Go See:
"Sometimes, stuff ends up on your iPod that you don’t even remember putting on there. It’s probably a deep track on a soundtrack or something that got moved over when you dubbed the entire album. It’s the kind of song that makes you feel cool because you think you’ve discovered something. Someday, the young talent involved will be stars. Alright, alright… you get it. I’d like to think director Peter Sollett will appreciate the musical analogies, as he’s put together one of the better comedies about rock and roll we’ve seen in a long time."
Full review at moviejungle.com
Religulous
"Comedian Richard Belzer, a frequent guest on Bill Maher’s Real Time, once had a great little gag after telling some religious-themed jokes. “God… I kid God. But that’s because I know God has a sense of hu...” (He grabs his heart, falls over)... Bill Maher’s subjects in the documentary Religulous often ask him: “What if you’re wrong?” After Religulous, he’d better hope God has a sense of humor... He’s a comedian, not a journalist – and he goes where the jokes are. I laughed my proverbial ass off. I sure hope God has a sense of hu…"
Full review at moviejungle.com
The Lucky Ones (Go See)
The lucky ones are anyone in the audience who likes drama about current events but doesn’t want it to be heavy-handed.... There are no lengthy talks about what we are or aren’t doing over there, nobody has a total mental breakdown, and the way people react to them is the way we’ve seen people react to vets they meet in their real life. Subsequent to seeing the film, I read that by design, they don’t even mention the word “Iraq” in the movie – and darned if that isn’t correct.
Full review at moviejungle.com
Lakeview Terrace
"If you saw the trailers, you know a lot of what happens next – which is too bad, because a lot of what happens next is pretty interesting. Thanks to Samuel L. Jackson, you still pay close attention to the movie and are afraid for the Mattsons... Jackson never lets you forget Abel is the kind of guy who will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy his brothers."
Full review at moviejungle.com
Tropic Thunder
(Please read my review at moviejungle.com under "Staff Reviews")
"... if you can pay attention to what’s really being laughed at, you’ll laugh right along with it. Actually, you’ll laugh pretty hard."
The Dark Knight
(Please read my review at moviejungle.com under "Staff Reviews")
Journey to The Center of the Earth 3-D
(please read my review at moviejungle.com under "Staff Reviews")
The Love Guru
(please read my review at moviejungle.com under "Staff Reviews")
Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
(please read my review at www.moviejungle.com under "Staff Reviews")
Young @ Heart
(please read my review at www.moviejungle.com under "Staff Reviews")
Iron Man
I could write a lot more on Iron Man, but I saw it a couple of weeks late and it became a huge hit anyway. As Marvel Super Hero movies go, it's the best debut yet. Better than the first Spider-Man, better than the first X-Men, but I'm not sure it's better than Spider-Man 2 or X2.
They gotta call the sequel Iron Man Lives Again.
The Rolling Stones - Shine A Light
I'm biased as a huge Stones fan, but this was great to watch. Martin Scorsese favors Mick Jagger over Keith Richards in the shots he chooses to use, but when you've got a frontman like that running around, you use the best shots. The duets are best part, especially a killer blues jam with Buddy Guy on "Champagne And Reefer." Like any of my bootlegs, I could do without yet another version of "Brown Sugar" or "Satisfaction," but it's worth it to get "Loving Cup" and "As Tears Go By."
Leatherheads
It’s not quite football’s Bull Durham, but it could have been – and that’s enough to get it a recommendation.
Like Bull Durham, Leatherheads takes place with a “minor” league sports team, but in 1925, the minor team are the professionals and the major leagues are the colleges. With no helmets and no rules, guys who love the game of football will play in pastures or wherever they can get a crowd to show up and play the game.
Bull Durham had respected veteran Crash Davis as its lead character; Leatherheads has Dodge Connelly (Crash? Dodge?) played by director and star George Clooney. It’s the first time as a director that Clooney’s really had to direct himself as the star. Sure, he had a hand producing and casting other movies, but this time, he’s completely the leader of the team – and it’s obvious the guy knows his own charm. In a 1920’s setting, he is very much an old school leading man from a different era– a movie star.
He pairs himself with a reporter played by Renee Zellweger, who herself is a formidable presence on the screen. I’ve always admired her acting, but at the risk of sounding superficial, was never that into her looks. Maybe it’s because she’s the only female with any screen time, but she stands out here, and is as much a glamorous old school movie star as Clooney – they’re a great couple you could picture in a black and white feature.
Enter Leatherheads’ version of Nuke LaLoosh – The Office’s John Krasinski. He’s a college star persuaded to do the unthinkable and turn pro. Dodge knows his team – and his business – need a star if they’re going to succeed, and Krasinksi’s “Bullet” Carter Rutherford is the man. He’s not only a football standout but a war hero who’s captured America’s heart. (I sense the often political Clooney is up to something here). “Bullet” draws crowds and suddenly pro football is no longer a joke.
With its black and white photos and small town charms, Leatherheads also seems to come close to being A League Of Their Own – but there’s a turnover. Zellweger’s reporter looks into Bullet, and the movie becomes more about whether or not there’s a “swift boat” thing going on here than it is about whether those leather helmets will ever become what we’re used to today. It’s an alright storyline (covered better and with more reverence in Letters From Iwo Jima or perhaps with more at stake in the 2004 Democratic Presidential Campaign), but fans hoping for a truly great sports movie might feel a little cheated.
