Movie Review: Zombieland

Zombieland (2009) 

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick

Starring Woody Harrelson Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Bill Murray 

Release Date October 2nd, 2009 

Published October 1st, 2009

I don't like zombie movies. There is an inherent undercurrent of nihilism that runs through most zombie movies that I find unappealing. I may be a cynic but I could not live in a world without hope, the world of the zombie movie. I will admit that elements of Romero's use of subtext in his Living Dead movies are appealing. I will also admit to admiring Danny Boyle's skilled technique in 28 Days Later. But, zombie movies remain for me an ugly, unwelcome chore to sit through.

Thus, I was not looking forward to the new zombie horror comedy Zombieland. Starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg, Zombieland deftly flips its tone from horror to comedy and somehow loses nothing in the transition. As much as I hate zombie movies, I must admit, I liked this one.

Columbus (Eisenberg) was not the most likely survivor of the zombie apocalypse. He's scrawny and skittish and carries a shotgun so big you may have a hard time believing he could fire it and remain standing. He has survived because his years of isolation, he was a videogame loving shut in before the apocalypse, taught him to run from people even before they were trying to eat him.

He has a series of rules that have guided him as well. Rule 1: Cardio. He has trained like an olympic sprinter so that he can stay ahead of the horde. Rule 2: Double Tap. Never just shoot a zombie, shoot it twice. The other rules make cameos throughout the film as computer added interstitials. The comic effect is strong and reminds one of Max Brooks's very funny book "The Zombie Survival Guide".

Columbus has traveled alone for a while but for the first time has begun to crave a little company. He's lucky enough to meet up with Tallahassee (Harrelson) who happens to be one of the best zombie killers in the country. He doesn't just run and hide from the zombie hordes, he runs at them guns blazing, bat swinging, hedge clippers... clipping.

The two form an unlikely alliance that grows to four when they happen upon Wichita and Little Rock (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin). (The names correlate to the cities where everyone is from. You don't want to get to attached to someone you might have to shoot in the head). Wichita and Little Rock are headed to California where they are hoping rumors of a human enlave in an amusement park is for real.

Whether their hopes are well founded I will leave you to discover. Zombieland comes from first time feature director and show stunning skill. Fleischer's directorial experience is limited to shorts and episodes of Jimmy Kimmel's talk show, yet he shows remarkable skill and control for such a relative novice.

Most impressive is how he balances the tone. The laughs in Zombieland come in buckets and yet, so does the horror. Zombieland makes you fear the zombies but still has the energy and wit to make you laugh louder than you have at most any comedy this year. It's a balance that a number of veteran directors could not achieve.

Keep an eye out for what will no doubt be the years best cameo. The actor involved is so unexpected and yet so very, very game for it all you will not be able to control the gales of laughter from this inspired bit of casting.

I still don't like zombie movies. This time however, because of a game cast and some surprisingly skilled direction, I can look past my issues with the genre and recommend Zombieland.

Movie Review: Tootsie

Tootsie (1982) 

Directed by Sydney Pollack

Written by Larry Gelbart, Murray Schisgal

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Bill Murray, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman

Release Date December 17th, 1982 

Published August 8th, 2018 

August 8th is Dustin Hoffman’s 81st birthday and while his behavior on movie sets and Broadway backstages has drawn a storm of controversy amid the Me Too movement, his movies remain indelible parts of our shared film history. One film, that has been rendered somewhat ironic given the recent revelations about Hoffman’s behavior, is Tootsie, the 1982 comedy in which Hoffman plays a struggling actor who turns to cross-dressing in order to land a breakout role on a soap opera.

One might assume that having proverbially walked a mile in women’s shoes, Dustin Hoffman might be a tad more sensitive to women behind the scenes. Regardless, Tootsie remains a fascinating, somewhat ahead of its time examination of gender roles and sensitivity. For the record, I am not well-qualified to discuss the sensitivity of Tootsie in relation to the LGBTQ issues the film skirts around, just know that I am sensitive and aware of those issues but I will be avoiding them for the most part in this review. If you want to share your opinion about the film in relation to those issues I would be happy to open a dialogue and expand this review with the input.

