New Movies 12/9/2100

The big opening this weekend is New Year's Eve, an ensemble romantic comedy featuring a whole bunch of stars, like Halle Berry and Ashton Kutcher and Sarah Jessica Parker - it's a long list.  This one is expected to attract a big audience and bump Twilight right off its first place perch, but the reviews are beyond dismal, even worse than the sparkly vampire story.  Also opening big: The Sitter, starring Jonah Hill as a college guy who is roped into babysitting the kids next door, and then gets himself and the children into a whole lot of trouble.  Reviews are worse than Twilight, better than New Year's, generally very bad.  But don't despair, you can still catch some of the better fall films, like The Descendants, and Hugo, Martin Scorsese's children's story, and Like Crazy is still in a few theaters.  Next week Sherlock Holmes opens, and Young Adult goes wide.

Young Adult

Paramount Pictures

Charlize Theron is a brilliant, and brave actress; she’s also beautiful, which is kind of the point in her latest film, Young Adult. She plays Mavis Gary, former prom queen and belle of the high school ball, currently facing middle age in a dismal messy apartment with only a fuzzy little dog and the occasional Internet date for company. She decides that the solution to her growing angst is to go back to her tiny hometown and drag her high school boyfriend out of the trap of family life. Never mind that he seems to be happily married and celebrating the birth of his new baby girl; Mavis is sure he wants out. “It’s like he’s a hostage,” she tells a friend, and she packs up her dog and motors out of the city to rescue him.

There is really nothing likeable about Mavis Gary; she’s crudely self-centered,  but Theron manages to show us the vulnerability in her, the desperation that leads her to decide that re-creating past glories is her best path to present day happiness. And while many actresses trade on their good looks, determined to look pretty under the most unlikely of film circumstances, here Theron allows herself to look scruffy and worn, wearing shapeless t-shirts, hair mussed, mascara runny. This could seem kind of sad and tragic, but Theron plays it like an ironic statement of toughness; as Mavis walks the streets of her former hometown in a Hello Kitty t-shirt, you get the impression that a smart person would not risk commenting on her disheveled appearance.

Young Adult is a comedy, a dark one, and the funniest scenes are the ones where Mavis meets up with Matt Frehauf, a high school classmate that she had nearly forgotten. As a teenager, Matt (played with perfect comic timing by Patton Oswalt) sustained life altering injuries at the hands of a bunch of football jocks who attacked him because they thought he was gay (he is not). Permanently disabled, he is cynical, funny, and sees right through Mavis’ pretensions; the two form an unlikely but extremely entertaining comic duo. The movie really brightens whenever they are both on screen. Young Adult is not an important film, it isn’t terribly weighty in its themes, but it is funny and a great showcase for the talents of Theron and Oswalt. Opening small this weekend in a few major cities, should go wide on 12/16. B+

Awards Season is On

It's been a busy couple of days on the awards circuit, the Gotham Independent Spirit Awards revealing themselves last night, the  New York Film Critics announcing their year end picks as well, and today the West Coast Independent Spirit folks put out their list of nominees.   Put it all together and what have you got: well, The Artist, certainly.  A big hit at Cannes, but playing only an extremely limited run (four theaters so far) here at home, this film is a serious critical darling but hasn't yet had a chance to prove itself among regular folks.  Another small film, Take Shelter, got attention from these organizations, both for Best Picture and for lead actor Michael Shannon.  But Take Shelter is a dark story with an ambivalent ending, an unlikely film to get mixed up in the big leagues, although Shannon could get a nod for acting.   Brad Pitt got noticed by the New York film Critics for his performance in Moneyball; this relatively small crowd of writers also chose Meryl Streep as Best Actress in Iron Lady.  Neither one of these films would get noticed by the Independent Spirit folks, who leave any big studio film out of their considerations, but certainly this is a clue that Pitt and Streep will get attention from Oscar (and the Screen Actors Guild, and the Golden Globes).  Jessica Chastain also got some love for her performances in (take your pick) Tree of Life, Take Shelter and The Help.  She has had a busy year, and will no doubt have a lot of red carpet walks in the next few months.


