Movie Review: Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild things Are (2009) 

Directed by Spike Jonze 

Written by Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers

Starring Max Records, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener, Lauren Ambrose

Release Date October 13th, 2009

Published October 13th, 2009

"It is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception and compassion and hope." Ursula K. Le Guin

The movie Where the Wild Things Are is, of course, an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's legendary children's book. However, the movie by director Spike Jonze lives the quote at the top of this page from sci-fi writer Ursula K. Le Guin.

In taking us on a journey through the wild imagination of Max in the wake of a fight with his mother and a disappointment from his older sister, we come to understand Max as he comes to understand himself. It's one extraordinary, revealing journey.

Max (Max Records) is an introverted little guy who longs for the days when he and his sister still played together. When he tries to recapture that feeling and is rebuffed in favor of boys with a car, Max turns his frustration into destruction.

His guilt matched with the kind, understanding and patient reaction of his mother (Catherine Keener) offers the first of a few perfect scenes in Where the Wild Things Are. The peace between mother and son is soon undone, mom has a male visitor of her own, leading Max to run away.

In a departure from Maurice Sendek's wonderful pictures, pictures in which Max's bedroom melts away and slowly builds into a forest, Spike Jonze has Max run through the streets, wearing his favorite wooly footie pj's with wolf ears, finally taking refuge in a forest.

From there we aren't sure where Max really is. In his imagination an ocean opens before him and a small sail boat waits to take him far, far away. He arrives on an island and there he meets the wild things and learns lessons of family, community, love and compassion from the denizens of his sub-conscious.

It is at time a dark journey and credit Spike Jonze and screenwriter Dave Eggers for not shying away from the scarier moments. Everyone has dark places in their mind, even kids. For a child that dark place in their minds is even darker, mystical and terrifying.

The Wild Things, voiced with wondrous vulnerability and heart by James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Forrest Whitaker and Catherine O'Hara, amongst others, are an impressive combination of old school effects and modern CGI. It's been a while since we've seen classic people in giant costume effects and the old school approach is perfect.

The CGI used to bring life to the faces of the Wild Things fit perfectly on the giant costumes giving a real impression of life. Gandolfini's Carol is especially well rendered as he has the most complex and expressive role of of all the Wild Things.

It is very easy to label the Wild Things as different aspects of Max's psyche, the various ways he see's the people in his life, so I will save the list. Let's just say that Director Jonze does a tremendous job of not laying the psychology on too thick. The film is more immersive and observant than sharp or incisive about Max's mind.

Where the Wild Things are is a marvelous revelation of the mind of a child, capturing all the joy, wonder, confusion anger and longing that every child experiences and how the imagination is the most effective way for a child to deal with these developing emotions.

I return to the quote at the top, perception, compassion and hope.

. Max creates these qualities within himself before our eyes in Where the Wild Things are and it is a remarkable thing to see.

Movie Review Hamlet 2

Hamlet 2 (2008) 

Directed by Andrew Fleming

Written by Andrew Fleming 

Starring Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler, David Arquette, Elisabeth Shue 

Release Date August 22nd, 2008

Published August 22nd, 2008

Since his splashy stateside debut as Alan Partridge in the indie hit 24 Hour Party People I have been left waiting for Steve Coogan to become a big star. His latest, Hamlet 2, was expected to be the launching pad. Unfortunately, a funny idea takes too long to get going and a flimsy, flailing effort only comes together for a few big chuckles at the end, after most of the audience has already checked out.

Dana Marsh (Steve Coogan) wanted to be an actor and for a time he was in a number of commercials. Unfortunately, his career never took off and now he finds himself teaching theater at a high school in Tucson Arizona. There his musical stagings of Hollywood movies like Erin Brockovich are universally panned by audiences, especially the whip smart freshman drama critic Noah (Shea Pepe).

When he is assigned a group of students whose other classes have been canceled by budget cuts, Dana has to come up with a way to reach them. Inspired by the young critic to write something of his own, Dana crafts Hamlet 2 and the students have a full on production to mount. The students take quite readily to the bizarre, offensive production, yes a sequel to the Bard's classic, co-starring Jesus and a time machine.

The description is unfortunately, funnier than the movie itself. Directed by Andrew Fleming, Hamlet 2 flails about for the first two thirds, finding only a few laughs here and there. Especially unfunny are the brief looks at Dana's personal life where Catherine Keener essays the least interesting performance of her career.

In the last third of Hamlet 2 things actually pick up. With the personal story shuffled off the stage, we get down to this ludicrous, ballsy, utterly offensive play and some actual laughs arrive. With Jesus and his time machine bringing Hamlet back to life and rescuing Ophelia before she drowns, as the gay men's choir of Tucson sings "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" the craziness of it all is enough to induce a giggle fit.

Then there is the big musical number. "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" is blasphemy of the highest form but also a jaunty, catchy, high energy pop tune that you cannot get out of your head. Arguably, the best musical moment of any movie in 2008, "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" is everything that Hamlet 2 should be but isn't. The song comes along in the funny final third of Hamlet 2 and those audience members who didn't check out during the sluggish first two thirds will absolutely love it.

