Movie Review: The Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux (2009) 

Directed by Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen

Written by Gary Ross

Starring Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson, Dustin Hoffman, Robbie Coltrane

Release Date December 19th, 2008

Published December 22nd, 2008

The Tale of Despereuax is a Newberry award winning children's book now transported to the big screen. You know how they say the book is always better than the movie? I've never read The Tale of Despereaux but I am willing to bet it's better than the snoozefest movie version.

Matthew Broderick gives voice to Despereaux a mouse who is very different than the rest. Mice are supposed to cower in fear and run from... everything. Not Despereaux. His days are spent reading books about knights and bravery and being a gentleman and saving princesses and this has given him the courage to be more than just another mouse.

Searching the castle where his family and friends live under the stairs, Despereaux meets Princess Pea (Emma Watson). The sad young princess takes a shine to the brave little mouse who makes it his quest to turn things around in the sad kingdom.

A dark cloud has hung over the country since the Queen died. She died during the annual soup festival when a rat dropped into her soup and scared her to death. That rat was Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman) who now lives in the sub basement with a group of disgusting scavenging rats lead by  Botticelli (Ciaran Hinds). Roscuro lives everyday hoping he could someday apologize to the princess.

If that sounds like a pretty big downer well, it plays like one. Despereaux the character is fun but the sadness around him and the gloom topped off with some serious weirdness; that includes a character made entirely of vegetables, makes The Tale of Despereaux depressing and off putting.

This is one exceptional voice cast from Broderick to Hoffman to Sigourney Weaver as the soft toned narrator. But the best voicework in the world cannot rescue a story that is as unpleasant as the vermin who make up the cartoon cast.

Movie Review Kung Fu Panda 2

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) 

Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Written by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger 

Starring Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman

Release Date May 26th, 2011

Published May 26th, 2011

I long ago discovered that the best thing about the job of film critic is being surprised. It's also the rarest occurrence in the job. Rarely do movies, especially big time, mainstream blockbusters, surprise people whose job it is to write about movies. "Kung Fu Panda 2" surprised me in a big way. The animation, the story and the laughs were each an astonishing improvement over the original.

Roly Poly Kung Fu Master

Jack Black once again provides the voice of Po the panda aka The Dragon Warrior. Now the leader of the vaunted furious five, including Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross) Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Mantis (Seth Rogen), Po is still a roly poly panda but now he's great at kung fu.

There is still much for Po to learn however, as Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) explains; Po now must learn inner peace. Lately, Po has been troubled by nightmares that may actually be memories of his past. Never having known his real parents, Po is suddenly becoming aware of what happened to them and how he ended up in the care of Mr. Ping (James Hong).

A Warrior of Black and White

The key to Po's past happens to coincide deeply with the rise of a new villain in China, a peacock named Shen (Gary Oldman). With his new weapon against Kung Fu, Shen intends to enslave all of China but an old soothsayer (Michelle Yeoh) has predicted his doom at the hands of a warrior of black and white.

Simple Yet Complex

I'll end my plot description there to avoid spoilers. Surprisingly, the creators of "Kung Fu Panda 2" have crafted a plot that requires discretion on the part of critics because the plot has complexity and payoffs that are much more enjoyable the less you know going in. Most kids movies forgo such complications but "Kung Fu Panda 2" writers Jonathan Aibel and Glen Berger along with director Jennifer Yuh have pulled off the remarkably difficult task of crafting a plot that is simple enough for kids to follow yet complex enough to involve adults.

The animation has great depth as well as director Yuh combines modern CG animation with touches of old school, Disney style animation. Avoid the 3D version of "Kung Fu Panda 2" and you will be rewarded with bright, beautiful colors that pop off of the screen in far more dazzling ways than a murky 3D image can deliver.

Kung Fu Panda 2 is Very Funny

I should also mention that "Kung Fu Panda 2" is really funny on top of being an involving story. Jack Black wonderfully inhabits Po and the energy and excitement he brings to each line of dialogue is terrific. What he brings to "Kung Fu Panda 2" that was lacking in the original is a slight touch of sensitivity in his voice that really nails the few really dramatic moments of "Kung Fu Panda 2."