But, award hopes aside, all these picks and nominations can provide some film going direction. In the next month, there should be some high quality movies at the multiplex.  Look for Iron Lady, and The Artist, although The Artist is more likely to show up in art houses.  Spielberg's War Horse, a World War I story, is getting lots of buzz (it is a Spielberg film) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo should make a splash, although it's bound to be a brutal, bloody one.  Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, a thriller based on a John LeCarre novel, is getting positive reviews from the handful of critics who have seen it,  and Young Adult, a story about a morally ambivalent woman (Charlize Theron) who returns to her high school reunion determined to rip her old boyfriend away from his wife and family, is generating some good acting kudos. Extremely Loud and Terribly Close, based on a novel about a boy whose father died in the Towers on 9/11 and left a mysterious key behind, is getting a lot of buzz even though no one (really, no one) has seen it yet.  Some  bold prognosticators are even calling it for Best Picture.  Back in the real world, look for The Descendants, whose Oscar hopes are rosy because of its solid box office and loving critical reviews.  It's also a good film and still in theaters.  My Week with Marilyn is also getting attention for Michelle Williams' performance.  Too soon to tell how any of these will fare come awards times, but they should provide some good movie going entertainment.  More awards insight and prognosticating as the story unfolds. 

Review: The Descendants

Fox Searchlight

Good movie. George Clooney stars as Matt King, a disconnected dad who has to step up his parenting game when a boating accident leaves his wife in a coma. His two daughters, ten and seventeen, are mysteries to him, but he’s a essentially a warmhearted guy, giving the unexpected dad thing his best shot until older daughter Alex (played with beautiful authenticity by Shailene Woodley) hits him with a bombshell: his comatose wife has been having an affair. “She was cheating on you, Dad,” Alex tells him, in a matter of fact tone that is only a little impatient, as though this huge development in his marriage was something she pretty much expected him to miss. But once the news is out Matt is galvanized into action, collaborating with Alex to track his wife’s lover down – determined to confront the guy, wanting to see his face when he learns that the woman he has been dallying with is at death’s door.

Obviously there is a dark side to all of this, but writer/director Alexander Payne (Sideways) teases the humor out of the drama, and George Clooney gamely allows himself to appear foolish, letting go of his leading man suave to look believably awkward when he peers over a hedge trying to spot his wife’s mystery man, or races in flip flops to his neighbors’ house to demand the truth about the affair. The film lingers a little too lightly on the real pain at the heart of this story, skims over the tough stuff, but we still feel enormous sympathy for the characters and keep pulling for them. With Robert Forster doing great work as the dying woman’s father, and young Nick Krause providing welcome comic relief as Alex’s friend. Playing a relatively small run (433 theaters) throughout the country but it’s doing good business and should expand. Lots of Oscar buzz. B+

What to See November 18, 2011

The big opening of the weekend is Breaking Dawn – Part 1, and if you are on Team Edward or Team Jacob (no one seems to need a Team Bella) you are already in line for the midnight show. Good for you, but keep me out of it. I am hoping to miss this one. I’m not sure what I dread most: Kristen Stewart’s sourpuss face, Edward Pattinson’s steely blankness, or Tyler Lautner’s wholesale abandoning of any nascent acting talent in exchange for flashing his abs. It all depresses me, and we haven’t even arrived at the bizarre birth scene. Oops! Spoiler alert. The other big opening is Happy Feet 2, an animated tap dancing penguin movie. Early reviews are mixed, but it looks like a solid family film.

More highbrow, The Descendants opens this weekend in a handful of theaters; this is one of the best reviewed films of the fall, definite Oscar bait. George Clooney stars as an absentee dad who has to step up his parenting game when his wife is injured and falls into a coma.

Held over are a number of biggies: Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill, Tower Heist and The Immortals. You might be wise to skip all of those but if you are in the mood for a big Hollywood movie, Tower Heist is a better bet than the other two. Unless you absolutely love Adam Sandler, and, just a tip, the membership of that club appears to be dwindling. Jack and Jill had a disappointing opening weekend and critics really hated the film. On the other hand, people who showed up liked it well enough.

If you happen to live in a city with an art house scene, look for a film called Like Crazy. This charming, unexpected and extremely well done love story is one of the best films out right now.

Review: J. Edgar

Warner Brothers

I hate to burst bubbles, but this movie is a snooze. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the title role and he tries mightily to make it work, but the script lets him down; J. Edgar Hoover, one of the most significant and controversial American public figures of the 20th Century, is presented with such a narrow, insulated focus that it’s hard to tell if he was a real threat to his enemies or just an awkward, slightly deranged man ranting about in his office. The film is shot in understated tones with muted colors, and that might have seemed retro cool if the story had any spark, but instead the low key presentation too easily allows your mind to wander. I started planning my weekend.

The story begins early on, when Hoover is an eager young agent trying to bring a new level of sophistication to crime investigations. Determined, ambitious, and socially awkward, he is appointed the first head of the new Federal Bureau of Investigation when he is only 24. He assembles a personal staff that includes his secretary, Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) and his number two in command and possible love interest, Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer). The film spends a good deal of time attempting to explore the relationship between these two men, which was a source of speculation for anyone who paid attention to Hoover, both during and after his lifetime. The question was never resolved, though, and J.Edgar’s considerable efforts to lift the veil seem hackneyed and flat.