If all of Hamlet 2 had the ludicrous, satiric edge of "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" it would be the funniest movie of the year. As it is, it's a slog to get through the first two thirds of Hamlet 2 and that flattens some of the admittedly funny third act. Steve Coogan still has not found the right vehicle to demonstrate his talent. Thankfully, this fall Coogan is mounting a standup comedy tour and a rumored documentary about said tour. Here's hoping this is the form he needs to break out.

Movie Review: The Soloist

The Soloist (2009) 

Directed by Joe Wright 

Written by Susannah Grant 

Starring Robert Downey Jr, Jamie Foxx, Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander

Release Date April 24th, 2009 

Published April 23rd, 2009 

The sound of Beethoven played oddly but beautifully on a violin with just two strings echoed through the stone and steel canyons of Los Angeles and altered the life of journalist Steve Lopez forever. That is the very simply, very basic premise of The Soloist which accumulates the sum of Lopez's real life experiences on the big screen.

In The Soloist Robert Downey Jr plays Steve Lopez as a wounded soul. Literally wounded, when we meet him his is soon flat on his back with an ugly road rash following a bike accident. Subsequently, writing a column about his accident earns Steve the requisite sympathy of his readers and a day of peace from his editor/ex-wife playewd Catherine Keener.

The sympathy lasts about a day before he needs a new story to keep the wolves at bay, The Soloist is set in 2005 but reflects the modern newspaper business. Lopez finds his next big story in Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr (Jamie Foxx) a street musician battling schizophrenia. Encountering Nathaniel playing a two string violin and hearing him mention something about Julliard, Lopez's reporter instints are awakened.

Indeed, Nathaniel did attend Julliard in 1970 but dropped out when mental illness began to take hold. The story Lopez writes inspires people wanting to help Nathaniel. One older woman sends along her old Cello for Lopez to give to Nathaniel. This keeps Steve returning to Nathaniel's life and slowly finding himself compelled to take responsibility for him even as he himself is not one who has been successful with relationships of any kind.

Directed by Joe Wright, Oscar nominated for Atonement, The Soloist tends to underline points a little too much. With Steve's bike accident one can infer the hand of the director placing Steve's scarred emotional state on Steve's face to make sure we get a visual of how Steve feels inside, scarred.

Much of Jamie Foxx's Nathaniel act is pitched to the classic magic negro stereotype. That is the type where a salt of the earth black man helps a well off white man learn a valuable lesson. That may be a little simple and slightly unfair given the non-fiction nature of The Soloist but it is no less there.

Jamie Foxx does his best to fight off the typicalities of the stereotype role and I did love his commitment to showing Nathaniel's tortured psyche and how music briefly chased away the voices but, as I said, Director Joe Wright cannot resist underlining even the most well communicated point or unceasing cliche and Foxx is undercut by that approach.

The Soloist is for the most part about Robert Downey Jr. and his continuing to grow as a star. Downey has always been talented but as he showed in Iron Man, Downey has that kind of 'what will he do next' charisma that makes you want to follow his next move.

The Steve Lopez played by Downey doesn't need road rash to communicate his wounded soul. Downey conveys psychic wound with effortless ease. Watch Downey resist Foxx's Nathaniel. Watch him sense a good story but have to force himself to remain only an observer and how that approach has hampered each and every relationship in his life.

So much of what Downey does is not in the screenplay but rather in his manner, in his eyes. One is left to wonder if Joe Wright saw what I saw or not. Judging from the way Wright underlines even the quiet, subtle moments of Downey's performance, I guess not.

The Soloist is in many ways exceptional, especially in the performance of Robert Downey Jr, but the proceedings are too often bogged down by Joe Wright's need to make sure the audience gets it. It in this case is how uplifting the idea of Steve Lopez helping Nathaniel Ayers is and how brave Nathaniel is in attempting to make a life for himself through music and despite his illness. We get it Joe. We get it.

See it for Downey Jr, if you're a fan.

Movie Review Synechdoche, New York

Synechdoche, New York (2008) 

Directed by Charlie Kaufman

Written by Charlie Kaufman

Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Samathan Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener

Release Date October 24th, 2008 

Published November 7th, 2009

Some movies piss off as many audience members as they enchant. That was certainly the case with Fellini whose masturbatory explorations of his own wild mind kept him a cult favorite in America though a hero in Italy. Charlie Kaufman may want to see if the Italians find his work interesting. Kaufman's film Synecdoche, New York is rather Fellini-esque in the way the director goes all internal, walking around in his own weird imagination, but without Fellini's affinity for circus performers and other such absurdities.

Synecdoche, New York stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a hypochondriac playwright trapped in a bad marriage. Catherine Keener, always Kaufman's idea of the castrating female, plays Hoffman's wife with the requisite disdain for the male gender. Keener's character has barely tolerated her husband for years but he has hardly noticed. 