The Bank Job
I've been remiss at writing a full review of this outstanding movie -- it's a great heist film featuring some ordinary guys in way over their heads.
The Other Boleyn Girl
(please read my review at www.moviejungle.com under "Staff Reviews")
In Bruges
(please read my review at www.moviejungle.com under "Staff Reviews")
The Spiderwick Chronicles
(please read my review at www.moviejungle.com under "Staff Reviews")
There Will Be Blood
It’s not called There IS Blood, it’s called There WILL BE Blood. It’s an ominous title, giving you the feeling that something very, very bad is going to happen.
Paul Thomas Anderson has created a movie where tension is very high and where for long stretches, when you stop and think about it, nothing all that much really happens. But you just know something will.
That’s largely due to the considerable presence of Daniel Day-Lewis as oilman Daniel Plainview, who as I write this is a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination. Plainview moves into a small barren town to drill for oil and practically takes it over through force of personality. He’s not necessarily the most successful oilman to ever drill, but he can bully his way right into the lives of these unsuspecting and simple folk. Even when he’s saying nothing, you’re watching him. And you’re afraid of him.
His main opposition is a squirrelly little wannabe preacher who wants to use Plainview’s oil money to build his own congregation. He’s played by Paul Dano, who was so memorable for his silence in Little Miss Sunshine. It’s fascinating to watch him preach. He’s got the townspeople hoodwinked, but Plainview ain’t having none of it. What’s best for the town of Little Boston, Middle of Nowhere? The preacher’s Church of The Third Revelation or Plainview’s Church of Black Gold? You KNOW that’s going to come to a head and well.. There will be blood.
The script and the acting build tension well, but perhaps nothing will make an audience more tense than the soundtrack. Jonny Greenwood’s music (it’s rare I care enough to look up the score to give someone credit) is ominous, grating, over-powering and sometimes absolutely annoying. It may even make some audiences turn on the movie – that’s if they’re able to keep themselves from being hypnotized by it. You’ll realize how strong it is when it abruptlly stops – and then the silence is effective too.
There Will Be Blood is long, foreboding and challenging. There Will Be Squirming if you go. But stay with it. You’ll have to see what happens.
Juno
Some have said Juno is on its way to being this year’s Little Miss Sunshine or Napoleon Dynamite. And for the first ten minutes, I thought to myself, this movie is trying real hard to be this year’s Little Miss Sunshine or Napoleon Dynamite.
But I’ll be damned if Juno’s quirky charms, as annoying as they were at first, didn’t eventually win me over.
Juno is a smart teenager who did a dumb thing—she got pregnant. She’s smart enough to know the best thing for the baby is to give it up. She’s also smart enough to know one good way to deal with such a sad situation is with humor. Finally, though, we get some reminders she can do dumb things—and she does a couple that keep this dramedy moving along.
You could argue that teenage pregnancy is no laughing matter, and of course it isn’t—but Juno’s director Jason Reitman and first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody treat it with warmth, sensitivity and realism. Cody is a former stripper, who may know something about smart people doing dumb things.
Juno’s star should become a star after this. My fellow fanboys will remember Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde in the X-Men movies, but this is her coming out performance. She is sometimes hysterical while never letting you forget what she’s dealing with. You feel sorry for her, especially when you realize she’s in over her head.
Ellen Page is deservedly getting a lot of attention, but let me heap some praise on the reunited stars of Arrested Development: Michael Cera and his TV dad Jason Bateman. Cera will be best remembered this year for his sweet guy in Superbad, but he proves he’s got some depth too as Juno’s Baby Daddy. Bateman is wonderful as the adopted father. I’ve liked him for awhile and have gotten a kick out of him on both Arrested Development and as an ancillary member of the so-called Frat Pack. He isn’t as big a star as your Wilsons, Vaughns or Stillers, but he’s provided some good laughs in supporting roles in their movies. Here, he’s not all that funny—he plays a complex character that could be a bit polarizing to some in the audience. But he’s very, very good.
Jennifer Garner is just as good as Bateman’s baby-obsessed wife, as are veterans like JK Simmons and Alison Janney as Juno’s parents. They help add both the drama and the comedy to this dramedy. But they stay enough in the background to let Ellen Page have her breakout moment.
I Am Legend
The less said about I Am Legend, the better I think.
In the spirit of the barren wasteland Will Smith finds himself in, I won't write that much. I'll be almost as quiet as the movie's soundtrack and the deserted streets.
That's because I didn't know much going in, other than I Am Legend was based on a book and was very similar to the classic The Omega Man. So I liked watching how Smith and his dog struggled to survive in a completely abandoned Manhattan. A virus forced the city to be evacuated, and those who were left behind all perished. Smith, conveniently, is both a solider and scientist, so he can fight to survive and spend time in his lab working on a cure.
And that's all I want to say about it, because if I'd known more, I would have been disappointed. Others I've talked to about it either already knew some things or found more details on the internet-- and if I'd known what they know, it wouldn't have been nearly as suspenseful.
