Fascinating documentary about a young boy, Nicholas Barclay, in Texas who disappears. And then reappears, in Spain. And is taken back in by his family who, it appears, are, in turn, taken in by him. The million dollar question is why doesn't his family immediately recognize that this young man is not their missing son? And that's what makes "The Imposter" so intriguing. What is really going on?
Clever, compelling documentary about hacker-activists who use their hacking skills to wreck havoc on enemies of social justice and liberty, as they see it. Their targets seem sympathetic to me-- big corporations, neo-nazi groups, rapists-- but their methods are definitely extralegal. There is some naivete in the group-- when the police come calling, it seems like some of them didn't really think what they were doing was illegal, or likely to get them into trouble. Extraordinary people on the fringes of the law and justice, taking actions that are sometimes dramatically effective.
Julian Assange, Aaron Barr, Anonyops, Anon2world
Clever, compelling documentary about hacker-activists who use their hacking skills to wreck havoc on enemies of social justice and liberty, as they see it. Their targets seem sympathetic to me-- big corporations, neo-nazi groups, rapists-- but their methods are definitely extralegal. There is some naivete in the group-- when the police come calling, it seems like some of them didn't really think what they were doing was illegal, or likely to get them into trouble. Extraordinary people on the fringes of the law and justice, taking actions that are sometimes dramatically effective.
Julian Assange, Aaron Barr
Lots of action, almost always CGI and b-movie preposterous, marks an adaptation of the otherwise pastoral book by Tolkein that preceded his more violent Rings trilogy. Freeman is okay as the hobbit and most of the other actors provide the requisite gravity and spunk, but this mostly a thrill for fans of big, spectacular fixes, flight, and fight, and perhaps of the beauty of design. Above average for this sort of thing, but too scary for younger children.
Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott
Wildly violent, funny, witty pastiche of western conventions and gangster stories which, ultimately, runs out of ideas. Django is a slave bought by Dr. King Schultz for the purpose of assisting him as a bounty hunter. They make a deal that concludes with Schultz, who is opposed to slavery as a matter of principal, helping Django free his wife from a notorious slave owner, Calvin Candie. The story goes off the rails when Django engages in a ridiculously preposterous gunfight - preposterous as in ridiculous, not over-the-top funny-- and one of Candie's men holds a gun to his wife's head, as if Django has anything to gain by surrendering in that situation, followed by Steven, the house nigger, lobbying to save Django's life. The inexplicable casting of DiCaprio hurts a lot as well.
Samuel Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington
Overwrought and often dull and apparently as good and as bad as the stage musical. There are plots and sub-plots and exposition none of which seems deeply related to the others, other than through coincidence and happenstance. Mostly, there is a lot of wailing and misery as if suffering itself was some kind of aesthetic experience. I found the music tedious and unmemorable. The performances are really quite good but Hooper's biggest mistake was that he recorded the singing live-- a brilliant stroke-- but not the music! As a result, a lot of the performances feel like karaoke. Add to that the overwhelming use of computer generated graphics and the film feels oddly chaste and un-involving. What effect is that first scene, of Valjean as part of thousands of men pulling a ship into dry-dock, supposed to have? Why would anyone feel anything in response to this very large computer graphic?
Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham-Carter
Mac is sent to Scotland by oil man Felix Happer to negotiate a purchase of a small village for an oil refinery and shipping port. The villagers are on to him and looking forward to a big payday but Mac becomes entranced with village life and culture and begins to have second thoughts. Local Hero is about the quirky, enmeshed life of a small village, epitomized by the unknown parentage of a baby, and the embarrassment of the villagers when Mac asks whose baby it is. Mac loses his watch and starts to collect sea-shells, and considers an offer from Urquhart of his wife-- it's never quite clear if he's serious or not. A subtle, intelligent film that doesn't talk down to it's audiences: these aren't yokels and Happer isn't some ruthless capitalist. In the end, Mac connects with the things he didn't know he was missing. Mark Knopfler is responsible for the exceptional musical track.
Peter Riegert, Burt Lancaster, Peter Capaldi, Jenny Seagrove
Artful fictionalization of the story of Samuel Bycke who tried to assassinate Richard Nixon in 1974 by crashing a jetliner into the White House (shades of 9/11). Sean Penn is exceptional as the dislocated, depressed, and incompetent "Bicke" who can't hold a job as a furniture salesman and tries to steal tires from his brother to start a new business after being turned down for a loan by the government. The contrast of his boss's belief in Norman Vincent Peale and Dale Carnegie and Bicke's pathetic inability to control events is poignant. Bicke's wife has left him and seems to be starting a new romantic relationship. His best friend seems to be losing confidence in him. He comes to believe that the odds are stacked against "the little guy", with the government itself determined to keep him down. Doesn't tart it up from the real story. Jack Thompson is excellent as his furniture store boss who tries to train Bicke in salesmanship.
Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Naomi Watts, Jack Thompson
Sixto Rodriguez was a promising singer-songwriter in 1971 who released two well- reviewed albums in the U.S. Unfortunately, for inexplicable reasons, they failed to sell, and Rodriguez disappeared. Unbeknownst to him, one of his albums made it's way to South Africa where it became a monster hit. Twenty five years later, a documentary film-maker set out to find out what happened to him, and if rumors of his suicide were true. This story is all the more fascinating because of the dark mystery about the man himself, his family life, his zen-like approach to his career and working life, and the elusiveness of his character. His music is raw and compelling and powerful, and he is a terrific singer, though he was known to perform facing away from the audience. Wonderful story.
Okay. We could try to pretend not to notice that Bradley Cooper, who is in almost every shot, is a producer of this film. Or that Jennifer Lawrence bravely tries to create a character out of the string of sketches she is asked to do. Or that the plot's arms are not twisted into pretzels to try to invest the dance contest with some kind of significance-- aside from the significance to the relationship which might have been productively mined had the director trusted the audience to get it. And we might have asked that someone involved in the production invest a bit of effort into having the characters react to things that they know instead of things that the audience knows. But it would have been a pretty boring first 60 minutes anyway, and it's a remarkable achievement to make anything with Jennifer Lawrence in it boring but they did it. And-- oh my god-- is Chris Tucker really recycling a character from 5th Element? Pat's psychiatrist has an accent! As Ebert observed, a new type in American cinema is an Indian American who appears to be exotic and eccentric only to be revealed as totally assimilated. Another stereotype is the happy lunatic, Danny (Chris Rock), who presumed to be lovably eccentric and inspired because he's crazy. In general, though, the characters of "Silver Linings" are too busy announcing how crazy they are to actually be crazy, just as too many drunks in Hollywood movies are too busy trying to fall down to actually look drunk.
Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker
Georges and Anne, both former music teachers, educated, cultivated, live together in Paris in an apartment, when Anne suffers a mild stroke. They cope as best they can but Anne especially finds it difficult to adjust to her new limitations. Gradually, her condition worsens, creating a more formidable challenge for Georges, who is determined to support her in their apartment. This is an intelligent, sensitive document about what it might be like to cope with a lifelong partner losing her independence and, indeed, her capabilities. Sometimes ponderous and deliberate, and even tedious, but honest and piercing.
Jean Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabel Huppert
Intriguing dramatization of the trials of Klaus Von Bulow who was accused of killing his wife, Sunny, by injecting her with insulin in 1983. Alan Dershowitz, who lavishes praise on himself in this version, takes on the case because he believes Von Bulow might be the victim of a miscarriage of justice. Dershowitz brilliantly and stubbornly fights for Von Bulow's exoneration because he just is a great guy. Very, very interesting reflection, though, on why juries convict, and how the media can run with ambiguous details. Really quite a good film. Prompts comparisons to the case of Jefferey MacDonald, but also to Scott Peterson.
Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Ron Silver, Anabella Sciorra, Uta Hagen
Unconvincing adaptation of the brilliant book by Yann Martel about an Indian boy shipwrecked who finds a tiger, an orangutan, a zebra with broken legs, and a hyena on a lifeboat. The animals ostensibly come from his father's zoo, which he was transporting to America. Pi has to contest the tiger for food and survival, while the other animals gradually fall victim. Beautifully filmed-- if you think Hallmark cards can be beautiful-- but poorly acted and directed, and rather antiseptic at times. True to the book in terms of the deeply philosophical conclusion, but Pi's earlier expressed eclecticism seems forced or artificial or insignificant-- take your pick-- given the circumstances of Pi's survival at sea.
Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan
Allegedly a classic, follows the misfortunes of a mule who is sold, transferred, seized, or whathaveyou, but various individuals in a small town in France. He is a mute witness to all the human failings and corruption around him, including some shenanigans involving farmland belonging to an absentee landlord, and a girl named Marie who becomes pregnant out of wedlock (this is the 1920's). One commentator said that the donkey is the only one who can act in this movie-- perhaps not far from the truth. The alleged poetry of this story escapes me, but the performances are not as authentic so much as just amateurish.
Anne Wiazemsky, Walter Green, Francois Lafarge
Well-written and acted dramatization of the disastrous turn of events in the life of Gary Gilmour, after he was released early from prison at the age of 35, with the support of his sister. He meets Nicole Baker and they develop a mutual infatuation that turns bad. Gilmour can't handle the stress of the relationship while trying to hold a job, get the things he wants, and avoid going back to prison. He eventually murders two people and, after conviction, demands the death penalty, and that it be carried out. This formed a conundrum for the courts -- almost everybody appeals. Eventually, he is granted his wish. There is a very odd party the night before, with women and alcoholic beverages, and then a poorly managed execution, with loads of press and witnesses present. An unsentimental examination of the death penalty and crime and justice. Much more faithful to real events than most bio-pics; provocative and fascinating.
Tommy Lee Jones, Rosana Arquette, Christine Lahti, Eli Wallach
Well-written and acted dramatization of the disastrous turn of events in the life of Gary Gilmour, after he was released early from prison at the age of 35, with the support of his sister. He meets Nicole Baker and they develop a mutual infatuation that turns bad. Gilmour can't handle the stress of the relationship while trying to hold a job, get the things he wants, and avoid going back to prison. He eventually murders two people and, after conviction, demands the death penalty, and that it be carried out. This formed a conundrum for the courts -- almost everybody appeals. Eventually, he is granted his wish. There is a very odd party the night before, with women and alcoholic beverages, and then a poorly managed execution, with loads of press and witnesses present. An unsentimental examination of the death penalty and crime and justice. Much more faithful to real events than most bio-pics; provocative and fascinating.
Powerful, savage documentary on the U.S. practice of torture and abuse of prisoners after 9/11. Focuses on Dilewar, an Afghan citizen who, it becomes clear, was involved with nothing other than driving his taxi. When he passed through a check-point, a corrupt Afghan militia commander arrested him and passed him on to U.S. authorities who sent him to Bagram prison where he was beaten and abused until his legs had become, in the words of an autopsy, "pulpified". Incisively demonstrates how the chain of command, from Cheney down to the military police, tacitly or overtly endorsed the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques-- absolutely a euphemism for torture, and absolutely illegal. Convincing and devastating indictment of the Bush administration, Rumsveld, Cheney, John Yoo, and others who laid the groundwork for the abuse. McCain stood up to them for a time until he was co-opted by legislation granting immunity to the parties concerned.
Powerful, savage documentary on the U.S. practice of torture and abuse of prisoners after 9/11. Focuses on Dilewar, an Afghan citizen who, it becomes clear, was involved with nothing other than driving his taxi. When he passed through a check-point, a corrupt Afghan militia commander arrested him and passed him on to U.S. authorities who sent him to Bagram prison where he was beaten and abused until his legs had become, in the words of an autopsy, "pulpified". Incisively demonstrates how the chain of command, from Cheney down to the military police, tacitly or overtly endorsed the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques-- absolutely a euphemism for torture, and absolutely illegal. Convincing and devastating indictment of the Bush administration, Rumsveld, Cheney, John Yoo, and others who laid the groundwork for the abuse. McCain stood up to them for a time until he was co-opted by legislation granting immunity to the parties concerned.