Together they have a daughter who carries equal parts of dad's hypochondria and mom's disdain. At work, Hoffman has a sweet flirtation with a box office worker played by Samantha Morton who, despite a mousy appearance, has an outward sexuality. The straight forward aspect of Kaufman's screenplay ends when Keener takes the kid and splits for Germany. She claims she'll be back but she never returns. From here Synecdoche, New York turns from the story of a sad sack writer into an exploration of this man's psyche.

We are never clued into the change of setting from the suburbs of New York City to Hoffman's frontal lobe but it's not that difficult to figure out if you are willing. Some viewers will not be so willing. When a seemingly random whim finds Morton's character purchasing a house that is on fire and will remain so for the next 40 years, many in the audience will get irretrievably irritated and give up.

It's not an entirely unreasonable reaction. Hoffman's character goes on to win unlimited funding to put on the play of his choice and begins a play in a giant stadium like building that becomes a play within a play within a play about Hoffman's life putting on a play within a play within a play. At one time Hoffman hires actors to play himself and another actor to play that actor playing him. You can see where some would grow tired of this. I did not. As I watched Synecdoche, New York I found myself becoming enrapt in Kaufman's endless self investigation.

The repeated ways in which Kaufman explores his fears, fantasies and obsessions is almost hypnotic in its oddity. I say his fears, fantasies and obsessions because the playwright is clearly a stand-in for Kaufman whose fascination with the exploration of the mind has run through each of his scripts, most obviously in Being John Malkovich where characters literally went inside the mind of the Oscar winning Malkovich.

Synecdoche, New York won me over with the ways in which Kaufman so nakedly explores his own mind. The honesty, hidden behind the play within a play blah, blah, blah, aesthetic is stunning and it stays with you long after you watch the movie. Indeed, even those who come away irritated by Synecdoche, New York likely won't be able to shake it for a few days. Some may even find themselves moving from baffled and disturbed to appreciating the movie. That's powerful work. Synecdoche, New York is a powerful movie experience.

Movie Review: Cyrus

Cyrus (2010) 

Directed by Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass

Written by Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass

Starring John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener

Release Date June 18th, 2010 

Published July 4th, 2010 

John (John C. Reilly) is the consummate modern lonely guy in Cyrus. We meet him when his ex-wife, and unfortunately, his only friend, Jamie (Catherine Keener), catches him furiously pleasuring himself to internet pornography. This may not be the first time this has happened as instead of running away forever, Jamie stays to tell John she is getting married.

Jamie then forces John to attend a party the following night with her and her new soon to be hubby (Matt Walsh). With their encouragement John grows increasingly drunk and pathetic until finally he is caught peeing in the bushes outside the party. Thankfully, this latest humiliation is saved by Molly (Marisa Tomei) who, instead of being horrified by John's drunken behavior, somehow finds it charming. She saves him again a few moments later from a serious party foul and even has the guts to sleep with the guy.

Is Molly some kind human Lottery ticket ready to pay off with unending patience, warmth and understanding? It sure seems that way until the all too smitten John meets Molly's 22 year old son Cyrus who still lives at home and, as John quickly discovers, shares an entirely unwholesome intimacy with his mommy. No, there is no sex involved but when he seems to join her in the shower while John waits in the bedroom, the discomfort is of a creepy sexual fashion.

”Cyrus” is a comedy that thrives on discomfort for the characters and the audience. Our sympathy for John has a healthy layer of pity. Our feelings for Cyrus are more fearful than pitying, the way one regards a man on a bus mumbling under his breath. Cyrus may look harmless but his particular affectations are more than a little terrifying as is the way far too many people have grown used to it and are better able and willing to overlook it. 

From the character perspective you cannot help but find “Cyrus” effective, you feel everything these characters project in a painfully awkward fashion. The directors, Mark and Jay Duplass (Baghead, The Puffy Chair) attempt to mimic the awkwardness of their characters in their film style to far less effect. The style is, I'm told, mumblecore and in this incarnation it is a lazy mishmash of digital handheld photography and a script left mostly blank; supposedly for improvisation but more likely out of a general, hope for the best, negligence.

Thus my personal conundrum; do I like “Cyrus” or not? I'm not sure. I'm no fan of the film style but these characters, as assembled by this top notch cast, are undeniably effective even at their most repellent. John C. Reilly's pathetic sad sack develops astonishing romantic chemistry with Marisa Tomei's warmhearted savior.

And then there is Jonah Hil as Cyrus, a role that is as repellent as it is intended. You know Hill is effective when his Cyrus actually renders Tomei's mommy character unattractive, a feet of Herculean creepiness. This is easily Hill's most challenging role to date and he rises to the challenge allowing Cyrus to be something more than merely frightening, like some low budget horror creep with mommy issues, but a more complexly off-putting type. 

Now, before you accuse me of wanting every movie to look and feel the same, let me state that I have no issue with Mumblecore as a whole. Rather, I just have yet to see this style be effective on screen beyond being merely different. There is something highly pretentious in this low budget movement, as if it were trying to shame us all for enjoying movies with bigger budgets and better known filmmakers.