Me-- I was glued to every move Smith and his loyal companion made as they worked their way through the streets on their own, not knowing what could be coming around the corner next. Certainly it helps that Smith is that Tom Hanks-kind of actor who we can enjoy in comedy and drama, and like Hanks in Castaway, we can stand to stick with when he’s the only human in sight.
So if you looked stuff up… shhh.
I Am Done.
Fred Claus
In one scene in Knocked Up, one of Seth Rogen’s stoner friends asks Katherine Heigl’s E! News Reporter if she knows Vince Vaughn and if he’s cool. “You know, because he seems like a cool kind of guy to hang out with.”
Should said stoner be concerned that his idol has made a family-friendly kid movie?
I’d lay odds he was a Will Ferrell fan who didn’t stop liking Ferrell after Elf, and he’ll be relieved to know Vaughn doesn’t sell himself out to make Fred Claus. True, he’s not sleeping with bridesmaid after bridesmaid and the language is so sanitized that when someone says “what the hell?,” it’s very jarring. But he retains enough of his cool factor as Santa’s brother Fred for his fans not to be disappointed. It really is like Ferrell doing Elf, or even like Bill Murray doing Scrooged. Kids may get their first exposure to Vaughn as Fred Claus, and not know until years later about the raunch.
The movie itself probably won’t be a prime time holiday staple in the years to come, but it will be a pleasant enough way to pass a Saturday afternoon when it makes its way to HBO or TNT. Adults will like it mostly for the scene where Fred attends a sibling therapy group for jealous brothers. Fred Claus will ultimately be a jealous sibling to the aforementioned Elf or Scrooged, but it’s funny enough for a viewing in 2007.
American Gangster
My apologies for no full review yet... Very quickly, let me say I'd see any gangster movie starring Denzel Washington and I'd see any gangster movie starring Russell Crowe. A gangster movie with both as the leads? I was there, and it was worth it.
Martian Child
Martian Child is a lot like its title character— it’s gentle, harmless and just a little off—even though deep down, he’s like any other kid.
Simply, it’s the story of John Cusack looking to adopt a child and forming an attachment to Dennis (Bobby Coleman), a 10-year-old who thinks he’s from Mars. When they first meet, Dennis sits inside a box because of what the sun could do to him. He wears a weight belt to keep himself from floating away and is convinced the mothership is coming back for him someday.
Martian Child the movie is a lot like "the other kids"—you can probably guess pretty much how the story will resolve itself. There are things that will happen in any movie about a single father and an adopted child. But along the way, there are some pleasant surprises that help this movie stand out.
Here’s how a typical Hollywood hack would have constructed it: Cusack’s single dad would be like a professional athlete or something like that, would be a big time womanizer and having a kid would be the furthest thing from his mind—until he met Dennis and his life changes. The hack would have Dennis follow him around until he caves and takes him in.
Cusack instead is a widowed science fiction writer who is very slowly pursuing a romance with an old friend (trust me—very slowly). Most refreshing to see: he wants to adopt, right at the onset of the movie. He wants someone to take care of—and as someone who was misunderstood as a child, he looks or someone who could have been him.
Then it plays out pretty much like you expect, but that’s ok. It’s a sweet little story, and Cusack is very likable and deals with Dennis very well. They have their moments, but there’s never an overly dramatic scene where one gets too upset with the other and gives into histrionics just to show off as an actor.
It’s actually very down-to-earth.
Michael Clayton
Patience please, it will be worth it.
George Clooney is the title character in Michael Clayton, a lawyer for a big name firm at the center of a controversial case. He’s a former litigator, who’s now relegated to the role of “behind-the-scenes fix-it man.” If you need a problem to go away, call Michael.
Things aren’t going all that smoothly for Michael when the movie starts though. He seems to have something of a gambling problem, someone has blown up his car and one of his closest friends at the firm has lost his mind. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is calling his firm for comments on a rumored settlement with a powerful corporation, and the spokesperson for that corporation is having hot flashes in the ladies’ room and looks paralyzed with fear.
But why?
Again, patience, please. It will all be explained eventually.
But my plea for patience is really to get you into the theater. I’d hate for you to think it’s too convoluted and too frustrating to enjoy. (Clooney’s Syriana from last year comes to mind as an intriguing mess). Michael Clayton will hold your interest as it unfolds, and it has a great payoff.
When I say Michael Clayton will hold your interest, that’d be both Michael Clayton the character and Michael Clayton the script. Clooney does a great job with this guy—a talented but morally-conflicted lawyer who wonders if he’s on the right side of things. As to the script (by writer and director Tony Gilroy, also responsible for two of the Bourne movies), it’s very layered and very interesting—but when all is said and done, it makes complete sense. What starts with a car blowing up ends with one of the better closing credit ideas in a long time.
Shoot 'Em Up
The title tells you exactly what this movie is, but in case you miss it, the creators of Shoot ‘Em Up want you to know this is really just a cartoon. Clive Owen’s “Smith” chomps on carrots and even asks “What’s Up, Doc?” of the Elmer Fudd-like Paul Giamatti.
Smith does pretty much everything with his gun-- or while shooting. That’s also spelled out for us right from the get-go, when he even finds a way to use the gun to deliver a baby. The mother doesn’t make it through that delivery though, and for reasons unknown to Smith, an army of gunmen want that baby. Like Bugs Bunny or maybe the Road Runner, Smith grabs the baby and is on the run for 87 violent—but fun—minutes.