There I go again, selling short comedies. Honestly, "Kung Fu Panda 2" is first and foremost a funny kid's movie. The creators have this time merely added a little sophistication to the storytelling, deepened the character of Po and crafted a back story with real resonance that could sustain yet another sequel.

Dreamworks Animation's Best Movie Yet

"Kung Fu Panda 2" is a wonderful movie. Director Jennifer Yuh and her team have given such careful attention to detail and nuance that they have crafted something far better than you could ever expect of a blockbuster sequel. "Kung Fu Panda 2" is funny and sweet with a big heart and a few honestly moving dramatic moments that recall the best of classic Disney and Pixar animated features and may be the best animated feature thus far crafted by the team at Dreamworks Animation, topping even their delightful "How To Train Your Dragon."

Movie Review Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda (2008) 

Directed by John Stevenson, Mark Osborne

Written by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger 

Starring Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross

Release Date June 6th, 2008

Published June 6th, 2008

With his mischievous eyes and roli poli-ness, Jack Black is like a super cute cartoon character come to life. Real fans know there is an edge to Jables, especially teamed with his pal Kay Gee, but for the little one who knows him from School of Rock and his voicework as the wimpy shark in A Shark's Tale, he is a figure of comic cuddliness.

Who better than to play a giant, cuddly furball who dreams of kung fu glory. In Kung Fu Panda Jack Black stars as Po. As a panda he is not the most likely kung fu master. Nevertheless, when a legendary kung fu master declares that he will, after decades of wait, name the dragon warrior, the master who brings peace to all of China, it is no mistake that Po somehow is the panda for the job.

This despite the presence of the Furious Five, a collection of the greatest warriors in all of China, all trained endlessly for decades by the legendary master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman). Surely Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Snake (Lucy Liu), Crane (David Cross) or Mantis (Seth Rogan), should be the dragon master.

But no, it's Po and his first great challenge is just days away. The evil Tai Lung (Ian McShane) has escaped from prison and is coming for the dragon warrior. Can Po learn decades worth of Kung Fu in a couple of days or will he give in to his usual laziness and leave the fighting to the Furious Five? You now the answer to that question. Luckily, Kung Fu Panda has other virtues to make it appealing beyond the predictable story. Filled with terrific cartoon slapstick and a terrific all star voice cast Kung Fu Panda is breezy, good natured fun.

Yes, it lacks the kind of intellectual and emotional undercurrents that make the Pixar films so wonderfully memorable and it doesn't have the strong social conscience of March's Horton Hears A Who. What Kung Fu Panda lacks in depth and intellect it nearly makes up for in sweet, child-like good nature.

You and your kids aren't likely to remember Kung Fu Panda long after you see it but while it's on it's a pleasant distraction; perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon matinee.

Movie Review Little Fockers

Little Fockers (2010) 

Directed by Paul Weitz

Written by John Hamburg, Larry Stuckey

Starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Blythe Danner, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Owen Wilson, Teri Polo

Release Date December 22nd, 2010 

Published December 23rd, 2010 

What a difference a good director makes. Director Jay Roach took the thin concept of a man meeting his girlfriend's parents for the first time and mined it for bigger laughs than were likely in the script. Stretching that thin concept for a sequel about meeting the boyfriend's parents, Roach again found laughs that other directors might not have found.

Unfortunately, for fans of “Meet the Parents” and “Meet the Fockers,” Jay Roach could see that the premise was played out and while producers pushed for “Little Fockers,” aka ‘Meet the Kids,’ the one director who might have been able to find the funny in this idea dropped out. Picking up the scraps is director Paul Weitz (American Pie) who, though not untalented, fails in every way to find something funny in vomit, booger and erectile dysfunction jokes.

When last we left the Byrnes Family Circle of Trust Gaylord 'Greg' Focker (Ben Stiller) had married Pam Byrnes and the two were expecting a child. Well, it turns out they were expecting twins and five years later, Grandpa Jack (Robert De Niro), Grandma Dina (Blythe Danner) and Focker grandparents Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) and Roz (Barbra Streisand) are coming to Chicago for a birthday party.