A great cast in a not so great movie, “Cyrus” is oddest disappointment of 2010.

Movie Review Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Lightning Thief (2010) 

Directed by Chris Columbus

Written by Craig Titley 

Starring Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Catherine Keener, Uma Thurman 

Release Date February 12th, 2010

Published February 11th, 2010 

All Percy Jackson needs is a little forehead scar to complete the shadow of Harry Potter that lurks all throughout this unexceptional effort to craft another teen appeal sequel machine. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, based on a popular series of novels from an author achingly jealous of the millions raked in by J.K Rowling, even goes so far as to hire former Potter director Chris Columbus just to make sure you don't miss the connection.

Logan Lerman is the titular Percy Jackson, a gap model good looking kid rendered a nerd for the purpose of making him relatable. As we join the story Percy and his pal Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) are sitting by the pool waiting for the plot to kick in. When it finally does, Percy finds out that he is a demi-god, the long abandoned son of the god Poseidon (Kevin McKidd from TV's Grey's Anatomy).

This is revealed to Percy after one of his teacher’s morphs into a bat-winged demon and tries to kill him for stealing Zeus's lightning bolt. Zeus is played by that master of stern blandness Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings). Zeus's bolt is the most powerful force in the universe and somehow he has allowed it to be stolen by a kid who can hardly pass a 10th grade lit class. This does not speak well of the Gods.

The embarrassment and anger is likely to lead to a war of the gods unless Percy, Grover and Percy's assigned love interest, fellow demi-god Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), can find the bolt and the thief and return them to Mt. Olympus which for tourism purposes is located in the Empire State Building.

At least J.K Rowling had the inventiveness to create her own world from scratch in Harry Potter, Percy Jackson rips the work of hundreds of years for its remarkably dull characters. Drawing on centuries of stories about the gods and their offspring, the story of Percy Jackson as adapted by Craig Titley from Rick Riordan's unexceptional book series, manages to be dull about characters with unlimited powers and astonishing back stories.

Then again, this is only the introduction. Percy Jackson is set to be a film series and thus all that is required here is a primer on Percy and the other lead characters including the aforementioned gods, best friend, love interest and Pierce Brosnan as, arguably, the most dignified half-man half horse in film history.

Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on Percy Jackson, the Olympians and the lightning thief. It is, like so many modern studio features, merely a sequel machine meant to pump out just enough plot for us to come back next time. Why should anyone really ask anymore from a film with such a limited goal?

Sure, J.K Rowling and her film partners have taken her work and enhanced and enriched it on screen with each subsequent film to the point where the film work is as grand as or even grander than it is on the page. But why should every movie have to have such aspiration, especially when modern audiences don't seem to require that much hard work.

Ah, Percy; for a compromised rip-off teen friendly franchise you're not so bad.

Movie Review Simone

Simone (2002) 

Directed by Andrew Niccol 

Written by Andrew Niccol 

Starring Al Pacino, Catherine Keener, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jay Mohr

Release Date August 23rd, 2002

Published August 26th, 2002 

The question of computer-generated actors is a very recent one. It began just last year, with the computer animated Final Fantasy, a colossal failure. It will soon be put to the test to bring Bruce Lee back from the dead. In the new Andrew Niccol satire Simone the topic is spun comedically though with an actual actress portraying the so-called synthespian.

Al Pacino is struggling director Viktor Taransky, whose last three pictures have bombed. His new film is to be his comeback until his temperamental leading lady (played by Winona Ryder) walks of the picture, leaving Viktor unable to complete the film. The head of the studio, who is also Viktor's ex wife, shelves his film and kicks him off the lot.

While packing up, Viktor is accosted by a mad scientist who claims he has solved Viktor's problem with overly temperamental actors. The scientist (Elias Koteas in a cameo) claims he has created an entirely CGI actress. Taransky doesn't believe him, but after the scientist dies and leaves Viktor the computer program, he discovers the scientist wasn't kidding and Simone is created. Viktor uses Simone to complete his film and she is a huge success. She quickly becomes a huge star but her fame grows out of control and soon Viktor begins too lose his grip on his creation.

A guarded secret during the film’s production was the identity of the actress laying the computer simulation, her name is Rachel Stevens and she is fantastic. Though one of the film’s drawbacks is she isn't called on to do very much. I spent most of the film wanting to see more of Simone.

The film has some biting satire of the nature of celebrity and Hollywood in general, however the film never really comes together. Director Andrew Niccol, the man wrote The Truman Show and directed the film Gattaca here combines element of both those films which give the film a strong base but no general direction. Director Niccol never really figures out what point he is trying to make.

Pacino for his part is game; he doesn't get enough credit for his sense of humor. Simone though doesn't have enough humor. What it does have is very funny but it's not enough for the film’s 2 hour plus runtime and by the end it completely runs out of steam. The ending is extremely unsatisfying and undoes a lot what the film had accomplished until then. It's not a bad film but best to wait till it's on the shelf at blockbuster. 