There’s not all that much more to it really, unless you throw in the lactating prostitute Smith enlists to watch the baby. She’s played Monica Bellucci, who played Mary Magdalene in The Passion Of The Christ. So yes, she, Owen and Giamatti have all been in higher-brow fare, but all three know exactly what kind of movie they’re in here and just go for it. They let the sound guy fire up the Nirvana and Motorhead music and let the bullets fly.
Superbad
When you were going through your awkward teenage phase, I know it didn’t feel funny, but think about it: it really was.
Nothing was more important than the opposite sex, and there was very little you wouldn’t do to impress them. For reasons you didn’t even understand, drinking parties were pretty important too, and you would go to great lengths to make the right impression.
And you looked like an idiot. I don’t care if you were captain of the football team or the chess club, you looked like an idiot. Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen know this and use it to get huge laughs in the incredibly funny Superbad. Apatow, the director of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, produced this film, written by his Knocked Up star Rogen. They excelled at adolescent humor with adult stars, so there was no reason to think they wouldn’t get it right with real adolescents.
Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Arrested Development’s Michael Cera) are just right as two best friends out to impress the girls they have crushes on. They figure the best way to do that is provide the booze for one of the last big parties of the school year. They don’t go to a lot of parties, and their quest to get to just this one goes wrong at every turn. Their misadventures include a buddy with a fake ID screwing everything up, a run-in with two cops that are pretty much grown-up versions of themselves and a party that’s creepy for reasons that are hard to quite grasp.
Superbad ties those misadventures together very well. Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg have written some great little predicaments for these kids, but more importantly, they’ve written great dialogue for them. Sorry parents, but kids trying to be cool do talk this way. Rogen and Goldberg are great at working pop culture references into dialogue without feeling the need to explain it to the audience. You either know who Zack Morris is or you don’t.
Jonah Hill—a relative unknown—gets Seth just right. This kid is a foul-mouthed, trash-talking overconfident fool. There is no reason for him to have the confidence he does, but like many a nerd before him, he does (I maintain that’s the difference between a nerd and a geek).
Their friend with the fake ID is about to become a cult hero to the high schoolers who shouldn’t be allowed to see this movie but will anyway. I encourage anyone who looks like him to be a geek, not a nerd, and embrace what you are-- because for the rest of your high school career, you are about to be called “McLovin.” Just go with it, and the other awkward idiots will love you for it.
Stardust
What’s nice about Stardust is that’s probably it—it’s a pleasant and inventive self-contained story. It likely won’t be a Harry Potter/Lord Of The Rings multi-part epic, but a 2 hour experience fans will always remember fondly.
Stardust is based on a novel by fantasy and comic book writer Neil Gaiman (whose Sandman is among the best comic book works ever created). It’s a fairy tale about old England and a mysterious wall on the outskirts of one village. If one can get by the ancient guard at the wall’s opening, he will step into a magical world full of witches, wizards, magic and ghosts.
A young man named Tristan (Charlie Cox, the lowest profile of the film’s high profile stars) takes a chance and goes off into that world—he’s heard a falling star has landed over the wall, and he wants to bring it to the woman he loves to prove he’s worthy of marrying her. The star is actually a person (Claire Danes), and Tristan isn’t the only one after her. An aging decrepit witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) wants the star’s heart to give her eternal youth, and the princes of the kingdom want the gem she wears around her neck because it will make whoever has it the heir to the throne.
It sounds pretentious, but it’s really a lot of fun. Those princes are hysterical in their hatred for each other, and not to give anything away, but their deaths (and after-lives) provide some great dark comedy. Robert DeNiro is among the big stars with a supporting part. He’s a pirate, and at first, you’ll think he’s really just there to parody his mob roles. His Captain Shakespeare has a pretty funny secret.
DeNiro is just one of the big name actors having fun in these very different parts. You can also look for Peter O’Toole, Ian McKellan, Rupert Everett, Ricky Gervais and Sienna Miller in smaller parts. The most notable though is Michelle Pfeiffer as evil witch Lamia (cutting and pasting a line from the Hairspray review: “Where has she been anyway?”). It’s fun to see her having fun, although for long-time admirers of Ms. Pfeiffer and her appearance, it’s a little frustrating to still not really know how she looks after a long absence from the screen. In Stardust, she’s ancient, then she’s young and vivacious, then her age starts to show, then she’s young again… where are the camera tricks and where is the real Michelle Pfeiffer?
Years from now, fantasy fans will look back fondly on Stardust and say: “Oh yeah, Michelle Pfeiffer (or Claire Danes or Robert DeNiro) was in Stardust. I love that movie.” And I suspect one reason they’ll look back fondly is that after its fairy tale ending, there were no more. Neil Gaiman is one of the few comic book writers to actually end a series and walk away from it without letting it pass on to another writer. I suspect he knows when enough is enough, and the magic of Stardust will stay behind that mysterious wall.
Talk To Me
In fame and notoriety, radio host Petey Green falls somewhere between Howard Stern and Good Morning Vietnam’s Adrian Cronauer. While not “The King of All Media,” he had a huge following in Washington, DC in the 60s and 70s among the African-American community. And like Cronauer, he was a guy who just wanted to entertain but found himself in the middle of a very volatile and emotional situation.
