Reviews
Straight A's (2013)
Why?
How this movie was made is understandable enough. Someone had money to spend. But why it was made, other than to distribute that money among the cast, etc., is unanswerable.
Led by lead Ryan Phillipe's putrid attempt at being some portion of Newman's "Hud," this is a certified mess. Bungled writing, directing, exposition. A horrid way to spend time, or a buck.
I'd have to sit here forever to conjure up a redeeming factor for this bilge. Giving any sort of recommendation to this film just feels wrong, and I'd find it surprising were any of the cast members top recommend their work here as anything to include in a resume.
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
Not the Sharpest Idea for A Massacre
It's difficult to believe that such a complex film could be killed with such a ludicrous idea of your 21st Century school massacre is done. It's not that there haven't been all too obvious models to select from. Why, then, choose a bow and arrow? How did Kevin pull off a massacre with such weaponry? Did he line the students up alphabetically? Have them draw numbers? Ask "Jeopardy" questions? All the events up to that atrocious idea make for a somewhat compelling, if conflicted film with solidly affecting performances from Tilda Swinton, Ezra Miller and John C. Reilly. There are bizarre scenes throughout, and the complete disregard for any easily followed time line is taxing, but it is as challenging as turning away one's head at the scene of an accident. At any rate, the film (I don't know about the book)deserved a more plausible fate
The Town (2010)
Affleck's Heist
What Ben Affleck accomplishes in "The Town" is to inject life into his prospects as a director -- and even more surprisingly -- as an actor. In the first endeavor, not much could be expected, his experience being non existent; in the second, his less than convincing body of work was his cross to bear. Surprising or not, Affleck pulls off with passion and dexterity his dual role as actor/director. This is good work. While I would have ended the film with his demise, it wouldn't be because of the Hollywood cliché that crime doesn't pay; I would like to think we have grown out of that Cinderella thought process by now.
I found myself wondering, near the end, if Affleck had contrived to let his hero move onto a new life. That he did so bent believability a bit, but what doesn't these days, the real world giving solid evidence at every turn?
What Affleck has done here is put together a film in a genre that has been particularly popular of late, and, in this opinion, finished ahead of the competition. I found this grittier and more provocative than "The Departed" and "Mystic River." Affleck in the company of the Scorseses and Eastwoods? Really? Yes, it says here.
The performances of Affleck's ensemble are excellent down the line. Rebecca Hall is appealing as the apple of Affleck's eye, in the role of an innocent bank manager whose life is bent out of shape by the heist. Blake Lively is profoundly effective as the whoring mother of Affleck's child, a woman whose dignity was robbed from the get-go. Jeremy Renner, whose forte seems to be that he will implode ala his "Hurt Locker" persona at any moment; Pete Posthelwaite, one of those magnets who electrifies in any scene; Jon Hamm, as a believable FBI straight shooter out to gun down his contemptible target, Affleck.
This is good stuff, and I must admit, that even though he's a Red Sox fan, Big Ben has homered here. If you know anything about Yankee fans, you know I'm biting the bullet, as it were, here.
The Last Station (2009)
Magical
During a time when epic films are no longer tempting enough for the teens for whom Hollywood now makes its films, "The Last Station" is s grand reminder of what once was. Had the moguls of the past gotten in on its promotion in the way studios once did, we'd be talking, perhaps, in terms of "Laurence..." or "Zhivago." Alas, this film contains no zinging rockets, let alone even one vampire. Tolstoy? Uh...when's the next "Tron 12" being unspooled? Dealing with the demise of the epic writer Leo Tolstoy and his life with an incomparable wife, "Station" is fetching to see, beautifully written and directed, and in the hands of leads Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren, compelling. The film deals exquisitely with whom Tolstoy knew he was, as well as what others thought he was. In any case, he was veritably the essence of Russian writing. See this; relish in it. Marvel at the life Plummer and Mirren inject into well-defined characters, and enjoy, too, the work of James McAvoy and Paul Giammati.
Uncertainty (2008)
A Certain Charisma
It isn't easy to admit that only a movie's charm has won you over, but that seems the case here. I got lost along the way, but derived some much pleasure from the many qualities of this film that I'm certain I'll want to see it again It deserves the attention because perhaps it was my length of tooth (a film devotee for almost eight decades) that got me offtrack. Anyway, the parallel story lines (if that's what they indeed are) threw me a curve-ball. So offtrack did I get that I was adamantly wanting to know why the hell Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and his yellow tee were so inseparable. Suffice it to say that this day in the lives of Gordon-Leavitt and his charismatic and talented girlfriend here, Lynn Collins, is worth spending with them. The simple but interwoven plots have the young and in love couple spending idyllic time with her family for part of the day, and finding more adventure than they bargained for in downtown Manhattan, where our hero finds a cellphone at the scene of a fatal shooting that unwinds before the couple's and our eyes. That they find a stray dog, take it in, and care for it, suggests warmly that we're sharing time with good people. The cellphone, it turns out, belongs to a shady character who will pay a king's ransom to get it back. Therein lies the key to a coin flip on the Brooklyn Bridge. Not one to always need endings ironed out neatly, I was more than satisfied to see these two young, likable people agree to adjust to what lie before them, A hardly minor occurrence, too, on this day, is that she announces her pregnancy. As a couple, this pair is magical. Finding out they ad-libbed dialogue was intriguing here. Unlike others who commented negatively, I thought their input natural and articulate. I'll take the blame for my confusion out of the director's hands. That he merits, for having gotten so much so entertainingly on the mark.
The Missing Person (2009)
the noir the merrier
What director Noah Buschel has concocted with "The Missing Person" is to take a genre and fine tune it with touches that, while original, ultimately pay homage to, and even nourish, noir.