The film divides Hoover's nearly fifty years as head of the Bureau by referencing different crimes or crime sprees; in each segment Hoover has a young agent sequestered in his office, dutifully typing up the director's version of events. The story evolves from these memoirs, which, unfortunately, make us like those young men sitting at the typewriter: we merely take down what Hoover has to say. The film provides no context, no characters to give perspective. We don’t know, for example, why the Director feels a need to explain himself, since we see no one of any significance seriously questioning his actions. When he goes on his well documented vendetta against Martin Luther King, we don't see anyone in King’s camp react; we never get a chance to understand if Hoover’s hatred of the civil rights leader had any consequences.

Armie Hammer does excellent work as Tolson, even though his aggressive aging prosthetics never seem natural. Naomi Watts plays a routine role in a routine way. Clint Eastwood is a great director when he has the right material, but this one misses the mark. Still playing wide throughout the country.  B-

Review: Margin Call

Roadside Attractions

Margin Call is set on Wall Street in the fall of 2008. It revolves around a handful of upper echelon players in a big investment firm - well, they are mostly upper echelon: in a memorable performance, Zachary Quinto plays Peter, a young risk analyst who identifies the beginnings of the coming financial meltdown before any of the more experienced executives have taken notice. He gets a tip from his recently fired boss, Eric (played with calm understatement by Stanley Tucci); Eric slips him a flash drive before he leaves the building for the last time, warning Peter to “Be careful.” 

It’s good advice. Peter passes up a happy hour outing with co-workers and stays late studying the file Eric gave him. Within a few hours he has it figured out: the beginnings of the biggest financial crash since 1930 laid out in colorful graphs and numbers on his computer screen. It’s about 9:00 at night, and from here the clock starts slowly ticking towards financial Armageddon.

The film doesn’t spend much time trying to explain the mechanics of the crash. It only covers a tiny bit of time, less than 24 hours. Peter alerts his boss, and as the news travels up the corporate ladder executives arrive back at the office in the dead of night (all nicely dressed, hadn’t they gone home yet?), trying to grasp what’s happened and waiting to meet with head honcho Jeremy Irons, who lands on the roof in a helicopter around 4:00 AM. And here is the heart of the story, the real question being asked: once all of these high level insiders understand the stakes, how will they respond? With nobility? Crass self interest? Is there a moral debate to be had?

It’s interesting stuff, and it’s handled in a far more intimate and revealing way than in a film like say, Wall Street 2. If you ever wondered what went on in those moneyed ivory towers as the financial system came tumbling down, this is a great film to see. With outstanding performances by Kevin Spacey and Paul Bettany as the two execs on the front lines of dealing with the crisis. Still playing in selected theaters nationwide. B+

Review: Tower Heist

Universal

You would think with all the talent in the cast of this movie, they could have come up with a better story.  Ben Stiller stars as Josh, the manager of an uber-luxe apartment building in Manhattan; the grand and personalized service that he and his staff provide are the reason rich people want to live there.  But a scandal breaks out – turns out the richest of the rich tenants, the guy in the penthouse, is a Bernie Madoff type, swindling folks out of their money with an elaborate Ponzi scheme.   That’s trouble enough for the luxury building, but there’s a bigger problem for Josh: he arranged for the swindler, Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) to manage the staff’s pension fund.  Everybody’s lost all their retirement money.

Feeling angry, and pretty guilty, Josh talks some of his colleagues into executing a heist: they’re going to steal the money back.  Word is that Shaw has a stash somewhere; they just have to find it. Being inexperienced criminals, they decide they need help to learn evil ways, so Josh recruits pretty thief Slide (Eddie Murphy), to play bad guy adviser to the team.  Seems Josh and Slide grew up together, and if that seems improbable, wait till you see the rest of this film. 

It’s not all bad.  Eddie Murphy is funny, so is Ben Stiller, although he doesn’t get much to work with here.  The heist team includes veteran actors like Matthew Broderick, a tenant and out of work financial wiz who’s trying desperately to hold onto his fancy digs in the building, and Michael Pena, a former staffer who lost his job.  And Casey Affleck, building concierge and weak willed conspirator who also happens to be Josh’s brother-in-law.  There’s potential here but it doesn’t get a chance to develop, the story isn’t quite clever enough, or over the top enough (even though they work in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade) to make the whole thing really zing.  But, did I mention that Eddie Murphy is funny? Yeah, he doesn’t’ get enough screen time but when he’s there, the movie is fun.  Playing everywhere.  C+  