Movie Review: An American Crime

An American Crime (2007) 

Directed by Tommy O'Haver

Written by Tommy O'Haver, Irene Turner

Starring Elliott Page, Catherine Keener, Hayley McFarland, Ari Graynor, James Franco

Release Date January 19th, 2007

Published January 15th, 2007 

There is a delicate balance at play in An American Crime. At once there is a need to demonstrate the abuse heaped upon the unfortunate young woman at the story's center. On the other hand, you risk losing the audience if you dwell or linger on the girl's suffering. Writer-Director Tommy O'Haver takes a just the facts, scholarly approach that does well not to linger but in the end fails to connect emotionally beyond  the simple demonstration of human suffering.

Sylvia Likens (Elliott Page) was by all accounts a pious, devoted young woman who loved her mom and dad and little sister and never harmed a soul.  When she and her sister Jennie (Hayley McFarland) were left in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski (Catherine Keener) it was thought that they would be there just a few months while their parents made their way around the carny circuit.

Three months turned to four and five and though their parents paid Gertrude 20 dollars a month to care for their daughters, that didn't prevent Gertrude from taking out her many problems on young Sylvia. Initially, Sylvia had bonded with Gertrude's oldest daughter Paula (Ari Graynor) but when they had a falling out, the abuse began. Sylvia is blamed for all of Paula's troubles and soon finds herself the subject of inhuman abuses.

Director Tommy O'Haver presents An American Crime with an almost documentary seriousness. Managing the delicate balance of not wanting to revel in Sylvia's pain but needing to demonstrate it, O'Haver retreats often to a courtroom setting where former West Wing star Bradley Whitford is prosecuting Gertrude for Sylvia's abuse.

The court room set allows O'Haver to keep some of the abuse in description rather than having to show too much. The courtroom scenes are based on actual court records, giving authenticity to the scenes and an extra little emotional punch when you see Gertrude's young son Lester (Nick Searcy) describe not just his mother's abuse of Sylvia but also his own. Searcy's sincere, unapologetic recounting of events is chilling.

Oscar nominee Elliott Page continues to seek the anti-Juno, a role that won't remind people of her indelible, fast talking, pop spewing pregnant teen. An American Crime is certainly far from Juno. Unfortunately, it also lacks Juno's ability to connect emotionally. Page's Sylvia is really nothing more than a demonstrative device. We watch as she is abused and we connect as we would with any child being abused but nothing beyond that. An American Crime fails to deepen the tragedy by giving us a character we really bond with.

The same sense of demonstration over connection affects the performance of Catherine Keener. Like Page we witness her actions but we don't connect with them specifically. We know this is a tragic situation and that Gertrude is a bad person but what led her this way? What made Gertrude commit such a heinous crime? An American Crime is good at demonstrating the crime but doesn't venture to guess why the crime took place.

It has to be more than just Gertrude decided to destroy this beautiful young girl. Was she sick? Was she abused? Did Sylvia do something that set off the situation? There is obviously no justification for the crime that was committed but something motivated this crime and failing to ascribe some motivation to it is a dramatic failure.

Near the end of American Crime there is a device employed by director O'Haver that can fairly be called a cheat or merely O'Haver screwing with the audience. I won't go into the details because it may be a mystery to some who see it, but I was irritated by it. It comes down to a series of seemingly important scenes that turn out to be the director's way of filling time and creating false drama.

If An American Crime was so unfilmable that this device was necessary to invent and inject some drama into the movie, don't make the movie. The crime seems compelling enough to me. The device employed is an unnecessary screw job to the audience.

An American Crime is based on a true story from Indiana in the 1960's. At the time it was the single worst documented case of child abuse in American history. The prosecution of Gertrude was a national story and today would likely be the subject of endless Nancy Grace hours and CNN specials. Writer-director Tommy O'Haver connects with this story better than our drive by media likely would but not by much.

His scholarly chronicling of the crime and word for word courtroom reenactments are better suited to the documentary feature than to the dramatic movie. His approach is too distant. Without the ability to get closer to these characters we are merely left as after the fact witnesses to the demonstration of pain and suffering.

Movie Review: Death to Smoochy

Death to Smoochy (2002) 

Directed by Danny Devito

Written by Adan Resnick 

Starring Edward Norton, Robin Williams, Catherine Keener, Jon Stewart, Pam Ferris

Release Date March 29th, 2002

Published March 28th, 2002

I'm not one of those people who harbor a visceral hatred for kids show hosts. Frankly if you feel the need to, even jokingly, take the life of one of the Teletubbies, you need to examine your anger issues. Nonetheless if you are one of the degenerates who sign online petitions to have Barney drawn and quartered, you may be just the audience for Death To Smoochy.