Tootsie tells the story of a real jerk of a New York actor named Michael Dorsey. Michael is such a pain to work with that most theater and commercial directors no longer will even entertain talking to him, let alone casting him. As his agent, George, wonderfully played by Tootsie director Sidney Pollack relays, Michael can’t even play a piece of fruit in a commercial without causing a row with the director and delaying the shoot for hours.

With few options and prospects in his ever-aging career, Michael decides to do something drastic. Having witnessed his friend and acting student, Sandy (Teri Garr), try and fail to land a role on a soap opera, Michael decides that he knows how to play that female character better than anyone. This leads Michael to put on a dress and makeup and, quite convincingly, portray an actress named Dorothy Michaels.

Here, Michael’s jerk tendencies, leavened by Dorothy’s womanhood, actually works to get him the part and eventually become a breakout character on the show. Along the way, Michael meets and begins to fall for Julie (Jessica Lange), the co-lead on the soap opera. Unfortunately, Julie doesn’t know that Michael is Dorothy and if she and everyone else were to find out, Michael would be ruined.

I’m struck by what a terrible person Michael Dorsey is. Dustin Hoffman plays Michael as a dyspeptic ladies man with a monstrous ego and self-involvement. Michael has few redeeming qualities beyond his obvious passion for performing and his loyalty to his friend, Jeff (Bill Murray), whose play Michael hopes to fund with the money he makes playing Dorothy. Other than that, Michael is a manipulative, whiny, jerk.

I say that, and yet it kind of makes the character work in a strange way. Michael is an authentic character, there is nothing indistinct about him. Michael as Dorothy becomes a slightly better person or, at least, a slightly more caring and sensitive person, seemingly by osmosis. That growth, as modest as it is, is fascinating to watch considering where the character begins the story, as the monster I have been describing.

The supporting cast of Tootsie is a group of epic scene stealers. Bill Murray’s Jeff is inspired. Murray’s deadpan earns the biggest laughs in the movie and his endless charm is evident even in limited screen time. Teri Garr is wonderful as well as Sandy, a lost soul who gravitates toward Michael’s passion enough that she isn’t entirely repelled by him. Garr’s Sandy is the one redeemable quality Michael has, his friendship with her highlights his few good qualities.

On the soap opera side of the movie we have, of course, Jessica Lange, lovely and vulnerable as Julie, Dabney Coleman, Michael’s equal in caddishness, George Gaynes as the bloviating, sexually voracious leading man and Charles Durning in easily the sweetest performance in the movie. Durning portrays Julie’s father who unwittingly begins to fall for Dorothy as Michael is using the Dorothy persona to get close to Julie.

Here is where Tootsie and I part ways. I can’t stand the film’s ending. That Julie would be willing to forgive Michael and the two to have an implied ‘happily ever after’ is far too contrived and narratively unearned. What has Michael done throughout the entirety of Tootsie to deserve to win Julie’s heart? The emotional gymnastics that we are called upon to perform in order to accept this happy ending are far too much to ask of us as an intelligent audience.

Dustin Hoffman is terribly effective at making Michael terrible in unique and fascinating ways but he’s still terrible. As impressive as his double act as Michael and Dorothy is, Michael doesn’t learn or grow all that much in the guise of Dorothy. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that Dorothy is inherently a deception and not an excuse for Michael to learn a valuable lesson. This isn’t an after school special, if the movie were honest in the end, Michael’s punishment would be teaching acting the rest of his life, drawing students to him via his well-earned infamy.

So, do I like Tootsie? Do I recommend Tootsie? Where do I come down on this movie when I have been so heavily critical of the star and the ending of the movie? I appreciate Dustin Hoffman’s performance for how boldly unique it is, truly unlike any leading man performance I have ever seen. It takes nerve not to settle in and play this character as likably difficult. That Hoffman played Michael not as a comic character within what is an unquestionably comic movie, but as a dramatic character in the midst of a sitcom farce, is a boldness I cannot  deny being impressed with.

Then there is Sidney Pollack’s exceptional direction. Tootsie is an exceedingly well-crafted film. Tootsie is smart and funny and though its female empowerment message is undermined by the nature of Dorothy as a deceptive character, it is quite a notable moment to see even a fake woman telling men to keep their hands off of her and leading other women to do the same. Then again, do women need a man in drag to tell them to stand up for themselves?