New Movies opening October 28

Big opening this weekend is Puss n Boots (in 3D!); this movie is actually getting decent reviews, and the 3D effects are said to be excellent. But it looks like a kid film, not much crossover appeal. Also up  is In Time, about a world where no one ages past 25, but you can live longer than that (in your youthful body) as long as you can get your hands on a few extra minutes, or hours, or days; time is traded like currency. Stars Justin Timberlake, which is generally a good thing (remember Social Network?) Amanda Seyfried and Olivia Wilde. Decent reviews, a few very enthusiastic. The other big opener is The Rum Diary, based on a Hunter S. Thompson novel and starring Johnny Depp as a down on his luck freelance journalist who takes an assignment in Puerto Rico and has some strange and amusing adventures. Time Magazine calls it “an agreeable time waster.” Hangers on from last week include the box office bonanza that is Paranormal Activity 3, along with Footloose and The Three Musketeers. I saw The Three Musketeers; I was having a bad day and it was playing at a convenient time. It was diverting.

If you live in a big American city you will likely have the chance to see Martha Marcy May Marlene this weekend. This is a very good but very strange film; some disturbing stuff goes on, so keep that in mind if you decide to see it. Elizabeth Olsen is incredible in the title role. If you are interested in MMMM and you don’t live in a big city hang on: it’s hitting more theaters every weekend, finally going wide on November 11. (Review coming in the next day or so.)

Finally there is a lot of buzz about a little movie called Like Crazy. It’s a love story, or more like a lost love story, about two young people who fall madly in love, but then are separated by distance and bureaucratic red tape. It was a huge hit at Sundance, and has been picking up awards at festivals all over the world. Opening in just four theaters this weekend but coming soon to theaters near you.

Next week: Tower Heist with Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller, and the Harold and Kumar Christmas movie. Well, Halloween will be over by then.

Box Office Wrap Up: October 21

The smash movie of the weekend was Paranormal Activity 3, its $54 million take giving it the interesting title of “biggest fall opening ever.” For perspective, that means it made more money in its opening than films like Jackass 3D, Shark Tale, and The Grudge. The third outing of the low budget franchise is a prequel to the other films in the series, working on the notion that the creepy other worldly ghostly thing that terrorized the young couple in the first movie actually got a foothold when the young woman was just a toddler. Seemed like a good idea, sort Poltergeist-y: little girl picks up communications from the beyond, and her mom is all freaked out about it.

Paranormal Activity 3 locked down about half of the box office generated by the top ten films, but the big fans who turned out for the opening weekend didn’t love it, giving the horror flick a C+ in exit reviews. Meanwhile, the latest screen incarnation of The Three Musketeers barely registered. Continuing movies Real Steel, Footloose, Ides of March, and Dolphin Tale hung on pretty well. Upcoming, we’ve got Jason Timberlake in In Time, a movie where no one ages past 25, and time becomes currency. Olivia Wilde plays Timberlake’s mother. Not sure how that’s going to work.

Looking for a Few Good Films (and Some Oscar Predictions)

I am a big fan of summer blockbusters. I like the comic book heroes and the grand battles between good and evil where good always wins and evil is defeated in a humorously ironic way.

But once Labor Day rolls around, I’m ready for something a little more thought provoking.

Which makes this fall oddly disappointing. It had a promising start, lots of hype about the great films on the horizon, but so far only Moneyball has hit the mark. Like a lot of critics, I was hoping for a little more depth from Drive and more complexity from the Ides of March; both films were well made and entertaining, but neither one could be called a great movie.

So we look forward. This weekend Martha Marcy May Marlene opens, featuring what is promised to be a stunning performance by Olsen twins sibling Elizabeth. Filmmaker Sean Durkin also won the top directing prize at Sundance. Lots of buzz on this one.

After that there is a bit of a wait before the next hyped picture arrives. J Edgar, a biopic about the controversial FBI chief comes out on November 9 in the big markets; Leo DiCaprio takes the title role, and this one has Oscar written all over it. Also in November look for The Descendents: George Clooney stars as an absentee dad who has to step up when his wife has an accident and slips into a coma. From the trailer this looks like a standard family crisis drama but, unlike Ides of March, it persistently shows up in the Best Picture conversation. The Artist opens on Thanksgiving weekend; it’s a black and white not-quite-silent picture about the advent of talking films. Screened at Cannes to wild enthusiasm.

Other possibilities include War Horse, a Spielberg picture that comes out at the very end of the year, barely making the cut off for awards consideration; it’s a World War I (that’s one, not two) movie about a horse and the kid who loves him. Okay, it’s probably more complicated than that, but it hasn’t been screened yet so nobody knows. There is also a film version of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, based on one of the very first novels to set in post 9/11 New York. Also opens late December. The American version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo looks like it’s meant for mass market pop culture consumption, but Academy voters are keeping it in mind because of Director David Fincher's pedigree (he directed Social Network). As the eponymous Girl, Rooney Mara is also expected to snag a best actress nod.

