack’s exasperation, Jill decides to extend her stay with his family through Hanukkah.  Desperate to get her out of the house and back to the East Coast, Jack figures that the best way to hasten her departure is to find a boyfriend for his sad, single sister.  Luckily and bewilderingly, Al Pacino is smitten with Jill.  This appears to be a coup for Jack, as he might have found a boyfriend for Jill and now has the chance to persuade the actor to star in his pitch for a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial.  Jill, though, is less than impressed with Pacino’s fame, fortune, and affection.  

I’ve rarely liked Sandler’s films, especially when he’s working with someone from his stable of directors.  His laziness and worst impulses are left unchecked, allowing the films to disintegrate into formless and laughless vehicles for product placement, ego stroking, and paid vacation.  This year’s Sandler-starring, Dennis Dugan-directed JUST GO WITH IT is a shoo-in for my worst of 2011 list.  With JACK AND JILL bringing the star and director together again, everything was aligned for me to hate it as well. Strangely, I don’t.

JACK AND JILL certainly suffers from the problems that plague his other movies. Dugan’s filmmaking demonstrates a basic level of formal competence, which is an improvement in this instance.  The corporate contributors are so nakedly integrated that Sandler might as well just pause to show commercials at the act breaks.  At this point it’d be less insulting.  (That said, JACK AND JILL basically does this near the end.)  The immense neediness Sandler’s characters possess gets shifted to him in Jill’s clothes rather than as “himself”, which at least makes it less alienating.  Still, the underlying message remains unconcealed: love me for and in spite of all of these things I hate about myself.  

Yet JACK AND JILL yielded more laughs from me than any of his films have in the last seven years.  Is Pacino’s utterly weird performance captivating because he’s debasing himself or giving it his all?  Maybe I’ve finally been worn down, but Jill’s grotesque characterization goes in one end as deeply unfunny and comes out the other as relatively amusing and, dare I say it, charming.  Her enthusiastic requests for twin time with Jack and general cluelessness let Sandler play up the lowbrow comedy he favors without being as mean or angry as he can be.

The charge is leveled at Jack that he’s bitter and cynical, which seems like a pointed self-critique for Sandler to acknowledge.  Like the actor’s least ambitious films, JACK AND JILL’s lack of energy disguises contempt, but here he’s working through his issues in a more compelling way than usual.

Grade:  C

J. Edgar

J. EDGAR (Clint Eastwood, 2011)

In the biographical picture J. EDGAR director Clint Eastwood and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black track the career of the longtime Federal Bureau of Investigation director.  Leonardo DiCaprio stars as J. Edgar Hoover, a morally certain man who improved and expanded the once-Bureau of Investigation’s ability to fight crime, although not without amassing his share of detractors.  

Hoover rose to the top in 1924, saw the agency become federal in 1935, and stayed until his 1972 death.  The legality of his methods, not to mention his secret files, made him powerful and controversial.

Framed by the head G-Man dictating his memoir, J. EDGAR has a lot of territory to cover and does so swiftly.  The Palmer raids, the Lindbergh baby abduction, and the relentless pursuit of gangsters and political subversives are tied together in a fleet, often exhilarating yarn of a righteous man who will not rest until he has stamped out all criminal and radical elements.  Hoover is clear and authoritative when recounting his accomplishments, yet J. EDGAR questions how reliable of a narrator he is and at what cost such unyielding professional striving did to the individual and the nation.

The successful but petty and vindictive man at the center of J. EDGAR is as much a mystery as what he kept in his confidential files.  Eastwood and Black give Hoover credit where it’s due, especially in the admiration for his organizational rigor and faith in scientific evidence as a valuable tool.  The speculative private life they give him, in which he and associate director Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer) share a closeted and presumably unconsummated relationship, goes a long way in humanizing a man who would ride roughshod over the livelihoods of his subordinates and perceived enemies.

DiCaprio does marvelous work portraying a man who, frankly, seems like he would have been unpleasant company, even to those long loyal to him.  Hoover’s magnetism derives from his intellect, certainty, power, and sense for myth-making, and DiCaprio bears that out with a performance of a man who himself may be constantly performing as though he has nothing to hide.  Hammer’s Tolson seems in awe of and puzzled by his friend and co-worker.  Hoover’s longtime secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) demonstrates great respect and empathy even as she appears not to understand this man she’s know for decades.  Something must have earned their dedication.  That mystery is what encourages looking even closer at this blank slate of a person.

Grade: B

Take Shelter

TAKE SHELTER (Jeff Nichols, 2011)

Where is the line that separates a prophet from a madman?  For Curtis (Michael Shannon) in TAKE SHELTER, his vivid delusions and hallucinations of an impending storm have him struggling to ascertain if he is foreseeing danger or losing his mind.  Now in his mid-30s, the Elyria, Ohio construction worker is at the age when his mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.  While he takes steps to address the potential onset of mental illness, Curtis doesn’t discount his dreams either.

Curtis doesn’t want to worry his wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) with the burden of what he is seeing, not when she already has their hearing-impaired daughter Hannah (Tova Stewart) to care for and a house to keep.  For a time his actions don’t suggest anything significant is wrong, but she can’t overlook his gradually strange behavior and fixation on the backyard storm shelter.

For a husband and a father the needs to provide and protect are paramount.  Curtis’s visions motivate him to fulfill the role he has been capably serving, but the nightmares also put at risk his ability to be in the family.  If he is experiencing an emotional disorder’s blossoming, then he is speeding toward the ruination he is working so hard to prevent.

In an outstanding performance, Shannon portrays this conflict with great sensitivity and control.  He’s played his share of characters with some faulty wiring, but this role is more down to earth than the colorfully disturbed individuals he’s been in BUG, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, and MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE.  In TAKE SHELTER Shannon conveys the quiet torment that prods Curtis’s worst fears while he does his damnedest to keep it together for those he loves. When the pressure can no longer be contained, the slow boil of a performance explodes in a spectacular scene at a Lions Club fish fry in which he releases what are either the ravings of an ill person or the impassioned warning of someone who spots trouble on the horizon.

TAKE SHELTER writer-director Jeff Nichols takes great care in detailing Curtis’s journey and surrounding him with concerned loved ones.  Chastain’s deeply empathetic work displays the anguish that a spouse goes through in supporting a partner who may not be well.  In his single scene Ray McKinnon makes an impression as Curtis’s older brother Kyle.  His visit to Curtis’s home and their subsequent conversation tiptoes around the main subject, as men will often do, but the message Kyle sends and what he observes shows genuine worry.

Nichols keeps the narrative taut by not tipping off whether the protagonist is rational or not until the very end, although the answer may be more oblique than it appears. What matters is following the progression of Curtis’s mental dilemma and feeling the strain that comes from agonizing over a man’s capacity to do right by his family.

Grade: A

TIFF newbie questions

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

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

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

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

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

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