Meanwhile, at work Greg has been promoted to head of nursing, a gig that comes with the added bonus of a sexy drug rep named Andi (Jessica Alba) who wants to pay Greg big bucks to be a paid medical spokesman for a new erectile dysfunction drug. Andi, last name Garcia, yes that joke gets old real fast, also has a huge crush on Greg that plays out with humiliating complications and misunderstandings.

Also back for this third outing is Kevin (Owen Wilson), Pam's ex who still carries a torch for her as evidenced by a tattoo on his lower back that is one of the few gags that actually plays to big laughs in “Little Fockers.” And speaking of Little Fockers, this movie is supposed to be about the newest additions to the Focker clan. Sadly, the twins played by Daisy Tahan and Colin Baiocchi are poorly used characters who don't really become part of the action.

The Little Fockers are merely set pieces in Paul Weitz's poorly conceived plot which is  just a series of tasteless jokes and dopey misunderstandings that sometimes payoff and sometimes don't. Take Alba's drug rep for instance. One minute she is seducing Greg, in arguably the saddest moment of Jessica Alba's career, yes likely even worse than “Good Luck Chuck,” the next minute she is out of the movie with little explanation or payoff.

Two other well known actors are also marched out on screen for a moment and can consider themselves lucky to have narrowly escaped the humiliation heaped upon Ms. Alba. Harvey Keitel plays the desperately underwritten role of Greg's crooked home contractor and he plays the role solely so he and Mr. De Niro, his longtime friend and “Mean Streets” co-star can have one meaningless stare down.

Poor Laura Dern is dropped into an even less interesting and poorly fleshed out role as the head of an exclusive private school. The school is called the Little Human Academy and apparently director Paul Weitz thought that the phrase ‘Little Humans’ was funny enough that he didn't bother to include any other notable jokes for Dern, Stiller or De Niro to play in the school scenes.

Dustin Hoffman meanwhile, did not want to return for “Little Fockers.” In fact, according to sources, shooting on “Little Fockers” was five days from complete when a deal was struck for the Oscar winner to reprise his role as Bernie Focker with re-shoots needed to shoehorn Bernie into the story with embarrassing results for the poor editing team tasked with forcing Hoffman into the movie.

Embarrassing is the operative word for all of “Little Fockers” even stars Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. Though they remain a terrific comic team with a strong instinct for each other's brand of comedy, Stiller and De Niro aren't given much good to play and thus fall back, often as possible, on the things they've done before in a fit of desperate recycling.

The few new gags the duo is given are just unfortunate, especially the erectile dysfunction bit that producers thought was hilarious enough to include in ads for the film and thus destroyed as a gag in the film. 

Little Fockers is a disaster and should have been aborted the moment Jay Roach turned down the chance to direct. Stiller and De Niro are the faces of this franchise but the talent was clearly Mr. Roach without whom everything falls to pieces. Without Roach's guiding hand “Little Fockers” plays as a series of lowbrow gags instead of being what the first two movies were, family stories that happened to include a number of lowbrow gags.

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 Straw Dogs (1971)

Straw Dogs (1971)

Directed by Sam Peckinpah

Written by David Zelag Goodman, Sam Peckinpah

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Susan George

Release Date December 22nd, 1972

Published September 12th, 2011

"Straw Dogs," a remake of the controversial 1971 Sam Peckinpah thriller, opens in theaters nationwide September 16, 2011. Many questions surround this remake from director Rod Lurie, the most potent being whether or not the new "Straw Dogs" can stir up audiences the way the original did 40 years ago. Have audiences become so desensitized to violence that we can no longer be shaken the way our parents were when "Straw Dogs" took the violence of the tumultuous '60s and '70s and planted it squarely in the upper middle class home of a young everyman and his beautiful wife, saying, essentially, this could happen to you?

" Straw Dogs " starred Dustin Hoffman, one of our finest actors and, at the time of the filming, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood due to his other controversial works "The Graduate" and the X-Rated Best Picture-winner "Midnight Cowboy." Hoffman's David was a timid man who, when forced to step up and defend his young wife Amy (played by Susan George), failed repeatedly.

David and Amy have moved to a cottage in the English countryside where Amy grew up. There, a number of people from her past, including a jealous ex-boyfriend, are waiting with judgmental eyes for her new husband. Things begin badly when men doing work in their home harass Amy and David refuses to do anything about it.