But she’ll be competing with the Grande Dame of Oscar nominees, Meryl Streep, who is expected to blow out the competition with her performance as Maggie Thatcher in Iron Lady. If there’s a lock in this awards season, old Meryl is probably it.

Review: Fifty Fifty

Summit Entertainment

There are critics who love this picture and I can’t imagine why. It’s possible that the lack of impressive films in the fall “noteworthy movie” season has led them to embrace it, even though it is pretty much like any cancer movie you have ever seen. Guy is having a normal day, feels a twinge, finds out he has cancer, family and friends freak, they rally, they are inspired and full of hope because of his brave struggle. Or something like that.

50/50 doesn’t introduce anything new into this conversation. If you have ever dealt with cancer, either as a patient or as a supportive family member or friend, you will not learn anything from this film, or come away with an altered perspective.

Which is not to say it’s a bad picture. As cancer victim Adam, Joseph Gordon-Levitt does credible work even though his part is badly underwritten; he’s so low key we hardly ever get a handle on what he’s like or how all these events are affecting him. There are a lot of moments in the film where the camera focuses on his face while he … thinks, I suppose, or maybe he just feels sleepy. You start to wonder if the filmmakers have run out of things to do.

There are bright moments, mostly when Ann Kendrick is on screen; she plays Katherine, Adam’s therapist, but she’s young, new to the job, interning at the hospital while she works on her PhD. She screws up a lot but she tries hard to find her way, and you see in her expressive, intuitive face how intently she is trying to break through Adam’s stoicism. Kendrick is a remarkable actress, even though her small stature and slightly off kilter face make her a natural for odd ball supporting cast roles, she always carves out something new in her characters. You would never mistake Katherine for Up in the Air’s Natalie. Angelica Huston also has a few, pitch perfect moments in the film; she plays Adam’s overbearing mother but you have nothing but sympathy for her.

The elephant in the movie, of course, is Seth Rogen, playing the stoner buddy he always plays. It’s comforting to watch the friendship between his character and Adam become a source of support for the poor dude, but Rogan doesn’t do anything new or different here, he’s just the stoner buddy. If you enjoy his act, you’ll have a pretty good time watching him. Or you could just rent Pineapple Express. 50/50 is playing around the country, doing decent box office. B-

Review: Ides of March

Columbia Pictures

In The Ides of March George Clooney plays Governor Mike Morris, a left wing politician with the strength of his convictions; he’s running for president using a straight talk campaign that delights his young lieutenant, Stephen (Ryan Gosling). “You drank the Kool-aid!” reporter Ida (Marisa Tomei), tells the young acolyte. “I drank the Kool-aid, and it was delicious,” responds Stephen with a grin. He’s working for Morris because he loves his country and it’s the right thing to do. There’s a real charm to his nearly naïve conviction, but there’s also a sense that it can’t survive the rough and tumble campaign. 


The movie covers the few days prior to the Ohio Democratic primary, a race Morris needs to win to sew up the Democratic nomination. His single opponent is lagging behind but there’s a trump card to play: both candidates are hoping to pick up the endorsement of a powerful Senator (Jeffrey Wright, in a brief but convincing performance) who controls enough delegates to swing the tide. 

Morris’s campaign manager Paul (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is confident he can talk the Senator into joining their camp, but his opposite number Tom (Paul Giamatti, at his creepy best) is equally sure he can get the man’s endorsement. And Tom has another trick up his sleeve – he hopes to steal Stephen, a crack media mind, once he can convince the young idealist that the Morris cause is lost.

It’s a good story, and the back room politics feel authentic; the whole thing gives you the sense of being an insider at a critical moment in a presidential campaign. Even if you’re just a regular citizen voter, you easily see the significance of what is at stake here, and the myriad small decisions and unexpected missteps that can cause one candidate or another to become the leader of the free world. In that sense, it’s a pretty cool roller coaster ride.

But the movie has a purpose, to show up the dark underbelly of even the most idealistic campaign, and it’s here where things get a little rocky. Stephen’s slide from innocence to cynicism comes on a little fast, and seems almost arbitrary, like it doesn’t take much to stop believing. Likewise, when Clooney’s Morris shows his dark side it doesn’t feel quite authentic; it’s like there was a character mix up and Michael Clayton stepped in for a scene, his sudden tough guy act reminded me of that.