Green (Don Cheadle) is hired by uptight programmer Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to shake up a DC rhythm & blues station. The just-released convict does just that, making his bosses nervous but becoming a hero to his listeners. He becomes even more important to all sides when Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated.
It’s a mostly great movie thanks to the work of the very versatile Don Cheadle. It’s not surprising, knowing he played the lead in Hotel Rwanda and pulled off Sammy Davis, Jr. in HBO’s The Rat Pack. He gives the assassination of Dr. King its proper respect, stands up for the black community, handles the complexities of a charismatic convict-- but most importantly: he’s hysterical. Even without the weighty issues, this would have been a very good comedy.
About three-quarters of the way through, Talk To Me decides it’s also about the Petey Green-Dewey Hughes partnership. Unfortunately, Hughes is not the personality Green is. True, he’s supposed to be blander so I mean no offense to Chiwetel Ejiofor who does what he’s supposed to. But when you make your movie about a blander personality, your movie gets a little dull.
Still, Petey Green’s shadow is cast over the scenes he’s not in, so the problems toward the end don’t ruin it. Talk To Me is an entertaining look at a guy who in a different era could have been The King Of All Media.
(The movie’s liberal use of the “n” word and its radio theme make it something those who had a strong opinion either way on the Imus story should check out. I wish Mr. Imus had a forum right now to talk about it).
The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons is the funniest TV show ever created. I don’t even want to argue about it (or maybe I do. Click the e-mail link on top of the page).
So is The Simpsons Movie the funniest… movie… ever? No. But while it doesn’t rank as high as some of Springfield’s best moments, it certainly holds its own when compared to standard ones (and it’s easily better than the show has been the last couple of seasons). What we’re really watching is a multi-part Simpsons episode, to be continued immediately.
Fans of the show will not be disappointed, and there’s frankly no reason non-fans shouldn’t enjoy it. You don’t have to know who the Sea Captain or Bumblebee Man or Lenny or Carl are to know that they’re funny (I think everyone gets at least a moment onscreen. I’ll have to find a cast list to be certain). The Simpsons is not the X-Files. All you need to know is they’re a family of five in a fictional town called Springfield. Dad Homer is a screw-up, Mom Marge is a worry-wart, son Bart is a brat, daughter Lisa is a smart activist, Maggie is a baby, and eventually they get themselves in some kind of trouble.
I will always defend The Simpsons' morality, no matter how poor an example Homer or Bart set. The show also has some of the sweetest moments you’ll ever see, which reaffirm the importance of family. There is at least one moment in the movie that could bring a tear to the eye.
Most of the moments though are just plain laugh out loud funny. It will require repeated viewings to really get all the moments down. As of this writing, Bart steals the show for me. He’s great when he taunts Homer about how he thinks neighbor Ned Flanders is a better father, the scene where we see “little Bart” is wonderfully clever, and Bart makes for a very funny drunk. (I swear it’s “family-affirming.”)
As I think about it, maybe Mrs. Hoover doesn’t get a line? I’m not sure about Jimbo either. Or maybe I just want those e-mails.
Hairspray
Everybody in Hairspray is just so happy to be there.
They’re full of pure joy at almost all times, singing and dancing non-stop (thankfully, it’s a musical). Even the black kids in detention-- segregated from everyone else-- spend their time dancing and celebrating.
If it were Up With People, it would get annoying fast, but in Hairspray, the mood is infectious. That’s mostly thanks to the wonderful work by standout performers including John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah and Nikki Blonsky.
Wait… who?
That name again is Nikki Blonsky, a teenage unknown given the lead role in a movie requiring her to sing, dance and be funny in front of more-seasoned A-listers. Like her character Tracy, she becomes a star you have to like despite the odds against her. Fans of the original John Waters movie and the Broadway musical that followed know this story: Tracy auditions for and becomes a star dancer on the early 1960s American Bandstand-like Corny Collins Show, despite her weight problems and the fact that the show has always embraced more traditional beauty. Everybody ends up loving her, but Tracy doesn’t take time out to bask in her new fame. Instead, she fights to get the show integrated, so that the black kids can dance more often than just the once-a-month “Negro Day.”
Everybody rallies around Tracy, just like the audience will get behind Blonsky.
Everybody else is pretty good too. Michelle Pfeiffer makes a welcome return to the movies (where has she been?) as the station manager determined to keep Tracy and the black kids off the air (that sounds weighty, but her performance is less George Wallace and more Cruella De Vil). Queen Latifah is as good as ever, and teen queen Amanda Bynes proves she does have some adult-sized talent.
The second most talked about performance in Hairspray will be John Travolta as Tracy’s mother. He’s in drag like the late Divine was in the first movie and is clearly having a lot of fun under that fat suit. He is sometimes a little hard to understand, but the personality he gives the mom is enough to make up for that. Of course, if you have John Travolta in a musical, you have him dance. He and Christopher Walken as Tracy’s dad (himself an accomplished dancer) share a great dance scene.
Watching the two of them together in this campy movie, you almost forget they were each in Pulp Fiction. They’re having so much fun, you forget the edgier stuff. Heck, this movie even made the anti-segregation movement seem kind of fun.