Instead, David attempts to befriend the workers, who continuously humiliate and poke fun at him. Eventually, the workers invite David to go hunting with them. Leaving him stranded in the woods, the workers return to David's home, where the former flame proceeds to rape Amy.

Peckinpah's shooting of the rape scene was debated at the time and remains the film's most controversial element. The stomach of many an audience member turned as Amy's resistance to her rape slowly turned to pleasure, the rapist being a man she's been with before; she seems to give into him and begin enjoying it. Things turn dark again, however, when a second man enters the scene. Amy never tells David about the rape. The film devolves toward an ultra-violent conclusion not because David is finally ready to defend his wife, not because he is seeking revenge over the rape, but because of a complex series of misunderstandings.

Feminist scholars have argued that Peckinpah's depiction of Amy's rape was his revenge against the character's feminist bent and the way the character repeatedly emasculates Hoffman's David. Peckinpah was often criticized as a misogynist for his depiction of women onscreen.

Remake director Rod Lurie has even taken shots at Peckinpah's alleged misogyny.

In an interview with the Brandeis University newspaper, Brandeis Now, Lurie said, "I was never enchanted with Peckinpah's philosophies on human behavior or his attitude toward women. I don't want to talk too deeply about that because he isn't here to defend his name, but it certainly came into the context of my making the film."

Does this imply Lurie's "Straw Dogs" will tone down the violence of the original? At the very least we can expect a new context and perspective on what takes place. Lurie's "Straw Dogs" is rated R but, unlike Peckinpah's film -- which was plagued by a ratings battle over its violent content -- the remake has been met with no such controversy.

Which brings us back around to my original question: Can the new "Straw Dogs" stir audiences the way the original did 40 years ago? It depends on a number of factors, not least of which is how much Lurie has shifted the context of what takes place in the film and how graphically the violence is depicted. Peckinpah's high shock factor played as big a role in the impact of "Straw Dogs" on audiences as did his intent to bring violence into the well-tended homes of the upper middle class. 40 years later can a new "Straw Dogs," or any other film for that matter, reach audiences the way "Straw Dogs" did in 1971?

We will find out how audiences take to the new "Straw Dogs" when the film arrives in theaters nationwide Friday, September 16, 2011.

Movie Review Papillon

Papillon (1973) 

Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner 

Written by Dalton Trumbo, Lorenzo Semple Jr. 

Starring Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman

Release Date December 16th, 1973

Published August 22nd, 2018

Papillion is considered a classic movie by some but not by me. For me, Papillion is an ungodly slog through unending misery. Sure, the sun occasionally shines but I would not be lying if I claimed that 95% is uncompromisingly bleak. The term torture-porn is a modern term invented to describe the fetishized violence of movies like Saw or Hostel, but Papillion is, perhaps, a progenitor of the term. The violence isn’t graphic but if you get off on suffering, this movie is for you.

Steve McQueen stars in Papillion as the least convincing Frenchman this side of Dustin Hoffman. McQueen is Papillion, a man falsely accused of the murder of a pimp, or so he claims. Aboard a ship to be taken to the French penal colony in French controlled Guyana, some time in the early 1930’s, Papillion meets Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), the most prolific forger in French history. It’s rumored that Dega has money and can use it to arrange an escape.

Papillion becomes a sort of bodyguard to Dega and eventually his friend. The two plot toward Papillion’s escape as Dega believes that his wife is working to get him out of jail and his money allows him some privileges in the prison camp, privileges he would lose if he attempted an escape and it failed. Indeed, Papillion’s first escape attempt fails as he is captured and brought back to the camp by bounty hunters.

This puts Papillon in solitary confinement for an unspecified amount of time though I believe somewhere in the movie it was stated as five years. This section of the movie is pure torture for Papillion and our patience. We watch as Papillion eats bugs, struggles with hunger, is given illicit food, slipped to him via courier by Dega, loses all but all but scraps of food when his supply is uncovered and he refuses to say where it came from and generally suffers for a solid 20 minute chunk of an already too long movie.