Smoochy is, at first, the story of kid’s show icon Rainbow Randall. On TV, Randall is a paragon of childish virtue and off-screen he is a boozing, drugging womanizer who makes cash under the table selling prime space on his show for parents who want their kid on TV. After the IRS catches up to Randall, he loses his show and eventually his mind. Enter Sheldon Mopes AKA Smoochy the Rhino played by Edward Norton. Smoochy is a good-hearted vegetarian who spends his free time performing his unusual kid’s songs at methadone clinics. After being discovered by a TV executive played by Catherine Keener Smoochy moves onto primetime TV and becomes the sick obsession of Randall.

There are also subplots involving Jon Stewart's network executive and Danny Devito's talent agent conspiring with an evil charity organization to put on an ice show and something to do with Irish mobsters. Honestly once you get to the mobsters, the film has become so incoherent you don't care why they are in the movie. There are a few funny moments in Smoochy, especially Norton's weird and creepy kids songs that I pray are on the film’s soundtrack. Also, the film’s ice show climax is so amazingly elaborate and over the top it almost saves the picture.

Unfortunately those moments lack the proper context to be truly funny, and the films narrative structure, or lack thereof, ruins any of the films remaining comic potential.

Though Norton and Williams are funny, the supporting performances are not, especially Keener whose innate intelligence renders her unable to sell the film’s broadly comic setups. In the end, Death To Smoochy is an occasionally funny mess that wants to be a dark comedy, but turns out to be just plain dark.

Movie Review Please Give

Please Give (2010) 

Directed by Nicole Holofcener 

Written by Nicole Holofcener 

Starring Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt 

Release Date April 30th, 2010 

Published August 12th, 2010 

Writer-Director Nicole Holofcener “Please Give” is one of the best movies of 2010. This wonderfully warm, human drama/comedy about people struggling to better themselves and connect with others, striving and failing and striving again is so relatable and revealing of not just its characters but its audience it should be taught in humanities classes.

Katherine Keener, star of all of Me. Holofcener's movies, stars in “Please Give” as Cathy, the proprietor of a furniture store that specializes in buying the furniture of dead people from grieving families who don't realize the value of what they are selling. Naturally, there is a little bit of guilt attached to this ghoulish profession, guilt that is compounded by another ghoulish enterprise in her life.

Cathy and her husband Alex have purchased the apartment next door to their own, an apartment that is currently inhabited by Andra (Ann Guilbert) a 90 something year old woman in not so great health. Cathy and Alex are essentially waiting for the old woman to kick off so they can knock down a wall and expand their space. Cathy feels horrible about this and her guilt is again compounded by Andra's doting granddaughter Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) who in her standoffishness tacitly calls out Cathy's ghoulishness.

Cathy attempts to alleviate her guilt by becoming a volunteer. She tries helping out at a retirement home and is overcome by the sadness of people waiting to die. She tries helping out kids with autism and again she is overwhelmed. In a powerful scene that defies description of its emotional power Keener breaks your heart, hiding in a bathroom stall. It's one of a number of small moments that make Please Give so remarkable.

Parallel to Cathy's story is Rebecca's story. Lonely and sad, Rebecca waits on her unappreciative granny and watches the world go by. Rebecca's sister Mary (Amanda Peet) is far less circumspect in relation to grandma, dismissing the old woman and callously waits for the old woman to croak so that she can be done with the whole thing.

Peet has a masterfully awkward scene when she, Rebecca and grandma are invited over to Cathy and Alex's apartment for dinner. Peet's indelicate questions about just what renovations will happen in the apartment once grandma is gone, right in front of grandma, make for dark humor and set Peet up for scenes later in the film that will resonate deeper. You can assume that she will be humiliated and redeemed but you must see these scenes to truly get the impact.

Much of “Please Give” defies a basic description. The acting is so wonderfully subtle and un-dramatic. The shifts in tone come in glances and nods and not in emotional breakdowns and obvious speeches. There is nothing wrong with a good monologue, mind you, but the material in “Please Give” doesn't call for it, even when you might be expecting it. Nicole Holofcener's amazing talent in “Please Give” is recognizing exactly what each scene needs on a basic dramatic level and allowing the actors space to give the perfunctory something beyond the words. With a cast this brilliant it makes Holofcener's gift seem minimal but it's more that it just doesn't play as obvious.

Catherine Keener and Rebecca Hall deliver Oscar quality performances in “Please Give.” In her longing to be a better person, her faults and her failures, Keener finds a place she's never been before on screen. Rebecca Hall stuns in “Please Give” with her remarkable vulnerability. The notes that Hall plays in “Please Give” are delicate and graceful and far more intricate than I can describe. So much of “Please Give” is subtle and minimalist and should be left to you as a viewer to discover. I will merely say again that “Please Give” is one of the best movies of 2010 and urge you to seek it out.

Movie Review The 40 Year Old Virgin

The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) 

Directed by Judd Apatow 

Written by Judd Apatow, Steve Carell 

Starring Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Romany Malco, Catherine Keener 

Release Date August 19th, 2005 

Published August 18th, 2005 

The vanguard of TV writing is now headed for the big screen in big ways. J.J Abrams the creator of "Alias" is directing the next Mission Impossible film. Joss Whedon the creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and the underground hit, "Firefly", has Serenity in theaters in September and is soon to tackle Wonder Woman. First up, however, is television's most under-appreciated comedy writer, Judd Apatow.