Sicko
In some ways, Sicko is the opposite of Fahrenheit 9/11. (Fahrenheit opened with the tragedy of 9/11 and ends with the kind of humorous George W. Bush quote that fills up “Bushism” 365 day calendars. Sicko begins with a poor choice of words from Bush and works its way into a 9/11 tie.)
Oh, don’t get me wrong: this is still a Michael Moore movie, but the writer/director/provocateur steps back a bit, not even appearing on camera for about 45 minutes. He doesn’t have to get in people’s faces to tell these stories of the out-of-control cost of healthcare; they tell themselves. One gentleman had two fingers severed and actually had to choose which one to save because he couldn’t afford to keep both. Frustrated insurance company employees talk about the nightmare of telling clients their claims have been denied and the tricks they use to make the system work to their advantage.
Moore does very well explaining how the United States got to this point, and even the conservatives who won’t see a Moore movie on principle will appreciate how he skewers Hillary Clinton.
He does drive home one point to death: that what we pay outrageous amounts of money for is free in other countries. There are only so times you can watch a guy in a baseball hat ask “What do you pay for this?” (The answer every time: “Nothing.”) It probably wasn't necessary to go to four different countries to repeat the same question.
There is only one real trademark “Michael Moore stunt,” and it’s a good one. Toward the end (it’s made news so I feel okay giving it away), Moore somehow escorts 9/11 rescue workers into Cuba to get them healthcare they aren’t able to get here.
Is it journalism? No, of course not. It’s a Michael Moore movie. But if you’re happy paying what you do for healthcare, you be sure and let him know.
A Mighty Heart
If you followed the sad story of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, you know how it ended—which could have ruined this mostly procedural drama about the hunt for his kidnappers.
However, we ignorant Americans really don’t know all that much about Pakistan or what it’s like to be a journalist there, so for those who want to learn, A Mighty Heart is fascinating. When I first thought about the Pearl story, I foolishly imagined the guy out in the middle of Afghanistan somewhere, grabbed by cave-dwelling members of the Taliban, but Pearl and his wife Mariane (Angelina Jolie) were staying with friends and U.S. allies in Pakistan. They were very much at home there, holding dinner parties and discussing world affairs and philosophy with their international friends and keeping in touch with the rest of the world via the internet and cell phones.
I’d like to think that’s something that Daniel and Mariane Pearl would have wanted me to get out of this movie.
Mariane spends much of the movie not only waiting for word on her husband but appearing on TV or in front of the police defending the couple’s presence in Pakistan in the first place. It sounds very Lifetime-Movie-Of-The-Week, but its authenticity and a strong performance by Jolie keep it above that level.
As for Daniel Pearl's tragic death and what we see onscreen: the movie stays in line exactly with what the Pearls would want us to see.
Surf's Up
Once those penguins marched and captured the hearts of the world, it was probably inevitable that other filmmakers would try to capitalize on the success of March of The Penguins.
Last year, we got Happy Feet, appealing to an audience that maybe doesn’t want to think that much about the penguins but would rather take in their cuteness. Surf’s Up also knows penguins are cute, but it manages to be—believe it or not—a little more sophisticated and subtle.
Surf’s Up is the story of Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), a young penguin who dreams of becoming a champion surfer. He’s inspired by the legend of “Big Z”, a surfing penguin legend who he spent time with as a chick. He gets his shot at the big time when he enters a tournament inspired by the legend of Big Z himself.
The movie is made to look like a documentary, with characters addressing the camera and techniques like grainy “file footage” showing us flashbacks. The characters are as laid back as your average surfer. They tell little jokes and then offer clever asides that are often very funny.
The voice work is very good—LaBeouf and the cast take just the right tone for the movie’s dry humor. The standout would be Jeff Bridges as “The Geek,” an odd surfing guru who is a little bit of Yoda mixed with Jeff Bridges’ The Dude from The Big Lebowski.
The penguins in Surf’s Up actually reminded me of the Geico Cavemen, if that makes any sense. They are creatures that shouldn’t have their wit or level of sophistication—but they do. Cody and Big Z would be very successful commercial pitchmen for sunscreen or something like that.
As much as I like dry humor though, I wonder if kids will get it. If you’re hoping the movie will keep your kids occupied, I think the tone may be just a little too laid back. Kids at my screening got restless, hoping for a little more splash from their surfing. But then again, they may be taken in by the visuals, which are sometimes great-- the computer-animated waves are like radical, dude.
Grindhouse
It’s a shame the DVD for Grindhouse will be split in two, since it's really designed to be a 3-hour experience. Of course, it’s probably an experience that should be had in a movie theater and if people aren't going, at least the DVD plan could get more people to watch these two very entertaining stories.
Let me explain for anyone who isn’t a die-hard Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino fan. Grindhouse is a double feature homage to the trashy exploitation films of the early 70s. It is two-movies-in-one, with pseudo-trailers at the beginning and in between. While both stories take place now, the film looks like it hasn’t been taken out of its canister since 1974. The audio breaks up, an occasional hair will move across the screen, and there are even reels “missing.” Grindhouse even includes a “Now Our Feature Presentation” reel with graphics that guys in sideburns and leisure suits once thought were very slick looking. It’s a whole lot of fun.