Perhaps we can qualify the compliment to Tootsie and say that the film was progressive for 1982 when the movie was released. For this moment, it’s rather patronizing to have a man in drag as a feminist hero, especially one for whom being in drag is not a statement but merely a scheme. Exceptionally well made but problematic, Tootsie is an essential piece of pop history because it is such a bizarre and unique milestone, one forged and ever-changing over time.

Movie Review Hyde Park on the Hudson

Hyde Park on the Hudson (2012) 

Directed by Roger Mitchell 

Written by Richard Nelson

Starring Bill Murray, Laura Linney 

Release Date August 31st, 2012 

Published November 10th, 2012 

"Hyde Park on Hudson" is a strange movie. On the surface, it appears to be a prim and proper period piece centered on an American President. In reality, it is a trim and tawdry, Jerry Springer-esque expose on the secret affair between a President and his cousin. Jerry Springer-esque is a slight overstatement though this version of FDR and his sordid private life would make a fitting guest for a trashy talk show.

There is no arguing with the notion that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt cheated on his wife Eleanor with many different women. There is also no denying that a good movie can be made about one or all of these affairs. The problem is "Hyde Park on Hudson" picks the absolute worst instance of this adultery to focus on. It's about the time that FDR got a handjob from his cousin and pursued sleeping with her. UGHHH!!!! 

Uncomfortable and Icky

Laura Linney is the ostensible star of "Hyde Park on Hudson" as President FDR's fifth cousin Daisy (If you think her being a fifth cousin is an excuse, re-evaluate your life and don't spend time with your extended family, eww). When the President, played by Bill Murray, is at his home away from home, known as Hyde Park on Hudson, he finds distraction and comfort in the company of Daisy with whom he can, for a moment, forget the problems of the free world and simply be Franklin.

That sounds lovely until 'that scene' happens. Our illusions about the stately, period picture decorum of "Hyde Park on Hudson" are shattered early on in Daisy and FDR's first outing together. Having driven out to the middle of a field and dismissed the secret service, FDR slowly encourages Daisy into a... sexual encounter. She... gives the President a handy. I already mentioned that but it calls for repeating, the President encouraged his cousin into giving him a handjob and someone thought that should be in a movie starring Bill Murrary and Laura Linney. 

What a Waste

The film never recovers from this scene. even as the screenwriting attempts to make excuses about the distance between Daisy and FDR on the family tree. Every scene after Daisy and FDR's indelicate encounter in the field is a forced attempt at classing things up. The film's supposed focus is the first ever visit of the British Royal Family to the home of an American President but we're never allowed the opportunity to invest in that plot because there is no recovering from the President getting tossed off by a member of his family. 

As I said earlier, there is a good movie to be made about the messy private life of an American President but this is not it. "Hyde Park on Hudson" is a shabby, tawdry, and still somehow, often quite dull picture that wastes the talents of two of my favorite performers, Bill Murray and Laura Linney. It says something terrible about "Hyde Park on Hudson" that two so talented actors as Murray and Linney cannot improve the movie enough to make it palatable.

Movie Review: The Royal Tenenbaums

Rushmore (2001) 

Directed by Wes Anderson

Written by Wes Anderson

Starring Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Owen Wilson

Release Date December 14th, 2001 

Published December 24th, 2001 

In Rushmore, Wes Anderson took two very unique characters and used them to establish an unusual comic tone of irony and pathos that, for all it's quirks, seemed grounded in a weird sort of realty. In The Royal Tenenbaums, he applies that same unusual tone to an awesome ensemble cast to an even greater effect.

The Royal Tenenbaums is the story of a family of geniuses and the father who was the catalyst for their self destruction. Gene Hackman plays the father, the aptly named Royal Tenenbaum, a disgraced and disbarred lawyer whose luck and money have run out, and who now seeks to reconcile with the family he destroyed years earlier; not out of any emotional need for forgiveness, but rather because he just needs a place to crash.

Angelica Huston is Royal's soon-to-be-ex-wife, Etheline, a genius in her own right who is about to marry a man named Henry, played by Danny Glover. Luke Wilson is Richie Tenenbaum, a tennis prodigy washed up after a breakdown in the middle of a major match. Gwyneth Paltrow is Margot Tenenbaum (whom Royal makes a point of noting is adopted,) a genius playwright who wrote her first play at age 11 and has written nothing since. Ben Stiller is Chas, a widower who was a financial whiz at age 9, whose resentment of Royal is just one of the family's many dysfunctional aspects.