But this is the sort of thing that you think of later, when you stop off for a drink and get to talking about the state of our political universe. Ides of March is a good, thought provoking film, with terrific performances, particularly from Gosling and Hoffman, who plays a grizzled but determined old politico with an odd kind of grace. Also features Evan Rachel Wood as a young intern who enjoys the social side of campaigning. Playing everywhere. B

Review: Moneyball

Sony Pictures

Moneyball is a good movie. It’s also a good baseball movie, but it isn’t like most sports flicks where some woebegone team triumphs in the stirring final minutes. Moneyball is about the business of baseball, the backroom stuff that goes into making a professional team.

Brad Pitt plays Billie Beane, General Manager of the Oakland A’s, a small market team with a small market budget. That constraint makes it tough to compete with say, the New York Yankees, so Beane sits down with the team’s owner and insists on more cash to pick up better players. Owner says no, and Beane sets off to make do, but then on an off season scouting trip to Cleveland he meets a young man with a new idea for assessing the worth of a baseball player: using computer analysis to determine a player’s value, focusing in particular on his ability to get on base. Intrigued, Beane hires Peter Brand (played by Jonah Hill) and the two of them crunch the numbers to come up with a roster that is affordable and has the potential to make a winning team. (Moneyball is based on true events, but the Peter Brand character is invented; Beane's actual partner in crime during the 2002 season was Paul DePodesta, who declined to have his name and likeness used in the film.)

But once the scrappy new team is recruited, the going is still tough; Beane is surrounded by a staff of old dudes who don’t see any reason to change the way they have been doing business, so they don’t like the roster and they don’t want to work the GM’s plan. The scouts are unhappy, but the coach (played by a portly Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is just plain resistant, so it’s tough for Beane to realize his vision. But this is where the fun starts, because Beane has to maneuver around these naysayers in order to find a way to turn a team of apparent misfits into something worth remembering.

Brad Pitt is terrific; you don’t really forget that he’s Brad Pitt but you believe he’s Billy Beane anyway. His scenes with Jonah Hill have a satisfying odd couple vibe, and Hill is great as the nerdy Ivy grad who loves the game, even if he can’t play it for a living. This is lighthearted entertainment but it’s well done, definitely a fun night out at the movies. Playing everywhere. B

Review: Drive

Simple truth: this movie isn’t for everyone. Drive might sell itself as an action picture, but in reality it’s a dark, intensely dramatic thriller that moves oh so slowly towards its violent, action packed conclusion. It’s not for the faint of heart. I liked it a lot.

Ryan Gosling stars as Driver – his character never reveals his name – who divides his days between stunt driving for the movies and working in an auto repair shop. He’s really good with cars. Nights, he contracts himself out as a getaway driver, giving his criminal clients very specific parameters: If I drive for you…I give you a five-minute window, anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours no matter what. One minute before, one minute after….you’re on your own.

It’s not clear why Driver takes on this shadowy underworld work, when he has two daytime jobs and a very simple lifestyle. But he smolders – Ryan Gosling is good at smoldering – so it seems like there’s darkness to him, something dangerous. Driver isn’t much for sharing – this film is very sparing with dialogue, the screenplay must be unusually short – and even as he gets to know his charming neighbor (Carrie Mulligan, in an excellently nuanced performance) and her appealing son, there really isn’t much talking. They seem to understand each other instinctively, and long silences between them are pretty much the norm. It’s all very old fashioned, deliberately paced, noirish, with Irene and Driver trying to carve out a connection, a little bit of hope in the middle of the darkness.

But it can’t last; Irene’s husband Standard gets sprung from jail early, and he comes home with villains on his trail, demanding he do a job for them. Concerned for Irene, Driver gets involved, offering Standard’s criminal colleagues his usual deal – I give you a five-minute window – but this time things don’t go according to plan.

The last half hour of this film is startlingly violent. My companions were hiding their eyes. But it’s all very well done, and it’s not done for fun; as bad as the mayhem gets, the violence serves the story, not the other way around. And Driver doesn’t seek out trouble, he just tries to protect his loved ones from it.

Also starring Albert Brooks as a quietly terrifying bad guy, and Bryan Cranston as Driver’s unreliable friend and agent. Playing everywhere, had an okay opening weekend. B