Actually, it’s a whole lot of sick fun.
The more entertaining movie is the first, Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. The plot isn’t as important as the images and the goofy dialogue. Zombies are taking over a small town, and it’s only hope is a drifter with a dark secret, an amazing proficiency with weapons and an ex-girlfriend with a gun for a leg (Rose McGowan providing the iconic image of the film). Limb, blood and puss fly everywhere in this epic battle. It’s gloriously ridiculous.
Death Proof almost made me try a little stunt. As I watched, I thought I might have to put Planet Terror under “Go See” and Death Proof under “See If You Want.” Death Proof isn’t as action-packed as Planet Terror, but it’s very interesting, especially if you’re a fan of Tarantino and his dialogue. We follow a never-better Kurt Russell as he follows groups of young women. His “Stuntman Mike” is a serial killer with an intriguing method of operations. It’s mesmerizing watching him stalk his prey.
Unfortunately, some of his prey are the centerpiece of an excruciatingly long diner scene that comes nowhere close to the superior diner scenes in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. So take this advice: when you see Rosario Dawson sit down, take the bathroom break you’ll want during this three hour plus experience.
But get back in time for the car chase, which is just fantastic. It was so good, Death Proof moved back into the “Go See” category. The stunt work is great, as is Russell’s acting through the whole thing.
I refuse to give away the ending, but I’ll say this: it’s perfect. By that, I don’t mean it’s a clever plot resolution. I mean the exact final second of film is great.
The real highlights of Grindhouse are the fake trailers before and between Planet Terror and Death Proof. I would love to see Grindhouse 2, made up of a double feature of Thanksgiving and Werewolf Women of the S.S. Sadly, Grindhouse’s initial box office take will mean no sequel, but I urge you to get this experience in at a theater while you can. If you like this stuff, you’ll love a stop at the Grindhouse.
Blades Of Glory
Will Ferrell must want to be asked back every year to be a presenter at the ESPYs. The star of Kicking & Screaming and Talladega Nights is starring in another sports movie, where he gets to take his big and less than athletic frame and put it into an arena it has no business being in.
He is Chazz Michael Michaels, a rock and roll figure skater who’s really just Talladega’s Ricky Bobby sporting the mullet Ricky Bobby’s fans had. His main rival is Jimmy MacElroy, played by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder. Ricky Bobby is all attitude and does his routines to Billy Squire’s “The Stroke.” Jimmy is more delicate. As Chazz describes him he’s “like a 15 year old girl but not hot.” The two end up in a fight on the ice and are banned from the sport.
But they find a loophole—they can be a team. So Chazz and Jimmy become the first all-male figure skating duo.
It’s as ridiculous as it sounds. It’s also very funny. The choreography is hysterical as the two perform in some oddball and even awkward positions. The movie includes the best use ever of Aerosmith’s cheeseball ballad “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.” None of the skating is as funny as a foot chase late in the movie where the hunted and the hunter keep their skates on the whole time.
Ferrell is the guy for this kind of comedy, and his fans will eat it up. Heder still strikes me as a kid out of his element in the big movies. Napoleon Dynamite was one thing, but he really doesn’t have the presence to pull off another character. He’s probably funny among his friends, but he doesn’t compare to the more seasoned members of the cast. They include some TV comedy all-stars: SNL’s Amy Poehler, her real-life husband Will Arnett from Arrested Development and The Office’s Jenna Fischer.
Skating enthusiasts may appreciate the cameos from stars like Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill and Brian Boitano. They may wish they were in a classier production, but if they can laugh at the outfits, the music and the routines, then so should the fans.
Black Snake Moan
It’s not as lurid as it all sounds.
Black Snake Moan is the story of an old bluesman, who chains a half-naked white trash nymphomaniac to a radiator in his home.
OK, maybe it is pretty lurid, especially if you look at the movie poster of Bluesman Samuel L. Jackson standing over the Nymphomaniac Christina Ricci, who’s chained and at his knees.
From the opening shots of real life blues legend Son House talking about the meaning of the blues and of Ricci and boyfriend Justin Timberlake... um… indulging her mania… you think this will be a lurid classic. You think to yourself that this could be the Snake-Titled Cult Movie that Jackson didn’t get to experience with Snakes On A Plane. But Jackson doesn’t have Ricci chained up for lascivious reasons, he’s keeping her there until The Devil leaves her. It’s not about sex, it’s about redemption.
It’s also about comedy, believe it or not. There are some good moments of dark humor that come out of having a half-naked white trash nymphomaniac tied to a radiator in your home. It’s almost a twisted Three’s Company.
Jackson is great as our bluesman looking to redeem Ricci and himself, but you knew he would be. Ricci is great as the girl who doesn’t understand her own issues or how far she’s fallen, but you probably knew she would be. And Justin Timberlake? He’s good. His music may not be for you, but the former N’Syncer is actually a pretty talented actor. His character may seem like a throwaway at first, but there’s more to him than meets the eye. If you feel like the guy is everywhere, he probably is—but he’s earning it.
Black Snake Moan’s redemptive theme will keep it from being the lurid cult classic you might have hoped it would be, but it’s still a unique movie that shouldn’t disappoint.
The Astronaut Farmer
It’s kind of like Field Of Dreams In Space.