When he is finally released from solitary, Dega is waiting to nurse him back to health, or pay someone to do it for him anyway, and Papillion immediately starts planning another escape. It’s pretty much the same escape as the last, only Dega will be going with him this time. Whether it was successful or not, I will leave you to discover. I will say that the escape leads to the only good portion of the movie, we see a leper colony that is frightening yet filled with the only other good people in the movie and a brief glimpse of a life Papillion could be happy with but is, of course, taken from him.

Cruelty, despair, misery are what we face while enduring Papillion. I suppose the film is intended as some kind of triumph of the human spirit stories, it’s based on a novel by a guy who claims to be the real life Papillion, his final escape having worked, but my spirit gave up on the film about half way through rather than anything remotely like triumph experienced. Papillion is a handsome movie but it is not an entertaining or engaging movie.

Papillion is a punishing 2 hour and 30 minute slog. It’s a movie where joy goes to die. You don’t watch Papillion, you endure it. I don’t ask that all movies be happy-go-lucky but I would prefer that movies not be so all-encompassing bleak as Papillion undeniably is. There is one sequence where there is joy and it ends as abruptly as it arrives and the film scurries back to be even more dreary than before.

Has Dustin Hoffman always been insufferable or have I just been in denial all of these years? I had a similar thought that I pushed to the back of my mind when I watched his jerky performance in Tootsie but it was inescapable here. Hoffman’s stagey tics are more pronounced in Papillion than they were when he was literally playing a stage actor in Tootsie. Hoffman’s Dega constantly has bits of little business to do including limping, vocal tics and constantly touching his coke bottle eye-glasses.

I was glad when his character disappeared for a while and his antics were off-screen and that was during the film’s most bleak sequence so you can understand just how much I was loving Hoffman’s performance here. I would rather be in a dank cell with a dying Steve McQueen than outside in the sunlight with the obnoxious Hoffman. His antics cool off late in the movie and he becomes a compelling character but you likely won’t last long enough to care about that.

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If I hadn’t been paid to watch and write about Papillion I would have turned it off rather early on, once I pegged just how dreary the movie was and would remain. I consider it an act of masochism that I managed to watch Papillion all the way to the end. I don’t understand the desire to make, let alone watch, a movie like Papillion. Did director Franklin J. Shaffner just decide he wanted to test the limits of audience patience?

Papillion is being remade and released this weekend with Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam as Papillion and Mr. Robot’s Rami Malek as Dega. Here’s hoping it’s not another slog through human misery ala the 1973 original or else I am going to need a drink for this one and I don’t even drink alcohol so you can get a sense of my dread here.

Movie Review Stranger Than Fiction

Stranger Than Fiction (2006) 

Directed by Marc Forster 

Written Zach Helm 

Starring Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma Thompson

Release Date November 10th, 2006

Published November 8th, 2006 

Director Marc Forster is an exceptionally underrated director. In four features he has yet to make a less than brilliant movie, how many directors can say that. The resume is extraordinary. Monster's Ball, which won an Oscar for Halle Berry, a feat that looks more and more amazing with each ensuing performance from Ms. Berry. Finding Neverland, the J.M Barrie bio with the equally brilliant Johnny Depp, was a deserving Best Picture nominee.

Then there is the curious sci fi thriller Stay. This ingenious, marvelously directed film divided critics and met with complete audience indifference. For me Stay was a revelation and one of the best films of 2005.

Forster's latest is another movie that is dividing critics and only catching a modest audience. Stranger Than Fiction, starring Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson, couldn't be any more different from Stay. This wonderfully wordy, literate, deadpan comedy has a complicated premise that is executed with breezy ease and light hearted intelligence. It's just simply a terrific little movie.

Will Ferrell stars in Stranger Than Fiction as Harold Crick. Harold is an IRS agent with a penchant for counting everything from steps to the strokes of his toothbrush. Harold's life is regimented, scheduled and timed to the minute. Timing becomes a crucial aspect of Harold's life as his unique wrist watch begins mixing up his life. Of course if a wacky wrist watch were Harold's only problem, he'd be happy.

Along with the wacky watch Harold has begun hearing a voice. Not voices, mind you, but a single voice that happens to be narrating his every move. Harold does what comes naturally in a situation like this, he consults a psychiatrist who immediately diagnoses him a schizophrenic. Unconvinced, Harold pleads for help in a more literary fashion to explain why his life is being narrated.