Powerful, savage documentary on the U.S. practice of torture and abuse of prisoners after 9/11. Focuses on Dilewar, an Afghan citizen who, it becomes clear, was involved with nothing other than driving his taxi. When he passed through a check-point, a corrupt Afghan militia commander arrested him and passed him on to U.S. authorities who sent him to Bagram prison where he was beaten and abused until his legs had become, in the words of an autopsy, "pulpified". Incisively demonstrates how the chain of command, from Cheney down to the military police, tacitly or overtly endorsed the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques-- absolutely a euphemism for torture, and absolutely illegal. Convincing and devastating indictment of the Bush administration, Rumsveld, Cheney, John Yoo, and others who laid the groundwork for the abuse. McCain stood up to them for a time until he was co-opted by legislation granting immunity to the parties concerned.
Superior, sensitive drama about a man with polio who wants to lose his virginity and decides to seek a sex surrogate to accomplish the deed. Lewin is careful not to caricature the failed relationships-- the issues are obvious-- and carefully develops this sensitive study of love and intimacy until the sex itself becomes secondary to the issue of intimacy. Helen Hunt plays Cheryl, the surrogate, with great dignity and courage, and Hawkes evokes both the vulnerability and audacity of Mark O'Brien (on whose magazine article the story is based). Father Brendan (O'Brien is a Catholic) is helpfully enlightened, but it would have been interesting to delve into his own sense of loneliness as a celibate.
John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Adam Arkin, Moon Bloodgood
Surprising (for Spielberg) restrained and tasteful examination of the process by which Lincoln passed the 13th amendment outlawing slavery in the waning but still violent months of the civil war. Daniel Day-Lewis is brilliant as the morose, sometimes laconic leader, coping with his own depression and guilt, and his wife's troubles, to negotiate with congressional leaders to get the 2/3 majority required. Less spectacle than character study, Lincoln is no saint in this version: just a determined, courageous man of strong conviction. Spielberg doesn't dumb down the issue: we see the ambiguous positions even of members of his own party, some of whom want to send the slaves all back to Africa, as Lincoln himself may have. There is a surprise at the end that resonates with subtle authenticity and enriches, rather than cheapens the drama. A fine, fine film.
Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Superbly filmed elegiac study of social and cultural mores in early 20th century New York. Lily Bart is living on the edge: a single woman without independent financial resources, looking for a good marriage, but determined to maintain her identity. She's a wit and charmer and bit provocative which leads men around her to regard her as a potential mark. She is sort of attracted to Lawrence Seldon, a lawyer, living in an apartment house for "confirmed bachelors", and I was never sure how loaded that term was. He clearly is not offering sexual love, but may well be in love with her regardless. When her friend Bertha betrays her, labeling her as her husband's paramour to cover up her own affair with Lawrence, Lily is humiliated. When it emerges that she accepted money from Augustus Trenor-- naively believing it was investment income-- she becomes a pariah. When her aunt leaves her fortune to Grace instead of her, she is ruined. But here the movie becomes a 19th century soap-opera: Lily refuses to accept help or kindness from any of her friends, determined to behave honorably and repay every penny to Trenor. We watch appalled at her masochistic martyrdom, at the irrationality of her behavior, and her self-pity: she goes to see Lawrence and then burns incriminating letters in his fireplace, a blatant and dishonest attempt to broadcast her victimization. We are given to believe that life as laborer is so horrible that we must believe that her suffering is unbearable-- though that's what millions do, in fact, to live. If this is an implied critique of Lily's character, it is muted in the film, and we are left with the impression of a woman who can't stand life without privilege. Yet it's a fascinating film, nuanced, and rich, and beautifully shot. I suspect that Laura Linney should have played Lilly...
Gillian Anderson, Laura Linney, Dan Akroyd, Eric Stoltz, Elizabeth McGovern, Jodi May
There is nothing more boring than an alcoholic unless it's a movie which, in depicting an aging white American male in perpetual rage, believes itself to be authentic and raw and meaningful. Schrader goes further, insisting that Wade is the most heroic character he has ever imagined! As far as I can tell from the movie, that's a sick perspective: Wade drinks heavily, even while driving, neglects his own child, chases Jack in his car, even murders people. This is "heroic"? We are supposed to see a connection between his abusive childhood and his terrible relationship with his father (which doesn't prevent him from offering to live with him after his mother dies) and his "courageous" attempts to solve a murder tied to petty municipal corruption, and I suppose we're supposed to have some reverence for his brother's thoughtful perspective on things but it never quite comes off, and it is not helped by the lame synthetic score, or the Quebec locations doubling for New Hampshire-- snow on Halloween? But a more fundamental question is why does Schrader impute heroism to thugs tarted up with something that is supposed to suggest alienation but often emerges more like infantile frustration? The only reason the audience has to admire Wade is that we are told to by the narration. Schrader is trapped in his own adolescent fury. Coburn won an Oscar.
Nick Nolte, Willem Daffoe, James Coborn, Sissy Spacek, Holmes Osborne
There is nothing more boring than an alcoholic unless it's a movie which, in depicting an aging white American male in perpetual rage, believes itself to be authentic and raw and meaningful. Schrader goes further, insisting that Wade is the most heroic character he has ever imagined! As far as I can tell from the movie, that's a sick perspective: Wade drinks heavily, even while driving, neglects his own child, chases Jack in his car, even murders people. This is "heroic"? We are supposed to see a connection between his abusive childhood and his terrible relationship with his father (which doesn't prevent him from offering to live with him after his mother dies) and his "courageous" attempts to solve a murder tied to petty municipal corruption, and I suppose we're supposed to have some reverence for his brother's thoughtful perspective on things but it never quite comes off, and it is not helped by the lame synthetic score, or the Quebec locations doubling for New Hampshire-- snow on Halloween? But a more fundamental question is why does Schrader impute heroism to thugs tarted up with something that is supposed to suggest alienation but often emerges more like infantile frustration? The only reason the audience has to admire Wade is that we are told to by the narration. Schrader is trapped in his own adolescent fury.
Nick Nolte
Denzel Washington, you lovable rogue! Here, he drives and flies while drunk, seduces women, lies to the NTSB, ignores his family, and suffers so, so much, you just can't help but think, aw, shucks, he's no real danger to anyone. The problem with Flight-- the same problem as with Argo-- is that everyone is waiting for the revelation coming in the next scene. When a plane suffers a mechanical failure and Whip Whitaker brilliantly flips it upside down so it can land safely (after righting itself, of course) in a field-- something no other pilot, we are supposed to believe, could have done, we are given to understand that the physical and procedural evidence is unambiguous. The Co-pilot-- with no evidence at all-- concludes that Whitaker saved 102 lives with a brilliant maneuver though he knows he was stoned at the time. But it's hard to accept that co-pilot Ken Evans wouldn't believe that Whitaker didn't in fact screw it up. In fact, the premise-- that no other pilot could have saved the lives of the passengers (validated, in the film, by NTSB simulations)-- gives this movie the feeling of being rigged, as it does when Margaret Thomson's son thanks Whitaker for saving his mother's life. It could have been interesting-- if it had suggested that Whitaker stayed calm because he was stoned, and showed us that, politically, nobody could possibly ever acknowledge it. But that's not where Zemeckis wants to go: this is a story about personal redemption and it's a curiosity at a time when the same people watching this film and rooting for Denzel Washington would love to see him hanged in real life, if he, driving or flying while drunk, were responsible for the death of a loved one. The truth is, this "portrait" is so dull and dishonest, there's not a thing to be learned from it. Nor are the secondary characters interesting, from John Goodman doing his kitschy irascible drug dealer buddy shtick, to the painfully "colorful" and "honest" cancer patient who joins Whitaker and Nicole for a smoke in a hospitable stairwell to the aggressive but dogged NTSB investigator to the tattooed inmates mesmerized by Whitaker's alleged courageousness at some kind of therapy session in prison. Couldn't they at least clarify if Whitaker understands that "his" lawyer may, in fact, be representing the interests of his employer? Couldn't the lawyer at least have cooly warned Whitaker that if he ever sat at the controls of a plane or car again, he would recuse himself? This is a role that could and should have been played by a young Clint Eastwood or John Wayne.
Denzel Washington, Melissa Leo, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, John Goodman
Based on an allegedly great novel, a mess of a movie that jumps from era to era, character to character, inane platitude to inane platitude. Ostensibly about ... I have no idea. It is quite possibly about something, but in the expression of it's subject, it is tedious, predictable, and pretentious, and, above all, derivative of at least a dozen other movies from which it steals while pretending to do "homage". Unbelievably misjudged: Tom Hanks as a tribesman speaking pigeon english: "tell me the true true". Why on earth would these primitives be speaking pigeon any thing? Is he Jar Jar Binks reincarnated? Some fans insist you have to see it twice or three times to "understand it". It doesn't even take one complete showing to get just how tedious and uninteresting the dramatic interactions are, and no amount of repeat viewings will change that. There is however, one fine moment: Jim Broadbent shouting "Soylent Green is people" as he flees the old age home into which he was trapped. And actually, for such a self-serious film, it would have been a dumb idea to include that joke, if the film had otherwise succeeded.
Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant
Marty is a frustrated screen-writer with a helpful friend, Billy. Billy has a friend named Hans with whom he kidnaps pets and then collects rewards for returning them. They inadvertently take the shih-tzu belonging to a real gangster and the two plot lines converge as Marty writes his screenplay about "seven psychopaths". The challenge of "Seven Psychopaths" is to avoid cliche's about self-consciously self-conscious film, and to keep Christopher Walken's quirky spin on his own quirkiness from becoming cloying or tiresome-- and that it does. Funny and fresh and never boring, if not ever particularly profound either. And then there is the Tom Waits character-- Zachariah -- who relates his story of psychopathology asking only a screen acknowledgement of his long lost love in return.
Colin Farrell, Michael Pitt, Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Tom Waits
Preposterous film-noire about a wrongfully convicted man who escapes San Quentin and heads back to San Francisco to find out who really murdered his wife. He is picked up--literally-- by Irene Jansen, who is convinced he is innocent and wants to help-- and has plastic surgery to change his appearance. That development is not as promising as it looks: he doesn't use it to hang around people who know him to find out what they really think-- he gets uncovered fairly quickly and there is a really cheesy sequence in which he disarms an extortionist and then is disarmed. He goes to a suspect's home and seems shocked that she won't accompany him to the police and confess, and then she stumbles through a window and dies. However... Lauren Bacall as Irene is quite entrancing.
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Agnes Moorehead, Bruce Bennett
Vastly over-rated dramatization of the escape of six American diplomatic employees from Iran in 1979 during the hostage crisis after being taken in by the Canadian ambassador, Ken Taylor. The audience is pounded over the head with "significance" and weight by imputing every moment with mind-bending fateful implication. Affleck claims that only the ending was Hollywoodized but, in fact, there are multiple recreations of actions and conversations that could only have been known to members of the radical Iranian Republican guard, who, presumably, were not cooperating with the film-makers, and other conversations could only have been provided by very biased U.S. CIA or State Department Officials. And though Affleck acknowledges the U.S. role in the installation of the Shah and his use of torture (supported by the CIA), he then proceeds to caricature most of the Iranians as members of frenzied mobs or glowering, hostile, murderous Republican Guard. The last scenes, of Republican Guard chasing the 747 down the runway, are so ridiculously over-the-top that it undermines the entire film. But every other scene writhes in mock seriousness and contrived "authenticity" usually signaled by hand-held, jiggly cameras and gratuitous swearing. And then there is the bizarre book-ends: Tony is divorced and calls his son on the phone and we see distance; after the rescue, he shows up at his ex-wife's house and she welcomes him back and he snuggles with his son on the couch. Rescuing American diplomats makes your family better.
Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston, Victor Garber
A family joke in the Polley family was that Sarah didn't look at all like her dad-- who was the real father? Turns out that that was no joke. Sarah brings her cameras and meets with various family members and friends to unravel the mysterious life of her mother, who died of cancer when Sarah was 11, and who was in Montreal by herself doing a stage play around the time Sarah was conceived. There are surprises and revelations but mostly intelligent inquiry and reinterpretation of events by a family with equanimity and grace. If there is a quibble to be had, there is a bit of a tendency to make something monumental of a rather common-place betrayal. Forgivable for the remarkable candor the participants bring to the project and the clever use of archival super-8 footage and re-enactments.
Sarah Polley, Rebecca Jenkins, Diane Polley, Harry Gulkin, Joanna Polley
Espinosa seems only dimly aware of that fact that the problem with laundering drug money is not solved by acquiring a bank. The problem is getting large aggregates of cash into the economy without attracting undue attention from the authorities. This is solved by finding some conduit that transfers the cash in large numbers of small bills from the drug-sellers to an asset of some kind, like a car wash, coin laundry, or other operation. But that is typical of "Easy Money"-- there is not a development anywhere that has the slightest ring of authenticity, though the movie displays a lot of faux-grit with hand-held cameras, shouting, and guns. Jorge escapes from prison by simply running to a wall and climbing over-- in Sweden I can believe the guards won't shoot, and aren't prepared to chase-- and reunites with his gang of noble drug dealers (as opposed to the evil drug-dealers who want to steal his product). Johan is a student/taxi-driver who is pretending to be much richer than he really is in order to hang out with the upper class students, and who gets involved with Jorge and quickly persuades the gang that he can "launder" the money by buying control of a bank that is in default-- a bank which was formerly one of the "largest" in Sweden, and which, presumably, would still have billions in assets making it rather difficult to acquire even for millionaire drug dealers. But again, how do you transfer the cash to bank shares without arousing the interest of bank regulators, and reports to the tax collectors? Johan easily persuades the bank president to become a partner. I'm not saying you couldn't make it believable if you really tried. No one in either gang seems to consider anything beyond the next gun-fight. It's all sophomoric posturing and phoney emotional crises. I rewrote parts of it in my mind: Johan realizes that rich people don't tell other people they are rich-- they pretend they are enjoying slumming around. It would have been fun to have one of his snobby friends who suspect his really poor run into him at the bank he now runs hob-nobbling with the governors... but alas, "Easy Money" doesn't have an ounce of humour in it.
Joel Kinnaman, Mattias Varela, Dragomir Mrsic, Lisa Henni
Propaganda for the Charter School movement-- and apparently funded by a proponent, "Won't Back Down" dumbs down the problem of failing schools and personalizes it: Jamie Fitzpatrick's daughter Malia has dyslexia and isn't getting any help from her disinterested Grade 3 teacher (who checks her iPhone during class and doesn't bother to even give the appearance of activity). She recruits a disillusioned teacher and other parents and attempts to take over the school. According to the law in some states, disgruntled parents can convert a school to a charter, or simply close it down, if they have the votes. So, reversing "Norma Rae", Jamie stands up to the oppressive, self-serving teachers' union and, presto, her daughter's dyslexia is cured, and she gets to have sex with that hunky grade 5 teacher whose contribution to the movie is to convince the audience that good teaching consists of doing things that look like fun like playing your ukelele and dancing. The truth is, the acting, directing, and everything else about this movie are mediocre at best, which is surprising considering that the cast includes Holly Hunter and Viola Davis. Even worse, the the film caters to a kind of neurotic narcissism of failed parents: when Jaime takes calls and visitors at her job as receptionist at a car dealership, we're supposed to be repelled by the idea of her boss insisting that she work, even after she comes back from a 90 minute lunch. She also thoughtlessly lets Malia watch tv and eat sugary snacks and I guess we're suppose to disapprove of Nona's stricter rules for her own son. God forbid, in this world, that we might think parents ever play a role in a failing education system.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Holly Hunter, Oscar Isaac
Propaganda for the Charter School movement-- and apparently funded by a proponent, "Won't Back Down" dumbs down the problem of failing schools and personalizes it: Jamie Fitzpatrick's daughter Malia has dyslexia and isn't getting any help from her disinterested Grade 3 teacher (who checks her iPhone during class and doesn't bother to even give the appearance of activity). She recruits a disillusioned teacher and other parents and attempts to take over the school. According to the law in some states, disgruntled parents can convert a school to a charter, or simply close it down, if they have the votes. So, reversing "Norma Rae", Jamie stands up to the oppressive, self-serving teachers' union and, presto, her daughter's dyslexia is cured, and she gets to have sex with that hunky grade 5 teacher whose contribution to the movie is to convince the audience that good teaching consists of doing things that look like fun like playing your ukelele and dancing. The truth is, the acting, directing, and everything else about this movie are mediocre at best, which is surprising considering that the cast includes Holly Hunter and Viola Davis.
Damn that Von Trier! Every time you think he has finally come out with a movie you can dismiss as sensational provocation and religion-baiting, he ends up demonstrating a remarkable ability to be thought-provoking and brilliant as well. This is a dark, dark movie that, after introducing you to the suggestion that a woman, "she", is the victim of self-lacerating blame for her child's death (as she and her husband were having sex), introduces you to another jarring idea: that she might be malevolent or evil or even a witch. Her husband, who seems to have coped with the tragedy with more equanimity, comes off as somewhat mechanical and self-controlled, and she accuses him of being unfeeling, of not caring if their son is dead or alive. He checks her out of the hospital (after she had passed out at the funeral) to a cottage deep in the woods (called "Eden") where she alternates between hysteria and contrived bonhomie.
Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Strange story about a civil war union soldier who is rescued from near death by a young girl and helped back to her boarding school which is occupied by a number of lonely, apparently desperate women. While trying to nurse him back to health, they fight over him and plot against each other, with serious consequences for everyone.
Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman, Darlene Carr, Pamelyn Ferdin
Robert DeNiro plays "Mad Dog" Wayne Dobie, a conservative, by-the-book police photographer, who one day saves the life of a gangster called Frank Milo. Turns out that the sister of a man who owes Frank a serious debt has put herself into his service for a period of time to save her brother's life. Frank turns her over to Wayne as a thank-you gift. This is actually an intriguing premise, if you assume an awkward presentation of the sexual element: Frank could, believably, be pissed if Glory, the sister, doesn't put out as part of the deal, and he might reasonably assume that a red-blooded police officer wouldn't turn it down, given the circumstances. Doesn't quite work on several levels, including DeNiro's problematic presentation of Wayne: I couldn't get a fix on his character, or why he would fall in love with Glory, or why he wouldn't take advantage of the offer at first. Better-written than expected, and decent supporting performances, except for Thurman is plainly a dud, and DeNiro who's performance is flat and uninspired. Pedestrian direction and cinematography. But Murray is very good as Frank.
Robert De Niro, Bill Murray, Uma Thurman, David Caruso, Kathy Baker
Brilliantly directed and acted story about an incipient cult leader, Lancaster Dodd, and his meeting with a psychologically unstable ex-serviceman, Freddie Quell, and their strange, enduring relationship. More an examination of the relationship between the two men, and how a cult-leader exerts his magnetism, than of the cult experience itself. Quell's life is a mess and he's a bundle of bad impulses and reckless choices. Dodd is slick, smooth, and confident, and needs Quell's admiration and respect as much as Quell needs his leadership. But Dodd also needs his wife, Peggy, who, it turns out, knows much more about Dodd's visionary philosophy than even he does-- because she's writing it. Yet their relationship comes off as extremely collegial and collaborative-- a subtlety that deepens and enriches this portrait.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquim Phoenix, Amy Adams, Jesse Plemons
Seriously over-rated sci-fi thriller about a hit man who attends a certain location at a specified time to assassinate various miscreants who have been sent back in time from the future after crossing some kind of mob. The loopers know that eventually they will be sent back themselves. Young Joe meets himself this way and complications ensue as Old Joe is determined to alter the future. Joe ends up at a farm (this is Kansas) with Sara (Emily Blunt) and her son with special abilities and things get even more complicated. Not entirely consistent with itself, or even coherent, this is mainly a catalog of tres cool assassins posing with big guns and brains getting splattered, all allegedly in the service of a pure and lasting love. Jeff Bridges is cool and Paul Dano is convincingly sniveling, but dull patches intrude.
Paul Dano, Joseph Gorden-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Jeff Bridges, Emily Blunt
Unusually frank, explicit story about a gay man looking to hook up who ends up falling in love with a man he meets at a singles bar. Russell and Glen banter and challenge each other about the importance of commitment vs. passion, and try to work out where they will be with each other on Monday.
Tom Cullen, Chris New
Charley Partana is a good fella in this almost parody of "The Godfather", and Kathleen Turner is Irene Walker, a hired killer; they meet at a wedding and he falls hard for her, but his ex, Maerose Prizzi, is up to no good. Well-developed plot leads to reasonably plausible complications, and a many good jokes about Italian crime families, with a slight edge to the satire that adds heft to what could have been a trivialized, jokey hack. Good performances from the majors.
Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Robert Loggia, William Hickey, Angelica Huston
Charley Partana is a good fella in this almost parody of "The Godfather", and Kathleen Turner is Irene Walker, a hired killer; they meet at a wedding and he falls hard for her, but his ex, Maerose Prizzi, is up to no good. Well-developed plot leads to reasonably plausible complications, and a many good jokes about Italian crime families, with a slight edge to the satire that adds heft to what could have been a trivialized, jokey hack. Good performances from the majors.
This is a movie of drunks trying hard to fall down when they need to convince us that they are trying hard to stand up. There isn't an inspired moment in the film, but you do have young, attractive, funny people longing for each other and getting jealous and angry and sad-- all very watchable, as long as she looks like Rashida Jones and he is as adorable as Andy Samberg. Jesse and Celeste have decided to divorce but they remain best friends. When Jesse develops a real interest in a girl, Veronica, who happens to be pregnant with his baby. If only they could have resisted the temptation to make Veronica seem petty, or to make Celeste so cheerfully disapproving of Jesse's indolence-- he lives in the back part of her house and watches tv and procrastinates on what little work he does get. If only there were moments of realization or ambivalence. Never really quite rises above the level of sitcom humour.
Andy Samberg, Rashida Jones, Elijah Wood, Ari Graynor, Will McCormick
In spite of the high regard with which John Ford is held in Hollywood mythology, the style of acting in his great films is frequently stilted and theatrical. Yes, a product of it's time, but the point is, it's hard to suspend your disbelief. Still, "Fort Apache" is an intelligently written, thoughtful story about duplicitous government agents, honorable Indians, and a stiff, ambitious, foolish Calvary officer, Owen Thursday. He travels west to take command of Fort Apache after being muscled out of more glamorous assignments in other regions. When Conchise leads his Apache tribe out of a reservation, he sees a chance for personal glory, against the advice of wise, liberal John Wayne (!). As in "Liberty Valance", Ford dwells on the uses of myth in the building of the American character, and imputes a rueful wisdom to the Wayne character who is complicit in the lie.
Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Shirley Temple, John Agar
Superior drama of the fall of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI from the point of view of a servant, Sidonie Laborde, who believes in her queen, and the illusions of grace and authority amid the lavish accoutrements of Versailles. We watch as servants attempt to rationalize their positions as their culture crumbles around them and the astonishing rabble seize the Bastille. Sidonie doesn't realize, until it's too late, just how toxic this culture is, and how she, like the rabble, is really disposable in the eyes of the privileged and the corrupt. Beautifully realized in every detail, if a trifle slow-moving at times, until the sinister conclusion. Vastly superior to the deceitful "Marie Antoinette" with it's contemptible omission of the Queen's attempts to plot a restoration with Austrian armies.