In two network series, "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared", Judd Apatow has had two of the most critically beloved and audience ignored series in history. Two extraordinarily witty and charming shows about growing up and not growing up. Both shows can now be seen as warm ups for Mr. Apatow's switch to big screen comedy in The 40 Year-Old Virgin, another witty and charming story of arrested development.

Steve Carell stars as the title virgin, Andy Stitzer. Andy lives in perpetual teenager-hood. Living amongst his action figures and video games and riding a bike to work, Andy barely even looks his age. At work Andy is the subject of derision and beliefs that he may be a serial killer. When his co-workers, Dave (Paul Rudd), Cal (Seth Rogan) and Jay (Romany Malco) invite Andy to play poker with them, the conversation quickly turns to sex and Andy is outed as a virgin despite his best efforts to the contrary. The trio seem less than sincerely sympathetic to Andy's plight, but eventually they do try and help Andy to relative degrees of success.

Each of Andy's new friends has some very... interesting advice that works in weird ways but almost always to Andy's detriment. While Dave is pining desperately for an ex-girlfriend he thinks Andy can be helped with a big box of porn. Jay thinks the cure is "drunk bitches" and Cal has a surprisingly effective idea: emulate David Caruso in Jade and women won't be able to resist.

Eventually, despite and not because of his friend's advice, Andy meets a lovely woman named Trish (Catherine Keener).  The two spark an immediate connection and thus begins a romantic plot that is smart and adult even as it is conventional romantic comedy. Carell and Keener are very good together and you have to love the way Keener throws herself into this role. She is an outsider amongst the male ensemble, most of whom have worked together before, yet she fits right in.

Judd Apatow directs 40 Year-Old Virgin with a very steady hand. Very well paced and always clever, at times the film is extraordinarily funny and often very crude but in the funniest ways imaginable. The film earns its R-rating with its language and raunchiness but that is perfectly balanced by the wonderfully sweet romance at the center.

The 40 Year-Old Virgin could have gone entirely wrong were it not for the strong lead performance of Steve Carell. The former "Daily Show" correspondent and star of NBC's doomed "The Office" manages to make Andy's virginity more than just a one-note sex joke. The character could have been a caricature akin to Pee Wee Herman or some other outrageous over the top character who you would believe never had sex. Instead Carell paints a very sympathetic portrait of a shy introverted guy who was just unlucky in his youthful exploits with women.  Andy is never a pawn of the plot or of the characters around him. He is fully formed and totally genuine. The film works because we believe in Andy and we align ourselves with Andy.

The supporting cast of The 40 Year Old Virgin is amazing, especially Paul Rudd who gets more and more outrageous and courageous in every role. Here is a comedic actor of real chops and leading man looks who is willing to completely humiliate himself if it means a big laugh, a rare breed. Romany Malco and Seth Rogan round out the top supporting roles and manage to create fully formed characters with depth and humor. The interplay of the four guys is unforced and familiar and almost always hysterically funny. It's no surprise that they have worked together before and the joy they have working together comes off the screen and affects the audience.

The real revelation of 40 Year-Old Virgin however, is director Judd Apatow who takes his place as one of the leading voices in big screen comedy. In a genre that desperately needs a new voice, Apatow is a sight for sore eyes and ears. His talent for character development and ability to sustain big laughs without having to abandon his plot is something a lot of veteran comedy directors could learn from.

Movie Review Get Out

Get Out (2017) 

Directed by Jordan Peele 

Written by Jordan Peele 

Starring Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener, Stephen Root, Lil Rel 

Release Date February 24th, 2017

Published February 23rd, 2017 

There isn’t much to write about “Get Out,” the new horror-thriller from writer-director Jordan Peele. Not that “Get Out” isn’t brilliant, it is and I am happy to write that. No, I just don’t want to spoil the myriad pleasures of “Get Out” by telling you too much about it. The film’s trailer gives away too much already, a full-scale review would likely only take away from what should be a surprising, shocking, funny, and edgy ride that Jordan Peele has concocted.

“Get Out” stars newcomer Daniel Kaluuya as Chris, a TSA employee and budding photographer who is nervous about the upcoming weekend. Chris is headed to Connecticut to meet his girlfriend’s parents for the first time. This would-be nerve wracking for anyone but Chris has the extra edge of being a young black man who is dating a young white woman, Rose (“Girls” star Allison Williams), who hasn’t told her parents who is coming to dinner.

While Rose assures Chris that her parents won’t care about his ethnicity, Chris’s best friend Rod (Lil Rel Howery, stealing the whole movie) instructs his friend not to go. Putting aside Rod’s seemingly comical warning, Chris loves Rose and figures one weekend in Connecticut won’t kill him. Upon arriving at the Armitage estate, Chris meets the parents, Dean (Bradley Whitford) and Missy (Catherine Keener), each extra awkward in their overly ingratiating, white liberal manner; Dean assures Chris he would have voted for Obama a third time minutes after meeting him. 