Enter professor Jules Hibbert (Dustin Hoffman) , a literary professor with a keen insight into narration and the art of the novel. Hibbert also believes that Harold is crazy until he hears the words ``Little did he know '',  a literary device that professor Hibbert has written volumes on. The phrase leads Hibbert to help Harold find his narrator and devine whether Harold is trapped within a comedy or a tragedy.

Parallel to Harold's story is that of novelist Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson). A long respected writer, Ms. Eiffel is dealing with a case of writer's block so severe that her publisher has assigned an assistant (Queen Latifah) to keep her on track. Karen happens to be the narrator that Harold is looking for and her writer's block is a function of her inability to decide how to kill Harold Crick.

Writer Zak Helm came up with this wonderfully quirky story but it is director Marc Forster who gives it a visual life. Using various visual devices to lay out Harold's quirks and Karen's fantasies, Forster takes an exceptionally literary story and gives it texture and its own very unique reality. The story of Stranger Than Fiction is a bit of a mindbender at times but Forster manages to make it accessible, even comfortable and easy to follow for those willing to follow the movie's unique brand of logic.

Will Ferrell is terrific as the downbeat, average Joe Harold. Known more for his wildside, Ferrell indulges his rarely seen mild side to craft Harold as a believable character in an unbelievable situation. When Harold does come out of his shell and expresses his exasperation in more typically Will Ferrell ways, he manages to remain true to the character while delivering a few of the kinds of laughs we expect from a Will Ferrell character.

Maggie Gyllenhaal shows up in Stranger Than Fiction as Ana, the unlikely love interest for Harold. The romance in Stranger Than Fiction unfolds in the most wondrous of ways. Harold, unable or unwilling to approach Ana, has this crush thrust upon him by the narrator who leads him into the romance and then leaves him to cultivate it on his own. Harold is far from a natural romantic and the relationship develops strangely but in the most lovely of ways.

What I loved about Stranger Than Fiction is how smart it is about literature and literary conceits. The way Dustin Hoffman, as the literary professor Harold speaks to his narrator, speaks of the phrase 'little did he know', how he could write reams of papers about that phrase and its role in literature, its various meanings and interpretations. Part of the wonder is the way Hoffman delivers this line, with impish gleam in his eyes and boundless enthusiasm, but a bigger part is the truth of why he and we find it such a wondrous phrase.

Director Marc Forster's approach to Stranger Than Fiction was to create unusual characters and a universe in which those characters can exist in their own reality. A reality similar to our own but with its own unique beat. Compare Forster's approach to the one note approach of director Ryan Murphy in the film Running With Scissors, a film that wants a similar note of eccentricity but ends up just crafting weird characters being weird without regard to the world that formed them. 

Movie Review: Finding Neverland

Finding Neverland (2004) 

Directed by Marc Forster

Written by Marc Forster

Starring Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Freddie Highmore, Radha Mitchell, Dustin Hoffman, Julie Christie

Release Date November 12th, 2004

Published November 11th, 2004

James Matthew Barrie was born in Scotland in the late 1800's, moved to London just before the turn of the century, and ran in the circle of a number of well-known writers, including H.G Wells, P.G Wodehouse, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to name a few. Though Barrie is mainly known for one work in particular, he was arguably the most successful writer in his circle at that time. It is only the passage of time and the gloriousness of his best-known work that leaves so much of his other material forgotten. That one work was the seminal children’s fantasy Peter Pan and how Barrie invented this fantastic fairy tale is the subject of Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp and directed by Marc Forster.

Coming off the tremendous failure of his latest play, writer J.M Barrie takes a walk in the park with his dog. As he sits on a bench attempting to find a new story to tell, Barrie meets the Davies’ family. George (Nick Roud), Jack (Joe Prospero), Michael (Luke Spill), Peter (Freddie Highmore), and their mother Sylvia (Kate Winslet). Llewellyn Davies takes an immediate liking to Mr. Barrie who entertains them with his imaginative storytelling.

Barrie begins going to the park every day to play with the boys and spend time with Sylvia. This, not surprisingly, causes trouble with his wife Mary (Radha Mitchell) as well as with Sylvia's mother Mrs. Du Maurier (Julie Christie) who worries what the unusual relationship will do to her daughter’s social standing as well as to her own.