Lea Seydoux, Diane Kruger, Virginie Ledoyan, Xavier Beauvois
"Lawless" is rambling, messy, and just plain stupid at times-- and a grave waste of some exceptional acting talent-- and sounds at times like your drunken uncle's bragging at a wedding. One does not take seriously any claim to real history here, though it does make that claim. Nor to be taken too seriously is the rather sophomoric worship of the character of Forrest Dondurant, the middle brother, especially in the telling of how he had his throat slit from ear-to-ear and (spoiler alert) survived. The brothers are moon-shiners-- you know, those heroic emblems of a full and passionate life-- the local police cooperate with them (receiving their share of the profits) until a Chicago attorney, Charlie Rakes, comes along to spoil things. Extremely violent and unintentionally funny at times, providing Jessica Chastain with embarrassingly token appearances as the film wears on... just a mess: The Godfather meets Beverly Hillbillies.
Shia Labeouf, Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Guy Pearce
Fatally wounded by the miscasting of Matthew Broderick as Col. Robert Gould Shaw, and the terrible Hollywood trope of telling tales of oppression and racism from the point of view of lily-bread white characters, recounts the adventures of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment of Volunteers, one of the first all-black regiments to fight for the Union in the Civil War. Broderick, only three years away from "Ferris Bueller", is actually about the age of the real Robert Shaw, but looks and acts like he's organizing a boy scout camp-out. Few movies have been so harmed by terrible casting decisions as this one, especially since, the rest of the cast are fine, and the historical period details are interesting. But most of the plot is pure hokum: none of the black characters-- of course-- are based on any real individuals. Just the white guy. Add to that aimless conversations and exchanges and strange sequences of shots and the fact that most of Jane Alexander's scenes (as Gould's mother) were left on the cutting room floor, as they say, and you have a monumental disaster, which Ebert nevertheless rates 3 1/2 stars.
Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick, Cary Elwes, Jihmi Kennedy
Bitter, powerful drama about a celebrity concert pianist, Charlotte, returning to visit her daughter for the first time in seven years. Her daughter, Eva, is bitter about her upbringing, and her mother's absence from her life. She has also brought her disabled sister, Helena, home, without telling Charlotte, who, she says, would never have come to visit if she knew. There is a searing, extended scene of Eva relentlessly detailing all of the slights and hurts and neglect she has experienced, and caustically assessing her mother's selfish personality. Her mother, in turn, describes her own childhood: her parents never showed affection. There is a suggestion that Eva's need to nurture and "spoil" people, including Helena, is just as narcissistic as Charlotte's need to perform and receive public approval for her art. Bears consideration that Bergman himself neglected his own family for his "art"-- if so, he certainly doesn't spare himself.
Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullman, Lena Nyman, Halver Bjork
The world is coming to an end, at midnight on a specific day, and "Last Night" follows assorted individuals as they try to find a meaningful way to spend the last few hours of human existence. Some embrace sensuality, some want to party, some riot,and some quietly pray with family members. Craig tries to cram all of his sexual fantasies into a few days, including a black woman, a virgin, and his high school English teacher delightfully played by Genevieve Bujolds. Patrick Wheeler just wants to be alone and sip wine and listen to music but Sandra desperately needs a ride to her home where she plans to meet her husband, after her car is overturned and destroyed by revelers. Meanwhile, the head of "the gas company"-- he husband, I think-- calls all of his customers to thank them for their patronage and the radio counts down the "top 500 of all time". Lovely, funny, subtle movie that follows no predictable path, and occasionally delights and startles with invention and insight. Unabashedly filmed in Toronto, with proper names and places, and a soundtrack of Canadian pop (but who would believe Edward Bear would have #12 on the "all-time top 500", as they count it down to zero hour. Wayne Clarkson used this movie to illustrate the difference between Canadian and U.S. films: when Sandra goes into a looted grocery store to buy wine, she chooses a bottle from two, and carefully puts the unchosen bottle back on the shelf!
Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, Roberta Maxwell, Sarah Polley, David Cronenberg
Messy, lavish, baroque adaptation of the DC comics Batman story, with featured villain Bane bizarrely wearing some kind of brake pad mask and speaking electronically. Bane is some kind of revolutionary, a renegade from the League of whatever, who attacks the stock market and a football stadium on behalf of the dispossessed but also decides to blow up the entire city, presumably if the dispossessed thought appreciate his efforts. There's a lot of adolescent masochism here-- Batman is almost killed before he comes back stronger and more committed-- but you sense that the suffering is appealing to some part of the audience. Best part of the movie is an amusing Anne Hathaway as Cat Woman, to remind us of just how unsophisticated and goofy Batman can be.
Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Marie Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman
Meticulous recreation of the early life of the 15th Dalai Lama (the current one) up to the point where he realized the Chinese had no intention of granting Tibet any real form of autonomy and were willing to use brutal force to impose their will on the kingdom. Using all non-professionals, and getting good performances out of the four who portrayed the Dalai Lama at various stages, Scorcese lays out a beautiful but somewhat worshipful depiction of an exotic and sometimes incomprehensible culture. Lavish use of sets and extras, sincere, but sometimes rambling and diffuse.
Thuthob Tsarong Tenzin, Gyurme Tethong, Tulku Jamyang Tenzin, Yeshi Paichang Tenzin
Meticulous recreation of the early life of the 15th Dalai Lama (the current one) up to the point where he realized the Chinese had no intention of granting Tibet any real form of autonomy and were willing to use brutal force to impose their will on the kingdom. Using all non-professionals, and getting good performances out of the four who portrayed the Dalai Lama at various stages, Scorcese lays out a beautiful but somewhat worshipful depiction of an exotic and sometimes incomprehensible culture. Lavish use of sets and extras, sincere, but sometimes rambling and diffuse.
Thuthob Tsarong Tenzin, Gyurme Tethong
Inordinately clever and inventive story about a group of toys who think their owner, Andy, has tossed them now that he is going to college. In fact, as a dutiful programmed consumer, Andy actually intended them for the attic-- hard to see why that's better than their unintended fate at a day care center where they are roundly abused by the toddlers. Really a shameless 90-minute commercial for Disney toys-- about 300 of them-- most offensive for the way they try to sell you on the idea that children have a special, emotional attachment to over-priced generic plastic-- including Barbie and Ken-- and that this is somehow good and healthy and gratifying in some deep way. Shot after shot hammers home the message that branded toys are central to the experience of childhood, pushing parents, friends, and individual imagination and creativity to the margins (Disney would argue that holding Buzz Lightyear over your head and making whoosh noises is an act of creative imagination). So, yes, beautifully animated, but the soul of a cold, hard Scrooge. But Andy is a bland, featureless boy-- as are all the humans. That given, it is somewhat surprising just how good the story line is, and how witty the animations are. And really one must be grateful for the few minutes of subtitled story line, when a de-programmed Buzz goes into Spanish mode. Maybe children seeing this will grow up to not be frightened of foreign subtitled films! There just isn't an ounce of authentic feeling in the entire 100 minutes.
Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Wallace Shawn
Seriously over-rated odd pastiche about a young girl, Hushpuppy --an astounding performance by Wallis Quvenzhane-- and her father Wink struggling to survive disasters, natural and otherwise, in an area called The Bathtub near or about New Orleans, and not exactly during Hurricane Katrina. More impressionistic montage than story, and acted by amateurs, doesn't look like it's based on a play but it is. The problem is scenes are under-developed and flat and the mad sequence of decay and destruction and the odd inclusion of mythical monsters called aurochs. Loosely bound to global warming and alcoholism and neglect, Wink tries to prepare Hushpuppy for a world in which he is unable (or unwilling) to protect her. Just didn't work for me.
Wallis Quvenzhane, Dwight Henry
Seriously over-rated odd pastiche about a young girl, Hushpuppy --an astounding performance by Wallis Quvenzhane-- and her father Wink struggling to survive disasters, natural and otherwise, in an area called The Bathtub near or about New Orleans, and not exactly during Hurricane Katrina. More impressionistic montage than story, and acted by amateurs, doesn't look like it's based on a play but it is. The problem is scenes are under-developed and flat and the mad sequence of decay and destruction and the odd inclusion of mythical monsters called aurochs. Loosely bound to global warming and alcoholism and neglect, Wink tries to prepare Hushpuppy for a world in which he is unable (or unwilling) to protect her. Just didn't work for me.
Quirky and low tech and with all the hallmarks of indy film sensibilities but also under-developed and sophomoric-- about a man who advertises for a companion to join him in some time-travel: "safety not guaranteed". Sounds far more interesting than this film makes it look: Darius has her personal issues as she works as an intern for a Seattle magazine and is assigned to assist Jeff and Arnau to dig up the story, and ends up attracted to Kenneth, the erstwhile time-traveler, even when he breaks into buildings to steal parts. The problem is the characters react to the script, not the story, as, for example, when they see designs for the time machine and suddenly decide that he might really be able to do it, or as when Darius finds out that Belinda is still alive and concludes that Kenneth must be lying about everything, and that this is some kind of betrayal. Besides, she never really acts like a reporter, and the film blithely ignores some fairly substantive issues related to journalism: none of the three ever represents himself as a reporter to Kenneth, and Darius would surely have had some serious ethical issues to address after tricking Kenneth into taking her on as a partner, and even developing a romantic attachment to him.
Mark Duplass, Aubrey Plaza, Basil Harris, Karan Soni, Mary Lynn Rajskub
Chon and Ben-- the violent Iraq veteran and idealistic hippy, respectively-- have a pretty good business going supplying Southern California with weed-- no, the BEST weed in the world-- until a Mexican cartel called Baja led by Elena tries to move in. They kidnap Ophelia, Ben and Chon's girl, and hold her hostage to... to what? There is no reason to believe that once Ben and Chon fulfill the gang's demands that they would release Ophelia-- why would they? Why would Ben and Chon expect them to? And why would the FDA agent, Dennis, honor the promise, made under physical threat, to help them? But it would be a very short movie if the protagonists didn't behave according to the ritual of Hollywood gang movie. And Stone has finally fulfilled his promise as B movie director. "Savages" is inane, trite, and boring.
John Travolta, Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson
Utterly pedestrian, ill-conceived story about a catcher with a fatal illness struggling to get through a final season in baseball with the help of the pitcher who knows about his condition. There are flashes of thoughtful, clever writing-- the manager yelling at a former coach who is now an English professor: "English? What the hell are you teaching English for? They already know how to speak it!". Well, actually, the writing is good at times, and there is a kind of a sophistication to the story that makes it adult in a good sense-- but also cringey moments of contrivance. Primitive, stylistically and thematically. But Deniro is excellent, as is Selma Diamond as a switchboard operator.
Michael Moriarity, Robert De Niro, Vincent Gardenia, Selma Diamond
Based on a true story, about an actor performing in Orestes who gradually loses his grip on reality and murders his real mother with an antique sword. Herzog directs films intuitively and includes strange scenes from Peru and what appears to be Tibet to suggest the disintegrating inner mind of Brad McCullum, a story we are guided through by a detective named Hank Havenhurst. He interviews Brad's fiance and the director of the last drama production Brad was involved in. Every character is fascinating in a twisted way, and charming and disarming and consciously rational, in contrast to Brad, whose deteriorating mental condition is revealed through flashbacks. Yes, Herzog can be flippant and irreverent and sometimes provocative, but he is also never not entertaining. Excellent musical sound-track, superbly filmed and acted and directed.
Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, Chloe Sevigny, Michael Pena, Udo Kier
Margot and Lou have been married for six years, but one day Margot meets a hunk, Daniel, at Louisbourg Fortress in Nova Scotia. Shockingly, he lives right across the street from her in Toronto. There's a different name for it, but in "Take This Waltz", she is entranced by the possibility of a more fulfilling relationship and strings Daniel along a wavering path of tantalizing emotional clues. There's not an honest moment in the film, which alternates between forced scenes of bonhomie between Margot and Lou and teasing conversations with Daniel weighty with "significance". He is supposed to be an artist, but the examples of his work that we see are appallingly pedestrian and obvious. She destroys her relationship with Lou without having actually committed an act of infidelity-- unless Polley wants us to believe that there is something worse than innuendo in the flirty banter they indulge in. That banter is pregnant with awareness of where the script goes. This movie is a woman having a long, boring conversation with herself, without the slightest clue about how anyone else really thinks or works. It is also badly filmed and recorded, though it is refreshing to see the city of Toronto stand in for the City of Toronto, and hear Canadian music on the soundtrack. But there are several scenes that make no dramatic or logical sense-- as when Geraldine drunk drives right up to Lou's house where the kind police-- who let her go chat with Margot before arresting her-- wait. It's a baffling, blank scene, and evidence of just how clueless Polley really is as a director.
Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman, Luke Kirby
Eliezer Shkolnik is a devoted scholar of an extremely esoteric area of Talmud scholarship. He's an uncompromising purest who looks with disdain on the more mainstream ruminations of his scholarly but populist son Uriel. The only recognition he has received for a life-time of obsessive study and analysis is an acknowledgement in a footnote by a more famous Hebrew scholar. He is blocked from an honorific he feels he deserves because he once offended the chair of the awarding committee. But one day, to his shock, he receives a phone call notifying him that he is the winner of the Israel Prize. He believes the establishment-- which he disdains-- has finally come to their senses. But it's a mistake and his son has the unenviable task of correcting it: he is the real winner. There is real bitterness to the relationship and it isn't helped when Eliezer is tactless and arrogant, while his son chooses to sacrifice his own interests for the sake of filial duty. This is a lovely, idiosyncratic movie that unfolds rather than builds, but provides a fascinating look at an exotic culture.
Shlomo Bar-Aba, Lior Ashkenazi, Alma Zack
Written by a former Time Magazine Editor, The Paper is a fairly authentic rendering of the lives of a editors, writers, reporters, and spouses, of a fictional tabloid in New York over a 24-hour-period. Laudable attention to some detail as to how a newspaper works, and well-developed, plausible story line. Keaton is the managing editor, considering an offer from "The Sentinel" (thinly disguised New York Times), while trying to rebound from a missed headline: two black youths are charged in the murders to two Arizona businessmen in Brooklyn. "The Paper" is not coy-- we quickly learn that the boys were not genuine suspects. And there are no cardboard cutout baddies here. Just a reasonably tight, compelling comedy-drama; entertaining and satisfying, if not a masterpiece. Possibly one of Howard's better films. Star-studded, as they say.
Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Randy Quaid, Marisa Tomei
Bernie Tiede moves to Carthage, Texas, from Louisiana and takes a job as assistant funeral director. He soon becomes the most popular man in town, especially to the widows of the men he buries, and especially to one widow, Marjorie Nugent, who is the least-liked person in town. But Marjorie is rich and Tiede soon becomes her best friend, her confidant, and constant companion, travelling with her all around the world. One day, Marjorie seems to disappear. Her estranged family don't notice for months, while Bernie gives away her money and continues his cheerful participation in every event in town. Eventually, her body is discovered in her freezer and Bernie is arrested. Utterly improbable but true, and it emerges that most of the people in Carthage would probably have acquitted him if the trial had been held there. Brilliant evocation of Texas-Americana, small town values, and the ambiguities in the moral simplifications that sometimes prevail over our view of American culture and society. Bernie is probably gay and most of the town knows it-- he's "a little light in his loafers" as one man put it-- but they don't care. They almost feel it was understandable that he would eventually murder the old "bitch". Very funny and rich and delightful.
Jack Black, Shirley Maclaine, Matthew McConaughey
Moderately faithful account of the achievement of the 19th Amendment by the suffragette movement in 1919. Alice Paul arrives in Washington and joins the National American Woman Suffrage Association but finds them too diffident and political and soon leaves to found her own more radical group, the National Women's Party. The NAWSA had been moving on a state by state basis but Paul felt they should go for a Constitutional amendment-- a bold strategy-- that would given the vote in all states. The film follows her progress with a disturbing tendency to sanctify Paul's suffering and exaggerating her importance. At times, I suspected Swank was a producer. Both President Wilson and Carrie Chapman Catt (head of the NAWSA) are given short-shrift to provide a foil for Paul. Nevertheless, Paul was the first activist to picket the White House, for which she and 38 other women were imprisoned, during which she and several others were force fed after they went on a hunger strike. I close with this trivia from IMDB: "For the hunger strike scenes Hilary Swank chose to eat very little and shed several pounds."
Hilary Swank, Anjelica Huston, Frances O'Conner, Vera Farminga, Molly Parker
An oddity about a group of preppie girls and their social lives, their culture, their taste, their emotional tribulations, stylishly rendered with self-irony and self-conscious-irony and disingenuous ironic detachment-- it's very hard to figure out where on the spectrum this dialogue sits. Violet leads the cabal of tasteful suffragettes, pioneers at a formerly all-male school, providing support to suicidal students and tap-dance therapy. She's also in love, sort of, at least with the idea that she suffers for love of Frank. There is a point somewhere in the relentless triviality of their lives but I'm not sure you need to know it to enjoy the razor-sharp wit of the dialogue.
Greta Gerwig, Carrie Maclemore, Megalyne Echikunwoke, Analeigh Tipton, Ryan Metcalf
Beautiful Korean film (set in Taipei) in the tradition of Japanese director Ozu, chronicling the life of a family through one year, from a wedding to a funeral, particularly through the eyes of a young boy, his sister, and father. The grandmother is in a coma-- the daughter, Ting-Ting, thinks it's because she forgot to take the garbage, forcing her grandmother to do it (her parents actually did it). Yang-Yang, the boy, uses a camera to try to see what he cannot see: the backs of heads, for one thing. The father, NJ, is in the middle of business failure, but is also reconnecting with a love from 30 years previous (his wife has fled to a Buddhist retreat to find herself). Like Ozu, Yang likes his characters and wants you to see the richness of the possibilities in their lives, and to love them for who they really are. Honest, and rich, and nuanced.
Nien-Jen Wu, Elaine Jin, Kelly Lee, Jonathan Chang, Hsi-Sheng Chen
"Based on a true story", or, rather, inspired by a true incident: a cow falling from the sky onto a boat. (Turns out this is an urban myth.) Roberto owns a hardware store in Buenos Aires, where he is in retreat from society, harbouring grievances against the world, suspicious of business relationships, and collecting odd stories from the newspapers that prove, to his satisfaction, that life is a crock filled with bad luck, including his: his mother died when he was born, and his father died while he was away fighting the English (presumably for the Falklands). Into his life stumbles Jun, a Chinese immigrant who is tossed out of a taxi, speaks no English, and seems to have no connection to anybody. Eventually, they set out to find Jun's Uncle, and Roberto tries to unload him on the Chinese embassy, without success. Gradually, they develop a kind of a rapport and Roberto is forced to rethink some of his beliefs. He also considers his responses to Mari, a young woman who is in love with him, but to whom he seems unable to respond. This is a gem: somewhat predictable, but fresh and honest and likable. Mari, by the way, is refreshingly average-- zaftig.
Ricardo Darin, Ignacio Huang, Muriel Santana, Ivan Romanelli
Dull, lifeless variation of the Snow White story with inadequate Kristen Stewart as the beauty-- really, no match for Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna. Loaded with computer graphics, cockroaches, slugs, birds, and other horrors, all decorating one very long chase scene. The huntsman turns out to be the true love, but this string leads nowhere. Not an inventive sequence in the entire flick.
Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Eddie Marsan
Ambitious but ultimately unsatisfying relative of the "Alien" sequels about an anthropologist who uncovers diagrams of the stars leading her to the rather amazing conclusion that aliens seeded life on earth and want us to come visit them. A corporation funds the excursion and the crew magically locate artificial structures on the planet in question and go to investigate, presuming there will be an opening at ground level. The special effects are beautiful and exceptional, and the cinematography is gorgeous; the acting and story less so. Fun to watch but don't try to make sense of the plot.
Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce
Saw this at Varsity in Toronto. One of the most charming, freshest films of the year. It's the 1960's, Sam and Suzy are about 12-years-old and both feel alienated from friends and family. Sam, in fact, is an orphan, whose foster parents have decided they don't want him anymore. They meet at a performance of Noyes Flood and strike up a correspondence. A year later, they decide to run off together, taking some food and books, a record-player, and a cat. This sets off a panic among Sam's boy scout troop, Suzy's parents, and the local police, who set out to find them, while Sam and Suzy set up camp, dance, swim, experiment with French kissing and get to know each other. Always amusing if a smidgeon over-long, and remarkably un-coy and unpretentious.
Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand
Tiresome, predictable, and slight, about a group of elderly Brits who, for various reasons, end up at a rather shabby (but really quite charming) hotel in Jaipur, India. Some of the members of the group embrace the exotic world they have entered and explore their new environment, while others are dragged by the script, kicking and whining, into actually experiencing some kind of cliche-ridden enlightenment. Slightly amusing but mostly inexplicably pedestrian, without even the gumption to show us in living cinematography some of marvelous sites the more adventurous of them see. Tired jokes (Muriel: at my age I don't even buy green bananas) and stereo-typed, flat characters (including, of course, the repressed, fun-dousing wife). The subplot of the hotel owner struggling against his mother's authority is really the stuff of sitcom. Funniest line: if she dies, she dies (Norman Cousins), looking for an easy score.
Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, Ronald Pickup
Intriguing story about two young boys whose father returns from a mysterious absence, provoking mixed feelings in the boys. He is alternatively strict and demanding and indulgent, and he takes them on a camping trip that challenges all of them. Doesn't follow the template-- the younger boy begins to resent the unpredictable mood swings of the father, and the father is unduly harsh at times. A bit of a puzzler in the end. Really a study of manhood, siblings, familial love... or, as the director would have it, of the four elements: earth (mother), fire (Ivan), water (Father), and air (Andrey). The actor who played Andrey drowned shortly after the film was made in the very lake at which it was filmed.
Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Natalya Vdovina
Cheerless special effects vehicle for a rather mummified-looking Tommy Lee Jones (thank God we don't have to suffer through the spectacle, at least, of a teenage love interest)and Will Smith as the alien hunters who have deal with a particularly deadly Boris the Animal. Ostensibly about how the bond between the agents developed, there's really not much excuse for anything, especially the lazy, lame witticisms and tiresome "save the entire world" mode of the story line. Some critics say the plot doesn't hang together very well because of fragmented development: how could they tell?
Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Bill Hader, Emma Thompson, Josh Brolin
Meticulous examination of the life of a German terrorist after the moment... the long, dwindling fire of isolation and irrelevance after she is forced to go into hiding. Rita is not idealist and no white-washed hero. She believes fervently in the cause long after moving to East Germany where she can't find anyone who doesn't want to move to the "oppressive" west. She starts and ends relationships, paying a deep personal price, for a cause which may have long ago forgotten her. A bureaucrat named Erwin likes her and watches out for her-- unofficially, of course, because East Germany could not afford to be seen as being a party to terrorism-- which is a bit of an odd revelation given the propaganda and bombast of the cold war. This film gets better and better as it goes along and you feel more attached to Rita's peculiar wasted sensibility, disappointingly, perhaps, hammered home at the end. Obvious links to Baader-Meihoff.