That’s not to say The Astronaut Farmer is a science fiction movie, although you do have to suspend some belief if you’re going to buy into the idea.
Billy Bob Thornton plays the conveniently named Charles Farmer. He’s a former astronaut and family farmer who never gave up on the dream of going into space. In fact, he’s built a rocket in his barn, and he insists on launching himself into orbit.
Everyone thinks he’s crazy, and if you apply common sense, everyone is right. There is no need for him to put his family’s welfare and finances at risk for such a thing that benefits nobody but himself. Child welfare really should be concerned, the government really should be checking on where he got all that rocket fuel and what he’s going to do with it, and everybody in town really should be whispering behind his back.
But gosh darn it, everyone involved is so down-to-earth and friendly, and Charles is so determined without being arrogant or rude, you want to see that rocket take off. The people around him have their doubts, but they also have Charles' best interests at heart. They don’t want to squash his dream, they just want to make sure he's alright. That’s even true of the little town’s public officials, who are also Charles' childhood friends. Even one of the most prominent of his detractors, a friend from NASA, hopes deep down that ol' Charles Farmer can pull this off. (He’s played by a big star who is uncredited. I won’t spoil it, but he’s very good here.)
Charles keeps his family involved the whole time (including the excellent Virginia Madsen as his wife), guaranteeing the movie will get consistent play on cable family channels for years to come.
It's all gentle Americana-- a movie about a farmer and an astronaut? How could it not be a feel good film?
Breach
It’s a spy movie even I can understand, which makes it a pretty good one.
Espionage is never really all that easy to grasp. You’re dealing with trying to figure out who’s on who’s side, combined with the very complex nature of government and bureaucracies. Watch Syriana if you want to see how those issues can become a giant overrated mess.
But Breach isn’t really about the true life spying that Robert Hanssen did in what was called the worst spy case in American history. It’s about the complexities of his own personality as well as the FBI’s efforts to take him down.
FBI agent Robert Hanssen, you may remember, was arrested in early 2001 for spying on the U.S. government and selling secrets to Russia over a period of several years. He was one of the most respected and accomplished agents in the bureau and was a devoted family man and extremely devout Catholic. But he also led a secret life involving not just spying, but pornography and strippers.
The almost-always great Chris Cooper (Adaptation, American Beauty) is great again as Hanssen. He is a strong presence in any room he’s in. When he barks out advice to fellow agents on security, you know he knows what he’s talking about. When he tells his protégé he needs to pray more, you know he believes it. And when he mulls over what he’s done, you know it’s about more than just money.
The protégé is played by Ryan Phillippe, who is working as a double agent against Hanssen. He’s been assigned to work with him and learn what he can, but while he does, he’s taken in by Hanssen’s authority and confidence. If you watched the news, you know how this all turns out, but it’s fascinating to see how it did.
It’s also fascinating to look for little touches about how the world has changed. Hanssen was a big story in early 2001, but you may have forgotten him because of other national security issues that obviously became very important later in 2001. Little touches like mentioning Louis Freeh, John Ashcroft and even Bill Clinton remind you of the world pre-9/11 and how different national security was. It wasn’t that long ago, but watching Breach, you’ll see what they’re using by way of technology and how the FBI worked. You’ll feel like you’re in the world before Microsoft Vista or Jack Bauer entered our lives.
Catch And Release
Catch and Release practically screams Chick Flick. Jennifer Garner stars as a woman whose fiancé dies just before their wedding day. Heck, the cake is in her refrigerator ready to go. She learns some upsetting things about her fiancé she didn't know before he died. Her would-have-been mother-in-law wants the engagement ring. His friends, all of whom love her in their own way, rally behind her. She moves in with them to get emotional and financial support.
It might as well be an episode of What About Brian.
What distinguishes Catch and Release from your run-of-the-mill chick flick or a TV show like What About Brian are strong performances and relatable characters. (Yes, I know nobody else watches What About Brian, but it's the chick show on my radar. That Brian has nice hair)
Garner herself stays grounded enough to help us identify with her character. She's certainly a pretty woman, but there's never a drop-dead gorgeous moment for her. Nor should there be. She's in mourning after all, there's no need for her to get all glammed up. She doesn't wallow in the grief long enough for us to get too depressed, but she keeps an appropriate amount of grief tucked away in her performance to never let us forget what she's dealing with.
She's also not forced to carry the movie on her own. Timothy Olyphant, as the token chick flick badboy, is very good as a supportive friend to both Garner and, in an odd way, to his deceased friend's memory. I was most impressed with Kevin Smith in the token comic relief role. I sometimes think Smith as a director is a little full of himself, and that he comes off that way in his few acting roles or his DVD commentaries. I even think he manages to do that as Silent Bob somehow. This isn't his material, so he can't get full of himself. He may also be channeling a real-life what-if situation. Garner is married to Ben Affleck, an old friend of Smith's. The two of them work well together, and you can't help but wonder if they're pretending Ben's dead.
Interestingly, for such a chick flick, there aren't a lot of chicks. Garner's support group is all guys. The strong male presence may have been what made the movie more tolerable for me, so I'll be curious if women will mind. Oh, who am I kidding-- Jennifer Garner cries over old photos and Timothy Olyphant smiles a lot. Women will love it.