Bill Murray and Owen Wilson round out the cast in truly funny supporting roles. The whole cast is sensational, and though Stiller seems a little off key at times, everyone maintains this wondrous magical tone that makes the movie hum; never too loud, never too soft. Combine that brilliant tone with Mark Mothersbaugh's inspired score and the soundtrack of 60's tunes like the Beatles' "Hey Jude," and you have what amounts to a comedic symphony. The New York setting is as strange and wonderful as the rest of the film and when combined with the soundtrack give the film a feeling of timelessness. 

I don't know if there is a director I have higher hopes for than I do for Wes Anderson. I cannot wait to see what he does next. 

Movie Review Charlie's Angels Full Throttle

Charlie's Angels Full Throttle (2003) 

Directed by McG 

Written by John August 

Starring Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Demi Moore, Bill Murray 

Release Date June 27th, 2003 

Published June 26th, 2003 

The first Charlie’s Angels film delighted in the kind of mindless, plotless humor that made the Austin Powers movies so much fun. Or at least the first Austin Powers movie. As the sequels in that series show, it's difficult to maintain that atmosphere. The humor relies so much on the outlandishness of the setup that you’re forced to top yourself from one gag to the next. For the Charlie’s Angels crew, that means skimpier outfits and racier humor that pushes the boundaries of it's mandated PG-13 rating. Thanks to a cast that has earned a great deal of audience goodwill, they manage to succeed this time, but one more will be really pushing it.

We all remember the flashy sex kittens from the original, Alex (Lucy Liu), Natalie (Cameron Diaz) and Dylan (Drew Barrymore). No need for reintroduction, the film jumps right into the action as the girls save a federal marshal from a group of Mongolian terrorists, with the cunning use of special effects and Cameron Diaz's ebullient sexuality.

From there it's back to the states where Charlie (the disembodied voice of John Forsythe) explains what we need to know in order to give the film’s gags a minimal amount of context. Some mess about the federal witness protection program and the list of people in protection. A bad guy has the list and is trying to sell it and it's up the Angels to stop them and retrieve the list.

During the investigation it's revealed that Dylan is on the list for having testified against an Irish mobster named Seamus O'Grady (Justin Theroux), who conveniently enough has just been released from prison. Oh but he's not the big bad guy. As the girls quickly figure out the real bad guy is a former Angel named Madison Lee (Demi Moore). Why she stole the list and blah blah blah is not necessary. How hot she looks in a bikini, now that is what this movie is really about.

Moore's role is actually rather limited in screentime, not much more than a cameo save for the big fight scene at the end. There are numerous cameos throughout the film that at times it's like an episode of the Love Boat. Matt LeBlanc reprises his cameo from the first film, as does Luke Wilson. John Cleese drops in as does Robert Patrick and even Demi's ex husband Bruce Willis. There is also a small role Shia Leboef from Holes, pop singer Pink and even the Olson Twins. Sadly, the film failed to get the cameo that really would have set tongues a wagging, Demi's current boy toy Ashton Kutcher.

Bernie Mac has a slightly bigger than a cameo role as the new Bosley, taking over for Bill Murray. Who cares how or why he has the role, Mac is welcome presence because he's just damn funny in every scene he's in.

Reigning over all this is Director McG, whose skills as a music video director were very much on display in the first film and they are far more pronounced in this sequel. McG is maturing quickly from video director to pop artist. His visuals are pure eye candy and his actors merely props to decorate his painting. McG skillfully maneuvers his actors through a series of eyepopping scenes, both titillating and action packed.

McG is to be commended for his amazing ability to skirt the censors who somehow were convinced to give this film a PG-13 rating. McG walks the line between obvious Russ Meyer style exploitation and acceptable humorous double entendre, like a skilled tightrope walker. The stars of the film and their director seem to say it's okay to exploit their sexuality, such as a scene where the Angels go undercover in a strip club, as long as the girls are in on the joke. What woman could resist having their butt worshipped the way McG seems to worship the butt's of his leads? All shot as lovingly as one might film the Mona Lisa.