Bibiana Beglau, Martin Wuttke, Nadja Uhl, Harald Schrott
Joseph is a very bitter, unhappy man, struggling through life in a poor village, until he meets a Christian woman working at a thrift store, Hannah, who has problems of her own. They struggle towards mutual acceptance and even love, but Hannah harbours even darker secrets that threaten to fray their relationship. This is a dark, raw movie, that doesn't necessarily pay off the way it should. But it is well acted and earnest. Written and directed by actor Paddy Considine, it's a bit of a vanity piece in a sophomoric way.
Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman
Superior action thriller, witty and often funny, and moves along smoothly in spite of it's length-- which is still excessive for a very long chase movie. No point in summarizing the plot which is about as hokey as they come but smart enough not to show the seams too brightly. Scarlett Johansson is surprisingly good and Robert Downey steals every scene he's in, but the entire cast carries the film nicely. Even Captain America, acknowledging that his flag-based outfit might be a bit dated, carries a nicely calibrated sense of self-irony. The special effects do get tiresome after a while though. And the Hulk seems to go mad-- I mean, really berserk, but then seems to know who his friends are... it's a little compromised. And Samuel L. Jackson is merely tiresome and dull as crypto-facist in waiting, Nick Fury.
Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Stellan Skarsgard, Samuel Jackson
Compelling story about Karen and Martha, two young teachers who open their own school in a refurbished farmhouse. Karen is engaged to Joe, a doctor, and nephew of Mrs. Tilford, an influential member of society. When Karen disciplines Mary, Mrs. Tilford's granddaughter, Mary takes revenge by giving a salacious spin to some gossip a classmate, Rosalie overheard: Karen and Martha are lesbian lovers. All of the children are withdrawn from the school and the two girls are ruined. They confront Mrs. Tilford but she is unrepentant and they sue. This is adult in the best sense of the word: subtle, compelling, and believable, and horrifying. Hellman has said that it's more about gossip than lesbianism, and that rings true. Angela Cartwright is notable as Rosalie, but Karen Balkin as Mary may be a little over-the-top. An important social document.
Shirley Maclaine, Audrey Hepburn, James Garner
Strange, generally compelling drama about two children whose criminal father lets them in on a secret, which a deranged con-artist preacher, Harry Powell, (a bluebeard who marries then murders women for money) wants very badly to know. Their mother is easily deceived but not the son. She agrees to marry Powell but on their wedding night informs her that sex is evil and he will have no part of it. Has moments of genuine hilarity and off-kilter sequences that do much to enrich the drama. It's a shame the action scenes are generally stylized and archaic. There is one riveting shot of the mother in the car underwater that alone is worth the price of admission. Also intriguing for the mix of religion and fraud-- as if the two were of a piece, and as if Harry Powell, the preachers, really believes in his own con.
Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason, Peter Graves, Billy Chapin
Superior, effective drama about the financial crisis carefully tracing events from the crisis at Lehman Brothers, the government's refusal to bail them out, and the sudden crash of stock markets and world wide credit crunch, as Hank Paulson, Timothy Geithner (Billy Crudup), and Ben Bernanke tried to save the world. Does a good job of presenting complex, elaborate transactions in a comprehensible fashion while maintaining a credible level of dramatic impact. Well acted and written and bold.
James Woods, William Hurt, Amy Carlson, Topher Grace
Partly allegorical film about a group of bourgeois friends enjoying a dinner and entertainment together in a lavish mansion and then finding that they are all unwilling or unable to leave. Gradually, the gravity of the crisis sinks in, but all of the characters seem incapable of acting; they moan and whine and eventually break through a wall to get water, and discuss their horrible predicament while the media breathlessly reports on the crisis. Well-acted and filmed, and intriguing, but, like all allegories, sometimes wears thin. It's in the rich characterization of useless, wealthy, indulgent, trivial people that the film shines, and the ridiculousness of their culture and habits. Bunuel wanted to have cannibalism in it but couldn't film that in Mexico. IMDB reports that Woody Allen often references this film. I would add, "Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie" to that list.
Sylvia Pinal, Enrique Rambal, Claudio Brook, Jose Baviera, Augusto Benedico
Compelling documentary about bullying in American schools, with extensive interviews with parents and victims, and some fairly dramatic footage of actual bullying, and, most dramatically, a pip of a principal who doesn't believe it really goes on in her school, and who tries to force a victim to shake hands with a sly bully who pledges decency with a wink and a nod and obviously fully intends to continue bullying. Poor camera work and occasionally unfocused, but worthy and interesting, and sometimes moving. One victim, a lesbian who comes out to her high school, is a peach, and rather charismatic.
Kathryn Bolkovac is a straight arrow Nebraska cop needing money who takes a job with the U.N. as a peace-keeper in Bosnia. She uncovers a human trafficking ring dealing in Eastern European women being dragooned into prostitution with the complicity of the U.N. troops. Loosely based on a true story, a tad righteous , but compelling, and shocking. I had problems believing the characterizations of the women, and clearly some scenes were absolutely fictionalized for dramatic effect.
Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci, David Strathairn
The guests for a dinner party arrive twice, engage in gossip and flirtation, enjoy a performance on the piano, and then discover they don't want to leave. Then they realize that refusing to leave is outrageous, but can't bring themselves to cross the threshold of the next room. They run out of food and water and sleep on the floor, and finally crack into a pipe through the plaster on the wall. I joke, one supposes, is that the "crisis" is a absurd, and that these pretentious, superficial people are trapped in a bizarre world of their own making. I believe Bunuel wants to reveal to us just how contrived and artificial that world is. Bunuel himself was a rebel, a dissident, who hated Franco's Spain and had nothing but contempt for the bourgeoisie.
Silvia Pinal, Enrique Rambal, Lucy Gallardo, Claudio Brook
Superbly written drama about a group of twenty-something yuppies struggling to be cool and fulfilled in New York City in the 1980's. They experiment with drugs and sex and form various attachments without ever seeming to find a happy balance, all while eloquently expressing their dis-illusionments and dis-satisfactions. Fresh and unexpected and, at times, poignant.
Chloe Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale, Chris Eigeman, Mackenzie Astin, Jennifer Beals
Relatively faithful adaptation of the dystopian popular novel featuring a mesmerizing Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to take the place of her 12-year-old sister in an annual contest among 12 districts: a fight to the death. Each district sends two contestants, one male, one female, who are released into a survivor type environment. The winner brings rewards for him or herself and district. The film version is not particularly good or bad, or really all that compelling, but it does move along nicely. The primary asset of the film-- and it is considerable-- is Jennifer Lawrence, (who performed well in "Winter's Bone"), a striking, compelling, very watchable performer. Stanley Tucci is fine as the twisted MC; most of the rest of the cast are fodder. The biggest drawback is the mediocre direction, editing, and the abominable hand-held camera technique, for no discernible purpose, especially through the first 1/3 of the movie. Note also that the book itself, and, it follows, the movie, is extremely derivative of several other movies, especially "Battle Royale".
Jennifer Lawrence, Wes Bentley, Josh Hutcherson, Stanley Tucci
Moderately entertaining farce about a Bernie Madoff type investor Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) who rips off many of the employees of the tower residence in which he occupies a penthouse. The employees, led by manager Josh Kovacs, are convinced Shaw has hidden $20 million somewhere in the penthouse and are determined to steal it from him, with the aid of a local black con "Slide" (Eddie Murphy), who, of course, immediately sets out to double-cross his new friends. The political overtones are muted but there are distinct echoes of the 99% theme, and anger at the way most of the people responsible for the financial debacle got off. Best thing about the movie: Tea Leoni as a corruptible FBI agent who lusts for Kovacs and may not be quite totally interested in stopping him from his Robin Hood scheme. This basically a caper film boosted by Leoni's rich endowment of her character.
Tea Leoni, Ben Stiller, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck
Written partly by Donnie Wahlberg, and apparently based partly on Brian Goodman's life before he became a director. Gritty, generally well-acted drama about two childhood friends who get mixed up with the Irish mob, go to jail, ruin their own lives-- they just can't give in to a passionless workaday existence. Better than average for the genre, but still a genre picture, and somewhat pointless. Unlike "Goodfellas", it doesn't provide a particularly vivid insight into the lives it depicts: these guys really are quite boring in the end, predictable, and foolish.
Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, Amanda Peet, Will Lyman, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Goodman
Written partly by Donnie Wahlberg, and apparently based partly on Brian Goodman's life before he became a director. Gritty, generally well-acted drama about two childhood friends who get mixed up with the Irish mob, go to jail, ruin their own lives-- they just can't give in to a passionless workaday existence. Better than average for the genre, but still a genre picture, and somewhat pointless. Unlike "Goodfellas", it doesn't provide a particularly vivid insight into the lives it depicts: these guys really are quite boring in the end, predictable, and foolish.
Woody Allen's nostalgic but meticulous tribute to the late 1930's and 40's, popular music, and the radio age. A portrait of his family and extended family, interacting with the usual coarseness, vulgarity, and, occasionally, grace, and an astute commentary on the first mass media, how it became central to family life, presenting news and entertainment, sometimes enthralling, sometimes shocking or frightening (as in Orson Welle's "War of the Worlds"). Not a single false moment in the film, and some extraordinarily striking transitions, as when his father, in the middle of giving him an old-fashioned spanking, stops to hear about a girl who has fallen into a well (based on real story of Kathy Fiscus), which ends unexpectedly. Sometimes we are taken to the broadcast itself, the studio, or a baseball game where a one-legged pitcher (also based on a true story, of Monty Stratton), makes a memorable appearance. The casting is note perfect--- with a minor quibble: neither Mia Farrow nor Diane Keaton can sing, and when contrasted with Kitty Carlisle Hart, they look slightly embarrassing. A beautiful, funny, evocative film, one of Allen's best.
Mia Farrow, Seth Green, Julie Kavner, Diane Wiest, Michael Tucker, Josh Mostel
Danny and Walter fight constantly, over attention from the father, over games (Walter claims Danny cheats), TV, and their mom and dad who have divorced. Poor Danny seems put upon-- after all, he's the cute moppet who only wants to be loved. The interactions are surprisingly authentic at times, but less so as they are transported to space by a game, Zathura, which they must play to the end to return to earth. The pace of this film is terrible: long, irregular pauses, bad timing, punchlines dropped off the edge of a cliff. The Zorgons attack the house but seem to successively destroy it and then destroy the same parts of the house again, and then again, so that you don't have any sense of real threat or even a sense of linear time. The acting is not bad; Kristen Stewart is amusing, and there is a moderately interesting twist. Might be too scary for younger kids. Really about family but so obviously really about family that I didn't care much by then.
Jonah Bobo, Josh Hutcherson, Dax Shepherd, Kristen Stewart, Tim Robbins, Frank Oz
Very dark, impressionistic account of a mother coming to grips with her son who murders 9 classmates and school staff one Thursday. Daringly filmed but Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly are weak choices for the two main roles-- Swinton starts off shattered and reads her experience backwards into every other interaction with Kevin, and Reilly just never comes to life. Deserves some credit for taking on a difficult issue, and for refusing to excuse or sentimentalize the roles played by parents, the violence itself, or the nature of Kevin's evil. Oddly believable and compelling.
Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller, Jasper Newell, Ashley Gerasomovitch
Twelve years after "This is Spinal Tap" came "Hard Core Logo", a mockmumentary about a troubled Canadian punk band led by Joe Dick embarking on a revival tour across Western Canada, playing out their tensions and jealousies and dysfunctions before the cameras. Actually, quite compelling at times, bitterly raw and sometimes unhinged, but always watchable. The polarities between Dick and Billy Tallent, the lead guitarist, build to a volcanic eruption of tantrums, anger, and soul-searching. The music never feels faked or gratuitous or fey. Superbly acted and filmed. Some questionable diversions along the way-- this is not without significant flaws-- but worthwhile.