What he has done,too, is set up any number of movies he might want to make with the masterly Michael Shannon as private eye John Rosow; and re-recruit, too, the saucily effective Amy Ryan.
This moody artwork about finding a mysteriously but voluntary missing person has all sorts of twists and turns, none predictable, as it weaves its way through the dark.
That Shannon plays roles Bogart feasted on is all too true. but it is the rugged countenance of Mitchum that he more facilely brings to mind.
Shannon,so powerful in the film "Revolutionary Road" and then HBO's raunchy and real "Boardwalk Empire" series, and yet again in the rock film "The Runaways," is special, indeed. His screen effect is compelling,mesmerizing.
All we need now is a script and the word "Action!"
A Serious Man (2009)
something funny happened....
Understanding of a movie helps, but understanding everything in it is hardly essential, as my bout with this film says to me. I mean, of physics, I know not a whit; of Jewishness, not a whole lot more. But of humor, I like to partake, and this one had me guffawing in parts, thanks mainly to the simply written dialog written for the lead character, whose life is such a mess. Sure, there are obscurities here (among them what the hell Richard Kind and his character are supposed to ad), but the fact is that before one pities the lead character, who certainly is pitiful in so many ways, one has to laugh heartily at his circumstances. The tone of the movie is what gets to me the most. It is as though one is back in high school and getting a dodge-around-it answer to question rather important to a teen but zinging over a teacher's head. Michael Stuhlberg is brilliant as the lead character to whom tenure would be heaven in his physics-laden existence (think Eugene Levy's second coming). I don't believe in giving directors/writers carte blanch approval because of illustrious histories, but it would be difficult to argue much with the originality the Cohens often bring to the playhouse. I don't "get" everything they do, but almost all of it has a lasting effect on me.
The Road (2009)
An engaging little dessert
I like the small ambition of this movie, its focus on atmosphere, its total lack of any audacious aspiration.
I've read that Norah Jones is too amateurish to play the lead and has lots to learn from others in the well-stocked cast; true, that. But her naiveté leads to the film's feel of innocent wonderment, and she is perfect for the role in just that way. I had never heard of the director, being an older movie watcher, so any responses to or mention of his other work won't be focused upon here. Jones' bus trip to self-exploration is a little gem, in these eyes, and the work of Rachel Weitz, Natalie Portman, Frankie Faison, Jude Law and, particularly, David Strathairn, who -- within the same character --provides us with two distinct people, almost. Not moods, personalities, but people. A brilliant performance that had me, for a fleeting, moving moment, think he was playing twins -- that I had missed something crucial. Overall, a nice little slice of good-looking dessert. It's not trying to say anything world-altering, just inviting us in for a look at some good-to-ogle people worth our time.
The Killer Inside Me (2010)
scenes of the grime
Watching this film is akin to not being able to look away, just yet, from that horrendous accident on the freeway. You suspect early on that it won't be rewarding, but the grisly portent keeps you watching. As a package, this one is fragmented with too much flaw. But taken piece by piece, there are some interesting scenes; guilty pleasure, I guess, would cover it. The performers are fine, considering the characters they've been given to portray. Casey Affleck, like brother Ben, would benefit from surgery to lower that whine of a voice. Some talented actors walk in and out of this film, all male. As for the females, Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson, all they reveal is their bods -- not that there is anything wrong with that. Sharper dialog and better connected scenes would have helped this one immensely. Help yourself, though, and watch something else.
What Just Happened (2008)
satire at its best
Levinson takes Linson's book and runs satirically with it. De Niro is brilliant in his portrayal of a producer whose immdiate-gratification reflex controls him. It is a model for actors studio recruits to follow. The cast is sharp, the dialogue edgy and funny, and the relationships of the characters brilliantly interwoven. De Niro's love for his second wife, the incomparably cool Robin Wright (still Penn in the credits, but life goes on), is beautifully sensitive. Their interaction is perfect, their dialogue brilliantly concise in its clarity and provocation. The producer isn't about to control this smartly elegant woman. Willis is funny, as is Turturro, and Kristen Stewart, Catherine Keener and Stanley Tucci are affecting, too, in their roles. I've not seen better satire anywhere and don't recall Altman's The Player being this cutting-edge sharp.
Spread (2009)
not as bad as it began
It was difficult to get through the first quarter of this, and at the one-third mark I almost pulled out (so to speak). Ashton spends the first third of the film acting very metrosexually, in get-up that looks gay as hell. And he appears to be trying to prove he can out-bland Ben Affleck when it comes to revealing or illuminating an emotion. But after awhile, as fate and the lovely young Russian lass would have it, the film got better, Kutchner's Nikki worth even bothering about. It is the force of Margarita Leveiva that enlivens the film, her character bringing to each scene something of intellect to care about. Not that Anne Heche hadn't done fine work in the early third of the film, but her character served mainly as a prop for Kutchner to use, although a well-structured prop, at that. Anyway, the film serves up a tad of entertainment, after all, although it is hard to forget Kutcher's horrid wardrobe, in which he looks constantly like someone at a Halloween party. Demi shouldn't let him out of the house looking like that.
Off the Map (2003)
off the map indeed
Quickly, any film possessed of Joan Allen has a healthy shove in the right direction. Here, the screenplay by Joan Ackermann of her own play, the direction by Campbell Scott, and the unerring freshness and originality of the tale, offer enticing entertainment. A supporting cast embellishes Allen's lead beautifully, most notably Jim True-Frost, too infrequently seen on film, and Sam Elliott, who used to be around far more often. True-Frost is a member of the terrific cast of the HBO series "The Wire," applauded by critics, except, notably, those idiots who hand out establishment-infested awards. Too bad, that; but typical. And this film has drawn only that same kind of attention. A good thing, come to think of it, that.