Despite the tensions, Barrie can't stay away because the children have inspired him to write what will go on to be his masterpiece. While spending time with the Davies, Barrie begins to indulge a fantasy he has carried with him since he was a child: A story about pirates, Indians, fairies, and a place called Neverland. Even as real life grows more dramatic, the fantasy he's writing gets more and more fantastical.

Depp is extraordinary. In Finding Neverland, he has yet another of his lovable oddballs. Only this time, as opposed to his Jack Sparrow in Pirates of The Caribbean or his nutty writer in Secret Window, this character is both odd and believably dramatic. You believe that this character was this unusual but still a very real person. Indeed much of the script is historically accurate to the life of J.M Barrie and his relationship with the Davies family. What is unclear is how much of the odd behavior of the character is from Depp or from what was known of the real J.M Barrie. Either way it still works.

Director Marc Forster, with the help of cinematographer Roberto Schaefer and production designer Gemma Jackson, creates a world that is a perfect balance of fantasy and reality. They manage to illustrate J.M Barrie's reality and a believable illusion of his spectacular imagination. Writer David Magee, working from source material based on a play by Alan Knee, crafts a terrific script that builds from somewhat mundane at the start to beautifully moving by the films climax.

It's hard to believe that Forster's previous directing credit was the gritty, hard bitten Monster's Ball. But it's not hard to believe that just as he led Halle Berry to an Oscar in Monster's Ball he has led Johnny Depp to the possibility of one. In fact everything about Finding Neverland, from Depp's performance to Forster’s direction, Kate Winslet and Julie Christie's tremendous supporting work and finally the cinematography and production design, looks Oscar quality.

Movie Review Runaway Jury

Runaway Jury (2003) 

Directed by Gary Fleder

Written by Brian Koppelman, David Levien, Matthew Chapman

Starring John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz, Jeremy Piven, Bruce McGill

Release Date October October 17th, 2003 

Published October 16th, 2003

John Grisham novels and the movies made from them are a guilty pleasure for millions. I say guilty pleasure because the work is often merely melodramatic potboilers that adopt legal and political stances that the author bends to his melodramatic will. Indeed, the law in a Grisham novel is often specious and more often than not inaccurate, but necessarily inaccurate to fit the story.

That said, the novels are also tightly plotted and populated by colorful Southern characters and terrific dialogue. It's easy for the non-lawyer crowd to forgive Grisham of his factual indiscretions because his work is just so damn entertaining. The latest of Grisham's work easily transplanted to the screen is Runaway Jury, a look at a trial from the jury's perspective.

John Cusack stars as Nick Easter, a seemingly normal video game store clerk. When Nick is called for jury duty, he reacts like most Americans, utter contempt and annoyance. However, that is merely a cover. Nick has been trying for jury duty and the opportunity to sit in on a huge lawsuit against gun manufacturers. Nick, along with his girlfriend Marlee (Rachel Weisz), are rigging the jury in a scam to soak either side to pay them $10 million dollars.

On one side is the noble Southern gentlemen Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman), representing the wife of a stockbroker who was killed in an office shooting by a disgruntled employee with an illegally purchased semi-automatic weapon. It is Rohr's contention that gun manufacturers were aware of and rewarding the illegal sales of their guns by company owned gun stores.

On the opposing side, representing the gun manufacturers is Durrwood Cable (Bruce Davison). He however is merely the legal mouthpiece for a shady jury consultant named Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman). Fitch is the gun manufacturer’s hired gun for rigging a favorable jury by any means necessary. With the help of his team of investigators, Finch compiles blackmail information against potential jurors.

That sets the tables for a number of clever twists and turns, but not so clever that they wink at the audience. Clever in the sense that they play directly to audience expectations. The twists don't surprise the audience, but they aren't insultingly predictable. Screenwriter Brian Koppelman does a great job of adapting Grisham's tight pacing and colorful characters, even as he is forced to change the trial from Grisham's tobacco companies to gun companies. I say forced to change because lawsuits against tobacco companies aren't exactly a fresh topic.