Hugh Dillon, Callum Keith Rennie, John Pyper-Ferguson, Bernie Coulson, Bruce McDonald
Rather pedestrian story with a well-worn ecological theme about a large alien robot that appears in a New England community and befriends a little boy. The giant eats metal. A lot of shots seem to have been borrowed-- I would call it homage-- from "ET", "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming", "Bambi", and other films. The relationship between the boy and his mom is TV cliche: she radiates loving adoration in every interaction. The police and military play the heavies, but only until everyone finally understands that the lovable robot-- yes, he has feelings and gets upset when a pair of hunters kill a deer-- is really a "good" creature, even capable of love. The animation is not particularly original or imaginative. Perhaps notable as Brad Bird's first major animation, followed by the much more muscular "The Fantasticks" a few years later.
Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston, Vin Diesel, Eli Marienthal
Max is shleppy old man living in New York, living a very constrained, bleak, self-contained life. Eight-year-old Mary lives in Australia and doesn't have many friends. She picks Max's name and address out of a phone book at the library and sends him a letter hoping to find a pen pal. Max writes back and they develop a long-distance relationship. Unsentimental and sometimes gritty, Mary and Max tells about the modest joy the two obtain from each other, the occasional misunderstandings or offenses imagined or real, and the bitter sweet first meeting after Mary has become an adult. Not the greatest animation, but original and evocative, and the story has heart, which is more than you can say about a lot of films.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Eric Bana
Cyril's father has abandoned him to a home for youths. Determined to find him-- convinced that he is still wanted-- he runs into a hairdresser, and clings to her to avoid being dragged off by workers from the institution. She says, "you can hold me, but not so tight". When he asks if he can stay with her, she impulsively agrees to take him on weekends. He is more than a handful and challenges every kindness she offers with anger, defiance, and rebellion. But Samantha is just as determined to give him the stability he needs, and it is a tribute to the Dardenne Brothers (Jean-Pierre and Luc) that we believe it. A terrific film, sometimes frightening in it's level of authenticity, and always compelling.
Thomas Doret, Cecile De France, Jeremie Renier
As observed on "Inside Washington", generally flatters those who talked to the writers and disses those who did not. Julianne Moore imitates Palin-- with a bit of depth, it must be said-- who is caught up in the thrill of novelty and the moment and thinks, for a time, that she really is the hype, only to come crashing when McCain's crew try to get her to actually understand foreign and national policy issues. You might feel sorry for her if she were not so damned confident of herself-- arrogant, really. This movie raised itself a big notch when, at the end, as McCain stews, and an aide whispers, "in three months it will be Sarah who" or something like that, we hear the crowd begin chanting her name. Entertaining and really quite fair-- you can't blame them for showing Palin as she was.
Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, Woody Harrelson, Sarah Paulson
About two miscreants, Wheeler and Danny, who are compelled to perform community service by become big brothers, to avoid prison. They are matched up with a sullen black kid, Ronnie, and a misfit white teenager, Augie, who loves role-playing enactments, in costume. You can pretty well see everything coming from there, though the film has a few genuine moments of comedy. The message is inevitable but not too heavy-handed, and the character of Sweeney (Jane Lynch) as the administrator of the big brothers program, is a genuine original: funny, provocative, smart, and fresh.
Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobbe' J. Thompson, Elizabeth Banks, Jane Lynch
Bill and Brady Kincaid are identical twins. One of them becomes a college professor. Does he have any real passion in his life, and real soulfulness"? Of course not: he is intelligent. Intelligent people don't feel anything. His brother however is a dope dealer, a grow-op operator, in debt to an older Jewish man in Tulsa. He needs his brother to return home to facilitate a clever scam which doesn't make sense given that he could not have known what would happen at his meeting with Pug Rothbaum. We are also given to believe that Bill would come home from a busy life at Harvard to his brother's funeral without having any contact with anyone else (from whom he might have learned that his brother had not actually died). There are aspirational moments: they try for poetry, damn it. But the poetry clearly emanates from the rustic Oklahoma junkies, not from someone who teaches Virgil and Marcus Aurelius, because everybody knows that anybody who studies literature has no real feelings. Aside from that, there are bad and inconsistent imitations of an Okie accent, utterly implausible plot developments, a sitcom style of drama: "Oh no-- please don't make me impersonate you. Please! Oh, all right...". And it wasn't even filmed in Oklahoma. And featuring a cheap shot at the 60's: why did you have to tear everything down? Why couldn't you build something? You mean like the environmental movement? Civil rights? Feminism? Woodstock? Did feature parts of some good music by John Prine and the Band and others.
Edward Norton, Susan Sarandon, Keri Russell, Tim Blake Nelson, Richard Dreyfus
Dale "Hurricane" Dixon is a local sheriff in Star City, Arkansas, leading a quietly pedestrian life until he gets a call from a sophisticated Los Angeles Detective informing him that a deadly criminal with a very high IQ-- Lenny "Pluto" Franklyn-- might be headed his way along with a girl named Fantasia and a less sophisticated more temperamental thug named Ray Malcolm. There have been homicides over a drug deal, and a slain police officer along the way. "Hurricane" gets it into his head to prove his mettle by single-handedly capturing the fugitives. But he also knows why they might be headed to Star City: Fantasia has a past. Alternately intriguing and off-putting, this violent, messy, ultimately implausible story has a few compelling performances, especially Cynda Williams as Fantasia. Diverting, and well-filmed, with some nice touches (the Los Angeles detectives aren't monstrously stereo-typed) but the ending really stretches credulity [spoiler: the LA detectives abandon the wounded Hurricane to his maybe 5 year old son...]
Bill Paxton, Cynda Williams, Billy Bob Thornton, Michael Beach, Jim Metzler, Earl Billings
Written and directed and acted by the couple whose real-life child experienced a serious illness, much like Adam in this film. A little off-- the parents react to the news of the tumour as if they are far more shocked than the audience is by then, and there is something a bit narcissistic about the whole enterprise. So we are left with the suffering of the parents, more so than of the child, and their endurance, and waiting for the results, which you will know from the first scene in the film. It's been called a love-letter to the French health care system, and that it is.
Valerie Donzelli, Jeremy Elkaim, Gabriel Elkaim
Hand-held wandering camera-- as if. There is nothing new or surprising in this variation of the righteous gentile meme. Except that Holland would resort to trendy gimmickry to try to give some edge to well-worn material. As Ebert observes, there's nothing really wrong with the story-- it's just been done. It's about Leopold Socha, a Polish Sanitation worker from Lvov who discovers some Jews in his sewer system one day, as the Nazis are exterminating the last remnants from the ghetto. He takes their money at first and keeps them alive but when they run out of money he is forced to decide for humanity. They survived 14 months before the Russians "liberated" Lvov and they were able to emerge, filthy, ragged, tired. Relatively accurate story, using incidents from the Marshall book. Well acted.
Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Furmann, Greta Grochowska, Maria Schrader
One of the strangest films I have ever seen: black and white, all sound recorded live in the field, odd, trivial dialogue followed by long silences... What IS this about? Willie lives in a dowdy apartment in New York, watches TV, hangs out with his friend Eddie. One day his 16-year-old cousin, Eva, comes to visit from Hungary. At first, he is demonstrably annoyed with her presence, but after she steals some food and cigarettes for him, he is intrigued and warms up to her. She leaves one day and goes to live with her aunt Lotte in Cleveland, who is a lively piece of work. A year later, Willie and Eddie drive down in a borrowed car to pick her up, go to a movie, and then drive off to Florida, where they encounter both good and bad luck. In one of the few displays of emotion, she is glad to see them. In Florida, they take off and leave in the hotel room and lose all their money at the dog track. And that's about it. Never uninteresting, nor ever particularly coherent. Reminds me mostly of Guy Maddin's work: oblique, richly suggestive, sometimes compelling. Like an entire symphony of one or two chords with two or three striking melodic solos that seem to come out of nowhere. Are the solos really striking or just a relief from the chords? What is the meaning of Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put a Spell on You"?
John Lurie, Ricard Edson, Ezster Balint, Cecillia Stark
Yes, 366 minutes. Originally conceived as a television series, follows the lives of two brothers, and their family, from the 1960's to 2000, encapsulating their encounters with 60's radicalism, protest, the Red Brigades, and organized crime. Matteo Carati is initially the more sensitive one, who tries to rescue a girl from electroshock therapy at an institution, only to find that her own family doesn't want her back. Nicola is a more gentle soul but he marries a student radical who abandons him and their daughter. Matteo has enormous difficulties establishing relationships and reaching out, while Nicola builds a network of supportive friends and colleagues. In tragedy, their two worlds encounter each other on a more authentic level. Intriguing and beautiful at times, but also occasionally frustratingly contrived-- Georgia, the assylum girl, is rather a prettified stereo-type without much of a real personality. Mirella's sole function seems to be to make googoo eyes at Matteo, and then become the canvas upon which Nicola paints his philosophical resolutions. Some very beautiful location photography, including Palermo.
Luigi Lo Cascio, Alessio Boni, Adriana Asti, Sonia Bergamasco, Maya Sansa
This is not what you'd expect: inspirational teacher leads troubled students to triumph over adversity. Monsieur Lazhar, somewhat improbably, is hired to replace Martine, a teacher who has committed suicide, in her classroom, and whose body is discovered by Simon, a student who may have played a role in her demise, and by another student, Alice, whose relationship to Simon is complex and ambiguous. And that's the strength of Monsieur Lazhar: it doesn't attempt to explain everything, and doesn't try to force it's characters into a mold. Lazhar isn't hip or innovative-- in fact, he's rather stodgy and old-fashioned in his approach. And the other teachers and the principal are not villains or representatives of some kind of repressive reactionary culture: they are simply trying to do their best and struggling with managing the crisis. The film does take a refreshing shot or two at the psychologist brought in to help the students grieve. And the film deftly pokes at the over-protective culture around schools and teachers: no hugging is permitted. Lovely, honest little film.
Mohammed Fellag, Sophie Nelisse, Emilien Neron, Danielle Proulx, Brigitte Poupart
Odd, extremely bleak vision of a young woman, played by the writer-director (who was married to Elia Kazan at the time, and who died, at 48, before making another movie), who deserts her husband and two children and drifts around, from drink to drink, man to man, until she hooks up with an erstwhile bank robber. He is abusive to her, and contemptuous at times, but it's a credit to the movie that he's not a blunt instrument. And Wanda's morbid passivity-- her strongest response is "what did I do" after he hits her-- begins to work in favor of the drama. She's the center of attention, but also a blank slate, and the film sometimes creates an agonizing awareness of the utter vacuousness of the choices she has. Strong, interesting, but weird movie-- unlike anything you have ever seen.
Barbara Loden, Michael Higgins, Charles Dosinan
Extraordinary exploration of a painting, Pieter Bruegel's "The Procession to Calvary", in which the artist is portrayed immersed in his canvas, wandering around the landscape, encountering his subjects. Beautifully filmed and the special effects are state of the art but the drama sometimes seems primitive and schematic-- which might be the intent. But the stiff way that Bruegel addresses the viewer or reader could not have been meant to be so lame. Really, the film is about the connection of the brutal reality of the Spanish Occupation of the Netherlands in the 16th Century and it's effects on the lives of the peasants, and on the relationship of art to real life, and how both endure in their own form: the symbolic mill at the top of the painting, supplying food to the hard-working folk along the road, who beautifully move on in a dignified pageant at the end. "What Dreams May Come" tried to evoke something like this and failed terribly.
Rutger Hauer, Peter York, Charlotte Rampling
Very promising and then very disappointing drama about two couples who get together to resolve a fight between their sons, in which Zachary, child of Nancy and Alan Cowan, smacked Ethan, son of Penelope and Michael Longstreet. Through the afternoon, the increasingly spiteful and petty behavior of the adults begins to dwarf the significance of the original incident. There is some fun in Penelope's smarmy, smothering, liberal piety, and Alan's smartass cynicism, and more than a few clever wisecracks, but it becomes less and less plausible that Alan and Nancy don't just leave, especially after Nancy becomes physically ill, and Alan, a lawyer, is urgently needed at his office. Really, just not all that clever about developing this into a story.
Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Walz, John C. Reilly
Rich, sweet, wonderful portrait of passionate Italian brothers who run an uncompromising Italian Restaurant in Keyport, New Jersey, in the 1950's. They happen to be across the road from the Hollywood restaurant, that dumbs down Italian food and culture for undiscriminating customers-- and does a booming business. The Paradise, unfortunately, is about to fold because the chef, Primo, won't cater to philistine tastes of the broader public. The manager of the rival restaurant, who admires the brothers, promises that famous singer Louis Primo will come to their restaurant for a particular meal, and, as in "Babette's Feast", a monumental gourmet experience is prepared. Tasteful, rich, and subtle, "Big Night" is one of the best of the "food orgy" movies, second only, perhaps, to "Babette's Feast", but way ahead of "Waitress" and "Mystic Pizza". (Campbell Scott co-directed)
Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Ian Holm, Minnie Driver, Alison Janney
Above average sci-fi story of three friends, Andrew, Matt, and Steve, who investigate a mysterious hole in the ground and come in contact with some unexplained phenomena that gives them telekinetic powers, which they can enhance through practice. Dane DeHaan as Andrew is a real find here: compelling and interesting every minute he is on the screen, as he invests shy, geeky Andrew with a growing sense of power and destiny, and becomes a threat to those around him. Invokes "Carrie" at times, with Andrew's dysfunctional family, his alcoholic father and ill mother. But the boys react in a believable way to their new found powers and it's amusing to see them working out the implications, at least until the overwrought ending.
Dane DeHaan, Russell Russell, Michael P. Jordan, Michael Kelly, Ashley Hinshaw
Very unusual film about a slightly unbalanced ex-con hooking up with a vivacious 17-year-old high school majorette. He convinces her that he is some kind of secret agent, and she badly wants excitement-- and a bit of freedom, in her life. Tuesday Weld is just about the most delectable jail-bait ever filmed, and Perkins is quirky and flustered. The transition from light-hearted romp to dark satire is smoothly managed by Weld's daring and amusing performance. She really does need to be seen to be believed, as when she steps in to handle the night watchman as she and the "secret agent" are sabotaging the chemical plant, and the shocking way she finishes him off.
Tuesday Weld, Anthony Perkins, Beverly Garland, John Randolph, Dick O'Neill
Shuli Rand wrote and starred in this modest film about an orthodox Jewish Rabbi who is a little down on his luck and needs some help to properly celebrate Succoth. A pair of old friends -- escaped from prison-- show up on his doorstep and Moishe is alternately repelled by their bad manners and compelled by duty to provide them hospitality. All the while, he and his wife Michal (Rand's real-life wife, Michal Bat-Sheva Rand) are waiting for a miracle, for her to get pregnant-- but, of course, only a son provides them with the ecstatic hope. Interesting glimpse into the life of an Orthodox Jewish family, but not much more than that.
Shuli Rand, Michal Bar-Sheva Rand, Shaul Mizrahi, EIan Ganani
Superb rendering of John Le Carre's brilliant take on Kim Philby. Someone at the top level of British Intelligence seems to be leaking to the Russians. Control suspects a mole but can't trust anyone in his inner circle to unmask the traitor. When something goes seriously wrong with an operation in Budapest, the government brings in George Smiley to root out the double-agent. Smiley is also dealing with memories of his broken marriage, but resolutely engages in the pursuit. This is not about glamour: it's about the corrosive, toxic effects of secrecy and duplicity, and questions whether or not we end up becoming the very things we despise while fooling ourselves into thinking we're in a righteous war.
Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, John Hurt, Ciaran Hinds, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch
Funny and tastefully irreverent re-take of the 1970's TV show in all of it's cheesie glory, with Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller likeably rendering the inept but charming Detectives. The 1970's soundtrack is more than nostalgic: it's the paint by numbers gloss on an era of ugly, hokey TV drama. Better than it deserved to be.
Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, Amy Smart, Vince Vaughn, Snoop Dogg, Juliette Lewis
In Nottingham in the 1980's, social worker Margaret Humphreys is contacted by an Australian woman looking for her biological family. She was sent away by ship when she was a child, told that her mother was dead, and that life in Australia would be "oranges and sunshine". Humphreys discovered that there were thousands like her, and that in many cases the mothers were not dead-- they were simply young and unwed. Britain shipped the children overseas to save the money on upkeep. Some of them ended up in Catholic charities, and we all know what frequently happened there. This is a worthy film, a good cause, but marred, like many similar films, by a shift in the story to just how wonderful, long-suffering, and beloved Margaret Humphreys is. Particularly cringe-worthy: a completely unnecessary scene of a gathering of the victims all telling Margaret just how good she is, along with Humphrey's disingenuous insistence that she just had to do it because nobody else cared-- in spite of rafts of evidence to the contrary. Add a few melodramatic and likely fictionalized scenes of men lurking outside her house at night and threatening her... Well, she should know -- it's based on her book. Hugo Weaving is very good; the rest of the cast are adequate. Poorly filmed and directed-- it's actually kind of a mess.
Hugo Weaving, Emily Watson, David Wenham
Sabina Spielrein is a young Russian girl given to explosions of screaming and hysteria. She is to be treated by Carl Jung who has adopted many of the theories of Sigmund Freud. But as he explores Sabina's madness, in collaboration with his intelligent patient, he also begins to explore alternative modes of treatment, and begins to question Freud's insistence on rationale, talking cures, and that sexuality is the root cause of most insanity. Unfortunately, Knightly is not a convincing hysteric, and Mortensen is not remotely convincing as Freud, and Fassbender, as Jung, just isn't all that interesting. Knightly makes the mistake of doing the actor trying to look mad, rather than a human trying to not be mad. There isn't an ounce of subtlety or richness to this depiction of the inception of psychoanalysis. Seems hurried and under-developed, and compromised by method acting. At one point, Sabina demands that Jung spank her, as part of her therapy: really not handled very well at all.
Kiera Knightly, Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel, Sarah Gadon
Hugely disappointing take on Margaret Thatcher, the resolute first woman Prime Minister of Britain-- and first female leader of a major Western Power. The scenes of the elderly Thatcher, at first, are compelling, struggling with senility, trying to remember things, and suffering hallucinations. But even the reappearances of her beloved Denis eventually grow tiresome and the middle section, dramatizing her rise to power, play like a 1950's newsreel: messy, abrupt, and unsatisfying. The movie screams through the obligatory touchstones, the miner's strikes, the poll tax, the war with Argentina, without providing any particular insight into any of them. However... the early scenes of the young, ambitious Thatcher are played astutely by a compelling Alexandra Roach. Thank God they didn't have Meryl Streep canter through this part! By the way, there were 19 female MP's at the time Thatcher was elected -- "Iron Lady" tries hard, without actually lying about it, to suggest that she was the first. And Thatcher was nowhere near the location of the assassination of Airey Neave.
Meryl Streep, Alexandra Roach, Jim Broadbent, Susan Brown
In an era of sentimental, smart-ass comic animations like Shrek 2, a refreshingly restrained and funny feature about a master criminal who wants to steal the moon. To steal it, he has to steal the "shrink ray" first, and to steal that, he needs three little girls who are able to get into the home of Vector, a rival, punkish master thief. He adopts the girls and tricks them into helping him while struggling to manage their increasingly intrusive demands on his time and affections. The recipe is here for heart-warming schmaltz, but the producers of this film resist in the name of good taste and charm. It's actually rather believable when he returns from an excursion to a amusement park with his face painted and arms full of stuffed toys. Carell's preposterous pseudo-Russian accent works nicely, and the animation-- we expect this now-- is superb, if not daringly artistic.
Steve Carrell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove
Philip Green is a terrible earnest reporter who wants to write about something significant, and chooses antisemitism. His new girlfriend is on his side... at first. After all, she suggested the story, but as he begins to uncover the subtle ways racism rears it's head-- politely and obliquely, but firmly-- she, and others, begin to try to discourage him from exploring further. To it's credit, "Gentleman's Agreement" doesn't settle for any easy answers, and is quite astute about how racist attitudes can become very sophisticated and subtle, and all the more difficult to address. At first, we found the archaic acting tropes off-putting, but warmed up to it as it went on. Very honored film, which, ironically, doesn't seem to have any black people in it.
Intriguing mix of Allen's trademark schtick and Kafka and Kierkegaard. Allen is Kleinman, whom his fellow citizens deem worthy of being bait for a serial killer on the prowl. Irmy leaves her clown of a husband (they both work for the circus) only to end up in a brothel, where she reluctantly accepts a very large fee from a desperately infatuated customer, even though she isn't "working" there. They meet eventually and become friends, as more citizens get killed, and Kleinman becomes a suspect, and wonders about the meaning of life. Appears to have been filmed in a hurry, on an off year for Allen; the black and white cinematography is luscious and there's an array of good (and some bad) actors but over-all it's just not worked at very much.
Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, David Ogden Stiers, Michael Kirby, John Malkovich, Madonna
Mavis Gary is 37, a semi-successful writer of pulp young adult fiction living in Minnesota when she suddenly realizes that she belongs with her high school crush, Buddy Slade, who has just e-mailed everyone about his new baby. She rushes home the small town of Mercury to try to get him back. Along the way she hooks with Matt Freehauf whom everyone thought was gay, and who was viciously assaulted by a group of jocks and nearly crippled in high school. I deeply admire the resolution determination of Cody and Reitman to make Mavis a thoroughly dissolute tramp without the slightest hint of redemption, and the natives of Mercury are refreshingly free of homespun quirkiness or compassion, but, like Cody's "Juno", "Young Adult" never quite takes wing, never quite reaches a revelation or epiphany lifts it above anecdote. It is also peculiarly bereft of artistry or beauty, leaving me unsure of whether it's really all that worthwhile.
Charlize Theron, Patrick Watson, Patton Oswalt, Elizabeth Reaser, Mary Beth Hurt
The movie begins with Nadar and Simin in some kind of small court, in Teheran, appealing directly to the judge: Simin wants to leave Iran and take her daughter, Termeh, with. Nadar needs to stay where he is to look after his father, who suffers from Alzheimers. Simin moves back in with her mother while Termeh stays with her father and grandfather. Nadar hires a poor woman named Razieh to look after his father while he is at work and Termeh at school, but she leaves his father tied to bed one day to run an errand. Furious, Nadar shoves her out the door where she falls and appears to have a miscarriage. The pressure on all the characters ratchets up as Razieh's enraged husband Hodjat-- who sees this as a bit of a class war against the middle-class couple-- demands money to compensate him and Razieh. Not everything is as it seems, and Farhadi refuses to take any sides. A subtext of this movie, and a compelling facet of the story, is the roles of women in Iran. Exceptional. Leila Hatami is striking, and the daughter is played by the director's daughter, Sarina Farhadi.
Peyman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini, Sarina Farhadi
Three young women of Portuguese extraction, Kat and Daisy (sisters) and Jojo, work at Mystic Pizza in Mystic, Connecticut, and fall in and out of love and ambition in this uneven production. Kat is smart and ambitious, destined for Yale in nearby New Haven; Daisy is voluptuous but not too smart, and Jojo loves the sex but doesn't want to be tied down. For every cringe-worthy moment of contrivance and predictability, there's a moment of genuine charm, as when Daisy holds up a box of condoms to Kat and explains that the guy wears them. There's even a moment that's almost intense, as when Kat discovers that her suitor is quite happily married, thank you, and she weeps and burbles "I feel so stupid". That seems about right. You can spot Matt Damon in one of his first roles as part of Charles' snobby family.
Julie Roberts, Annabeth Gish, Lili Taylor, Vincent D'Onofrio, Conchata Ferrell, Adam Storke
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