Things quickly get weird however when Chris is introduced to the help, Georgina (Betty Gabriel) and Walter (Marcus Henderson). While Chris assumes that fellow black people will make him feel more comfortable, Georgina and Walter are anything but welcoming. In fact, there is something quite menacing in their manner. The pair act and speak like aliens inhabiting the bodies of black people with nothing familiar about them.

I will stop with the plot description there as to avoid any potential spoilers. I can say however that the portrayals of Georgina and Walter are some of the most biting and universal satire we’ve seen in some time. Walter and Georgina implicate all of us from Chris to each member of the audience in the way we expect people to be one way. We expect Georgina and Walter to have familiar, stereotypical traits. We may not know what those traits are specifically but each of us has a model for Georgina and Walter to live into and it is disturbing when they don’t live into it, for us and for Chris.

White liberal guilt is in for quite a workout in “Get Out” as the film takes a few sharps stabs at the ways in which those who don’t consider themselves racist pat ourselves on the backs for the ways we aren’t racist. Newsflash, you are not supposed to be a racist. You don’t get a cookie simply for being better than those who would commit hate crimes. “Get Out” is a perfect jab right to the consciousness of the complacent masses who believe simply having elected a black President has made this a post-racial society.

Don’t be mistaken however, the politics are much subtler and implied in “Get Out” than in the outward example I am giving you here. “Get Out” is first and foremost a horror thriller that uses race as a catalyst. Jordan Peele has said in interviews that he simply wanted to make a movie he’d never seen before and he’s certainly created something original. “Get Out” has horror beats and even a touch of science fiction, often the best genres for subtle satire, but it’s also brilliantly funny, channeling the incredibly sharp wit of its creator.

Again, I don’t want to give anything away about “Get Out.” With that said, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you that Lil Rel Howery steals this whole movie. Howery, a stand-up comedian by trade, is put in place as comic relief but just wait, Peele fills out this character in ways that the Coen Brothers might appreciate. Watching Howery I was reminded, in a rather obscure way, of John Goodman’s Walter in “The Big Lebowski.” You will need to see the movie to understand why I say that and probably need to be a huge Coen Brothers fan as well, nevertheless, Howery deserves the praise of the comparison.

“Get Out” ranks next to “Split” as one of the best movies I have seen in the last 12 months. That each has arrived so early in 2017 is a wonder, we usually aren’t this well spoiled so early in the year. Usually, the first two months of any year Hollywood clears the shelves of the dreck they are contractually obligated to release. Does this mean 2017 will be better than any other year? No, but at the very least we have two early masterworks to enjoy for the rest of the year. 

Movie Review Full Frontal

Full Frontal (2002) 

Directed by Steven Soderbergh 

Written by Steven Soderbergh 

Starring David Duchovny, Julia Roberts, Blair Underwood, Nicky Katt, Catherine Keener

Release Date August 2nd, 2002 

Published August 1st, 2002 

Whenever a director tries to do something that is stylistically or thematically different from the Hollywood norm, he or she is to be commended. Even when that effort is a failure. Movies as varied as Hal Hartley’s monster fantasy No Such Thing and Todd Solondz’s multilayered Storytelling are examples of filmmakers on the edge and falling over. Director Steven Soderbergh, much like his indie brethren, made his movie Full Frontal with great ambition. Unfortunately for all the style, there is no substance.

A film about the interconnected lives of Los Angelinos in various levels of the entertainment industry, Full Frontal stars Julia Roberts because hers is the biggest name in the credits. In reality it’s supposed to be an ensemble, but I dare anyone to watch it without thinking of what Julia’s character is doing when she’s not on screen.

Blair Underwood, best known for TV’s "L.A. Law," plays an actor in a movie in which he plays an actor. Roberts is Underwood’s co-star in the movie. Underwood’s struggling actor is carrying on an affair with the wife of one of his writing partners. Catherine Keener is the wife and David Hyde Pierce the partner.

Underwood’s other partner is played by Enrico Colantoni. His character is also an actor and director, currently working on a play called The Sound and The Fuhrer. The play is a modernist take on Hitler, imagine Hitler as played hysterically by Nicky Katt, as a self involved artist who breaks up with Eva Braun because he has too much stress at work and doesn’t have time to give her proper facetime. Hitler needs his space. Katt gives the film's funniest performance in the film's least necessary subplot.

Actually there would have to be a plot for there to be a subplot. Steven Soderbergh created Full Frontal as an exercise in style and acting virtuosity. Unfortunately he forgot to give the actors a plot to focus their seemingly improvised dialogue. Occasionally the improv works for some laughs but more often it’s almost scatological, actors with no focal point simply pontificating until they can find an interesting insight or humorous observation, each of which are few and far between.

Full Frontal has the feel of an unedited film school project, with an experimental director instructing self involved actors to be more self conscious. It might make for an interesting exercise but not a very entertaining movie.