Getting away with this type of envelope pushing for another sequel is highly unlikely. Unless the ratings board says PG-13 means the girls can strip naked and kill bad guys at the same time, the filmmakers will have a hard time finding anything more safely titillating than what they concocted in Full Throttle.

Movie Review: City of Ember

City of Ember (2008) 

Directed by Gil Kenan 

Written by Caroline Thompson 

Starring Saorise Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Toby Jones 

Release Date October 10th, 2008 

Published October 9th, 2008

With humanity forced underground, two teens try to figure out why and how they can escape. She is Lina Mayfleet (Saorise Ronan). He is Doone Harrow (Harry Treadaway). Though they weren't aware of it, Lina and Doone's parents were close friends. In fact, they were part of a secret society that were the first to try to escape from Ember. Lina and Doone have the advantage of a map handed down by the builders, the scientists who created the underground city as their own society was crushed by some unseen force, either environmental or nuclear. 

The buliders created the map and instructions for leaving Ember and locked them in a time sealed box incapable of being opened for 200 years. The box was supposed to be passed from one mayor of Ember to the next but at some point it was lost along with the instructions for reclaiming the earth's surface. Lina finds the box in a closet in her grandmothers home. She takes it to her pal Doone and together they follow the instructions leading to an extraordinary adventure.

City of Ember was produced by the folks at Walden Media whose abundance of religious metaphors can be a little ham fisted. Here the Builders stand in for a belief in a higher power. They are even thought by the truly faithful to be returning someday. The metaphor is obvious and overblown but the director, Gil Kenan, is smart not to get bogged down in the overt demonstration. Using his exceptional cast, especially Bill Murray as the town's bumbling, inept mayor, Kenan never lets things get bogged down by metaphor. He also makes great use of action, especially near the end where a boat trip mimics Indiana Jones Temple of Doom coal chute chase.

Saorise Ronan is a lovely young actress whose big eyes never portray anything but earnest commitment to purpose. Her Lina wasn't looking to leave Ember, she in fact had just received the job of her dreams as red cape wearing messenger, a job that allows her to indulge her quick feet. However, with the town experiencing growing blackouts and food shortages, it becomes her mission to not merely save herself but the community of Ember that is her surrogate family. Doone's interest wasn't leaving either, he was compelled by something to believe he could fix the generator.

When he is assigned to work as pipefitter he hopes to use it's proximity to the great generator to get in there and solve the problem. Doone's arc goes from fearful and frantic to realistic and hopeful. When confronted with evidence of a world outside of Ember Doone abandons his grandiose plans for a more arduous journey with what he hopes greater results. Doone and Lina spark well together and their entirely chaste romance, expressed only in brief hand holding, is charming in an old school, kids movie kind of way. I like movies that manage to entertain while acting their age and that is what City of Ember does.

Gil Kenan knows he is making this movie for young children and avoids any humor or violence that might overwhelm the target audience. It sounds as if he is censoring himself but the film remains entertaining which demonstrates Kenan's talent, he doesn't need to be simpleminded or vulgar to achieve the film he wants to make.

City of Ember has it's flaws but in the end what mattered was my smile. I started smiling the moment Saorise Ronan came onscreen, arriving late at school with an important assembly already underway and she needing to be on stage, till the end. Kids movies that don't condescend or speak down to kids are in too short supply. City of Ember deserves your movie dollar for simply being that kind of thoughtful kids flick. Saorise Ronan is a young star in the making and I can't wait to see what she does next. Here's hoping it's as smart and fun as City of Ember.

Movie Review Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation (2003) 

Directed by Sophia Coppola 

Written by Sophia Coppola 

Starring Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris

Release Date September 12th, 2003 

Published September 12th, 2003 

Subtlety, a lost art. In the age of Austin Powers and Scary Movie, some would say it's not lost but dead. Before we pass such a judgment though, I would urge you to see Lost In Translation, a subtle, humorous meditation on alienation and intimacy between two strangers in a strange land.

Bill Murray stars in Lost In Translation as Bob Harris, an aging movie star arriving in Japan to shoot a liquor commercial. Staying in the same hotel is Charlotte (Scarlett Johannsen), the wife of a photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) who's work leaves her to roam the foreign country alone. As both Bob and Charlotte wallow in their loneliness and alienation they find each other in the hotel bar and commiserate over being the only English speakers in the room.