Movies Opening September 16: What to See

FilmDistrict

The big movie of the weekend (bigger than that, really, this film has a lot of buzz) is Drive, an action thriller featuring Ryan Gosling as a movie stunt driver who spends his off hours behind the wheel of criminal getaway cars. Carey Mulligan co-stars as a mother with dangerous ties to the underworld. This one gets excellent reviews and the Danish director, Nicolas Refn won the best director award at Cannes; the film was also nominated for the Palme d'Or, the grand prize at Cannes. But, in spite of these lofty credentials Drive is rated R for "brutal bloody violence"; it is not, apparently, for the faint of heart. Equally challenging, in a violent way, is Straw Dogs, a remake of a 1971 Pekinpah film. In this version James Marsden plays a Hollywood screenwriter who moves back to his wife's (Kate Bosworth) home town in the bayou to get her father's house ready for sale. Once there he manages to stir up some of the locals, notably his wife's old boyfriend, played menacingly by Alexander Skarsgard. Rated R for lots of nasty stuff; getting so-so reviews. Finally, for rom-com fans there is I Don't Know How She Does It, starring Sarah Jessica Parker as a high powered executive struggling with the challenges of motherhood. The best reviews of this one say it's like Sex and the City if Carrie had a baby -- but really, there aren't any good reviews of this one. These three (along with a new 3D version of The Lion King) will dominate screens this weekend, but you can still catch Contagion, or a leftover summer blockbuster like Rise of the Planet of the Apes. And if you are just looking for some lighthearted fun, go see Our Idiot Brother. It stars Paul Rudd as a sweet ne'er do well who hits a rough patch and needs to rely on his three sisters to help him through it. Still playing but likely to move out of theaters soon. Next week: Moneyball.

Contagion

Warner Bros.

If Mother Nature was one of those super villains who long to destroy the world, she might unleash a flu bug like the one that terrorizes humanity in Contagion. It’s a bat virus that hops onto a human host with deadly consequences; the hapless first victim has no natural immunity to the disease, but a remarkable ability to pass it on to other humans, who are equally good carriers, and we are off and running with a pandemic as horrifying as the Black Plague. Worse, because in the fourteenth century there were no packed airliners giving the virus efficient, free rides around the world.

The first patient, Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow), is a corporate executive who picks up the bug on a business trip to Hong Kong, and unwittingly spreads it through casinos and restaurants and bars and airports as she travels back home to Minneapolis. There’s a subtle cleverness to the way director Stephen Soderbergh shows how easily transmission is accomplished: we see Beth at an airport bar, waiting for a connecting flight; she fiddles with her glass, her hand toys with some nuts in a little bowl. She chats on a cell phone with a lover she has just left while she hands off her credit card to the bartender, who then taps information onto a grimy touch screen. All these ordinary little events feel ominous, even though Beth shows no sign of illness. Once she gets home, though, her health declines so rapidly that all the doctors treating her are completely baffled, and then more people get sick, and the movie pulls away from that story and takes us to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and the World Health Organization in Switzerland, where we start to follow the progress of the epidemic through the clinical eyes of scientists trying desperately to stop it.

This is a cracking good thriller, but it’s cold hearted; we are engaged by the mystery of the virus but we never care much about the characters who are affected by it. It’s almost like turning on the nightly news. But, it’s a pretty scary news show, watching scientists desperately try to piece together the viral puzzle while the world descends into anarchy around them. And it’s hard not feel a cold sinking feeling when, during a press conference, the best minds of the CDC keep saying, “We don’t know.”

But that’s the point here, this film is intended to scare us, Soderbergh makes sure of it, allowing the camera to linger on every surface a sick person touches, showing unknown hands clearing cans of food off a grocery store shelf, leaving us to wonder when or if it will ever get restocked. He’s attracted a host of fine actors, and they all do good work even though most of them have little screen time and not much character to develop. Matt Damon turns in a heartfelt performance as Beth Emhoff’s husband, trying to understand what has happened to his wife (“I was just talking to her!”) while he desperately fights to protect the rest of his family from the plague that somehow entered his house. Kate Winslet is also very affecting as the CDC doctor/researcher who goes to Minneapolis to assess the scope of the epidemic and attempt to control it. And, in a nod to viral communication, Jude Law plays a blogging conspiracy theorist who gets millions of hits when he announces that there is a simple herbal remedy for the disease. But the star of the show is the virus, that’s what we’re there to watch, and it never loses our attention. Playing everywhere, won the box office during a pretty slow movie going weekend. B

Now in Theaters - August 26, 2011

There are three new movies opening this weekend and none of them is highly recommended by anybody. Our Idiot Brother stars Paul Rudd as a genial ne’er do well who runs into some life challenges and elects to solve them by crashing into the well ordered lives of his three sisters. Big hit at Sundance, getting decent, but not terribly enthusiastic reviews. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a remake of a made for TV movie; it stars Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes as the parents (well, Pearce is the dad, Holmes is dad’s new girlfriend) of a precocious youngster (Bailee Madison) who unleashes goblins, or something, in the old Gothic home they’ve just moved into. Scary stuff – or not: one critic suggested that all you would need to fight off the little creatures is a good stiff broom. What does seem scary is that Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes are in this movie. Weren’t they supposed to be serious actors, once upon a time? Finally we have Columbiana, an action picture where Zoe Saldana sheds her Avatar Blue, picks up a gun and becomes a dangerous assassin. By most accounts this movie will remind you of every other movie where someone learns to kill in order to avenge the tragic, senseless death of a loved one. There are a lot of movies like that. This one isn’t very good.