It's unclear whether Charlotte recognizes Bob the movie star, but she seems to immediately know Bob the person. Their connection happens quickly but not in the sexual way of most movies. It is an intellectual connection between two smart sardonic people who bond over conversation not carnality.

The plot description for Lost in Translation is difficult because of it's pseudo verite style. In almost documentary fashion we watch these two characters bond over their mutual intelligence and isolation. Director Sophia Coppola does a spectacular job of drawing the audience into a story that is essentially a series of conversations and gestures. It's remarkably absorbing.

Coppola also wrote the smart witty script and then went out and got two terrific actors to interpret it. Bill Murray has never been better. He's always had a terrific slow comic burn but here he doesn't lapse into schtick, he simply accepts the various indignities and we sympathize with him rather than laugh at his reactions. Johannsen, only 19 years old, is Murray's equal in every scene. Showing intelligence beyond her years, she is as smart as she is attractive.

This is a second brilliant outing for writer-director Sophia Coppola and as much as I loved her first film, The Virgin Suicides, I loved Lost In Translation even more. Coppola is not only a talented writer, she has a terrific directorial eye that is very subtle but definitely true. There are a number of terrific visuals in Lost In Translation with equal credit going to Coppola and Cinematographer Lance Acord.

This is a truly remarkable film. Smart, funny, sweet and beautiful. Believe the hype about this one, it's truly one of the best films of the year.

Movie Review Get Low

Get Low (2009) 

Directed by Aaron Schneider 

Written by Chris Provenzano, C Gaby Mitchell, Scott Seeke 

Starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black, Lee Cobb

Release Date July 30th, 2009 

Published July 29th, 2009 

“Get Low” is some kind of miracle of modern movie-making. No, the film doesn't change the way you look at movies. Rather, “Get Low” is a throwback to a time before bombast took over cinema. “Get Low” reaches back to a time when acting and storytelling dominated over the urge to constantly goose the audience with effects. In this day and age, that qualifies as a miracle.

”Get Low” stars Robert Duvall as Felix Bush, a hermit living in some unknown, early 1900's wilderness on the edge of a small town. Within that town are residents who believe Felix is just a crazy old hermit and everyone seems to have a story about being threatened by the crazy old man with the wild eyes and ratty beard.

After being informed of the death of a former friend, Felix decides that his time is drawing near as well. Felix decides that it's time to get low but before he goes he wants to attend his own funeral. Carrying out Felix's final wishes are the local funeral home proprietor Mr. Quinn (Bill Murray) and his young assistant Buddy (Lucas Black).

While Quinn is eager for the old hermit's wad of balled up money, Buddy is worried for Felix and wants to know why he is so eager to get busy dying. Buddy is the stand in for those of us who find Felix's motivations morbid yet oddly fascinating. Felix is even more intriguing than his final wishes imply; he carries a deep dark secret that relates somehow to an old flame, Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek).

I will leave you to discover Felix's secret and I will only say that it is a stunner of a payoff and yet not a thrilling shock but rather a resigned, unfortunate tale related with such skill by Duvall that you will struggle to hold back tears. Duvall has long been an actor of awesome, earnest strength but “Get Low” is the first time, arguably, since his Oscar winning turn in “Tender Mercies” that he has been this moving.

When Duvall shares the screen with Sissy Spacek “Get Low” takes on an effortlessly romantic air that never plays ironic or creepy. Yes, these are two older people but there is no joking about sex or winking about their romantic prospects being that they are old. Instead, “Get Low” offers scenes of such tenderness most modern movies featuring the young beautiful cannot hope to match.

The revelation of “Get Low” is Lucas Black. To this point in his short career Black's biggest credit had been the “Fast and the Furious” pseudo sequel “Tokyo Drift.” Needless to say, that performance said little about Black's ability as an actor, other than his ability to look blandly handsome. In “Get Low” Black demonstrates earnest vulnerability, humor and caring that never lapses.

Bill Murray is, well, Bill Murray. The former SNL and “Ghostbusters'' star has become one of the most consistently ingenious actors working today. Whether he is playing himself for laughs in “Zombieland” or playing romantic, longing, drama in the little seen but utterly glorious “Broken Flowers,” Murray finds new beats to play within what we expect of Billy Murray. In “Get Low” Murray may be expected to be a huckster, and he kind of is, but by the end of Get Low Murray's Mr. Quinn is as steady and good-hearted as anyone.

Don't let me mislead you, Murray and the rest in “Get Low” do earn laughs. The film has a great sense of humor, one that offers laughs that come organically from characters who aren't trying to be funny, they just are. Robert Duvall gets laughs from his temperamental performance that seems coiled for an explosion of crazy and then surprises with gentility and soul. Sissy Spacek is magical with her wide smile and big eyes, she exudes warmth and then when hurt she changes the temperature of the film and you feel everything she feels.

This is what great actors do, they draw you in, surprise you, move you and can devastate and restore you all in the space of three acts. Given a great script as these actors are given in “Get Low,” by writers Chris Provenzano and Gaby Mitchell, this wondrous ensemble does all of the above and more. 

”Get Low” is directed with a shambling good nature by Aaron Schneider who also edited the film. He is not the most likely of directors, his training was as a cinematographer for little seen TV shows. Yet, Mr. Schneider delivers in “Get Low” a pro level performance. Schneider's low watt direction and great eye for deteriorating, period scenery plays perfectly to the story of decrepit yet feisty Felix preparing for his grave. 

Most importantly, Schneider knows just when to get out of the way and let his superior cast carry the day. Watch in particular a scene between Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek set at night in Felix's hermit hovel. There is no need for flourish, no need for directorial histrionics, Schneider just sets his camera on these two actors and the warmth rises and the romance comes effortlessly as if evoked from a nonexistent yet fully shared memory. What a scene. 

”Get Low” is wonderful. Romantic, sad, funny and very moving, it is undoubtedly among this year's best films, an honest to goodness miracle of modesty in an era of often ugly, insipid bombast.

Movie Review Garfield

Garfield (2004) 

Directed by Peter Hewitt 

Written by Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow

Starring Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Bill Murray, Stephen Tobolowsky 

Release Date June 11th, 2004

Published June 10th, 2004 

As a kid, I was a huge fan of Garfield the comic strip. I had all the books, made up of all of the Newspaper strips, I had the Garfield videos that aired on each holiday and I was a regular Saturday morning viewer of Garfield and Friends. However, when I heard that Garfield was coming to the big screen I was not excited. Especially since the film would not be animated but live action with Garfield rendered in CGI. Throw in Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt and director Peter Hewitt and I was even less excited.

Then they cast Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield and somehow this mess of an idea became mildly tolerable as a concept. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the comic strip, Garfield is a fat, lazy, lasagna loving, orange cat. He loves to eat, sleep and watch TV and occasionally revel in the constant humiliation of his owner John, played here by Breckin Meyer. The plot of the film has Garfield's comfy life turned upside down by the arrival of Odie, a lost puppy that was a gift from Garfield's attractive veterinarian, Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt).

With Odie getting all of John's attention, Garfield hatches a plan to get rid of him. His plan works but when Garfield sees how sad John is at losing Odie, he decides to get Odie back. That's not as easy as it sounds because Odie has been picked up by a conniving kid’s show host named Happy Chapman (Stephen Tobolowsky) who wants to make Odie part of his act and take the act to New York. It's up to Garfield to stop him before Odie is taken away forever.

The plot of Garfield the movie is dull, as are the human characters. What's not dull is Bill Murray whose constant riffing and laconic delivery are what I've always imagined Garfield would sound like. Garfield's lines in this script are as tepid as anything the human characters have to deliver but when Murray seems to go off the script the movie gets pretty funny. Maybe I'm biased by how much I like the character and how much I like Bill Murray, but I found myself willing to tolerate most of the banal plot of Garfield because I liked Bill Murray's performance as Garfield.

The CGI Garfield is not the best special effect. He does not seamlessly integrate into the background and his unreality is exacerbated by not having human characters interesting enough to distract from the effects. Nothing against Breckin Meyer or Jennifer Love Hewitt, who are both likable actors in the right roles. However, when the material is bad they can do little to improve it, unlike more experienced and talented actors like Murray who can make bad material better than it should be.

See Garfield only if you are a huge fan of Bill Murray and his unique brand of personality and humor.