So what to see? Well, The Help is a popular choice. It’s become a box office juggernaut, beating out other adult oriented films as well as the latest blockbusters. Well worth seeing: entertaining, thought provoking, all of that. If you are in a summer movie mood, Captain America and Rise of the Planet of the Apes are still in theaters, and if scares are your thing, give Fright Night a try.  

Nothing strike your fancy?  Well, just hang on.  Next week a new shark movie is coming out.  And it's in 3D!

Transformers

Paramount Pictures

For the ReelFan, it’s been a long summer without enough movies. Oh, there have been plenty of films in theaters, just too much summer traveling to find time to see them. Recently I was in Chicago and from my hotel window, just past the river and peeking out from behind a skyscraper, I could see a building with the AMC logo on it. I imagined myself creating a credible pretense and strolling over there, then dashing in to catch whatever was playing. I was willing to see anything. I would have gone to Final Destination 5.

Which might have been a better choice than Transformers; I saw the latest installment of the blockbuster fighting robot franchise at a strange little theater in Saratoga Springs, New York. It was part of one of those giant, sprawling retail complexes where you can drive for hours through adjacent parking lots, trying to make sense of conflicting signposts that claim to be leading you to wherever you thought you were going. Which is a little bit like Transformers: the movie is a muddled mess of confusing parts that are vaguely connected, and you keep hoping there will be some sort of cinematic signpost that leads you to a logical conclusion. There aren’t though, any signposts or logic; instead the film has lots of crashing explosions and battles between robots that look so alike you can’t tell which one to root for. Or why they’re fighting, for that matter – I think the future of humanity was on the line. I’m not sure.

Shia LaBeouf was cool, though. Such an everyman, this guy, but he has a little swagger, a way of squaring his shoulders and striding into robot battle that makes you believe he can be a badass. He’s fun to watch, and that worked for me, but I don’t recommend anyone see this movie. No reason to go.  C

Movie review: Thor

Paramount Pictures

You knew summer blockbuster season had arrived when Thor ripped through the May box office and a new superhero franchise was born. Played with charm, humor and bravado by Chris Hemsworth, Thor is a godlike hero based on Norse legends; he comes from Asgard, a mythical dreamy place where his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) runs the show and Thor is the presumed heir apparent. Only, he’s a little excitable, so when Asgard is threatened by an old enemy he decides to go to war himself, instead of waiting for his father to pursue patient efforts at diplomacy. He gathers up his friends and they set off to wage glorious battle, but soon realize they’re badly outnumbered and Odin has to rush to their rescue. This escapade makes the old man pretty mad, so he strips Thor of all his powers and banishes him to earth.

And then he meets Natalie Portman.

C’mon, people, it’s a comic book movie. It only stands to reason that Thor will fall out of the sky and land right in the path of a beautiful, brainy scientist. Jane Foster feels responsible for the fallen hero because he bounced off her car when he plummeted to earth, and then – in one of the film’s funniest scenes – her assistant, Darcy (Kat Dennings) tases him when he starts ranting on about Earth and Asgard. (“What! He was freaking me out!”). And so the adventure begins, with Thor trying to find his way home, and Jane trying to help him while she tries to understand who he is.

There’s a lot of great comic book style action in Thor, especially on Asgard, but the real fun happens when the young superhero attempts to navigate his way around Earth; even without his powers, he is quicker and stronger than the “puny” humans who surround him, and there is a charming buffoon quality to his efforts to understand propriety in this tiny Western town. He also eats a lot. Thor figures he’ll be in good shape if he can just get his mystical hammer back, but Odin has thrown it to Earth protected by a Camelot style curse: only someone worthy will be able to wield it. In other words, Thor has to learn his lesson; which he does, eventually, but not before he tangles with a shadowy government group that has taken an interest in him and his hammer (they can’t wield it, of course, bureaucrats aren’t worthy). He also has to manage a duplicitous younger brother who perceives Thor’s banishment a grand opportunity to pursue his own ambitions. (Tom Hiddleston plays brother Loki with slick creepiness; you recoil from him but you can’t wait for him to come back on screen.)

If you think summer blockbuster movies are a silly waste of time, this one will not change your mind. It doesn’t stretch the boundaries of the genre, it sits squarely within them. But it’s fun, lighthearted, popcorn stuff, and if you’re in the mood for that well, hit the multiplex. It scored big at the box office so it will probably survive the onslaught of the new Pirates movie on Friday. Playing everywhere. B