My favorite part of Runaway Jury however is the film’s unquestionably liberal politics. Where so many films shy away from taking a stand on an issue, Runaway Jury is clearly sympathetic to the liberal cause of gun control. The gun manufacturers are the most thinly drawn characters and their smoke-filled private meetings in which all the major gun companies discuss their conspiracy is so blatantly conspiratorial you marvel at the filmmaker’s brazenly malevolent portrayal.

Director Gary Fleder is the perfect director for Grisham. His last directorial outing was the non-Grisham Grisham movie High Crimes. Both films have a mere gloss of real law and are heavy on the melodrama. Both films cleverly cast their films with actors whose audience cache get us past minor plot holes and specious legal wrangling. Fleder has the same talent for pacing as Grisham and while the story is somewhat unwieldy with a number of small supporting characters that get lost occasionally, Runaway Jury is still a very entertaining legal thriller.

Movie Review Confidence

Confidence (2003) 

Directed by James Foley 

Written by Doug Jung 

Starring Edward Burns, Rachel Weisz, Andy Garcia, Paul Giamatti, Donal Logue, Dustin Hoffman 

Release Date April 25th, 2003

Published April 25th, 2003 

It's all been done.

That is the problem with modern Hollywood filmmaking, the perception that there is nothing new that can be done. That every story is a familiar concoction of similar films. It's a product of Hollywood's adherence to genre and demographic marketing that certain elements are put into films where they don't belong in order to appeal to mass audiences. Take for example the con man movie Confidence starring Edward Burns, a familiar story of cons and con men that doesn't simply lack originality but feels so familiar that it becomes predictable.

Burns stars as Jake Vig, if that ain't the name of a movie con man, I've never heard one. Jake and his crew including Gordo (Paul Giamatti) and Miles (Brian Van Holt), specialize in petty scams involving thousands of dollars and moving quickly from place to place. However, the crew's latest con has found them sticking around longer than they are used to, and playing with larger sums of money than before. Not only is the con bigger than usual so is the man being conned, though they don't realize it at first.

In possession of 100 grand after scamming some small time bag man, Jake and his crew find that the money is that of a sadistic mobster known as the King (Dustin Hoffman). Rather than being upset with Jake, the King is impressed with his skills. Nevertheless, he wants his money back. So Jake hatches a new con, a fleece on one of the King's rivals that will not only get the King's money back but net everyone around five million bucks.

Jake and his crew can't pull this con off alone so Jake recruits a skillful pickpocket named Lily (Rachel Weisz). Lilly’s part is to seduce a low level VP in a stock scandal that includes Swiss banks, the Cayman islands and various other familiar con movie locales. The mark is a mob lawyer and money launderer played by Robert Forster, and the dupe VP is well played by “Drew Carey” vet John Carroll Lynch.

The film is told in flashback in a noir tribute to the thirties con man movies. It begins with Burns on the ground and in voiceover explaining he is dead. The device is effective and set's the film in motion but the noir feel doesn't hold up long. After the opening moments the film takes on a more modern look and feel and abandons noir all together.

Edward Burns in recent interviews has stated that he was far more committed to acting in Confidence. He broke his old pattern of working on one film while writing another, which helped him to be more focused than he has been previously. The change is noticeable, this is the most lively Burns has been in any role since She's The One. Unfortunately, on his best day as an actor he's still reminds of Ben Affleck minus the charisma.

Director James Foley skillfully directs this con game and it's Mametesque script, which is no surprise. Foley was the man who successfully wrestled Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross to the screen. Confidence isn't as brilliant as that film but the script has it's moments especially those handled by Hoffman who once again shows what a true pro he is.

I neglected to mention that Andy Garcia turns up as an FBI agent on the trail of the con men. Watching Garcia makes you wish he and Burns could have switched roles. Shave the shaggy beard, blacken the hair and throw on a nice suit and Garcia could do the role with his eyes shut. Nothing against Ed Burns, he gets better as an actor each time out, but Confidence demands a pro and Garcia could have been that pro.

Movie Review Moonlight Mile

Moonlight Mile (2002) 

Directed by Brad Silberling 

Written by Brad Silberling

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Holly Hunter, Ellen Pompeo, Dabney Coleman, 

Release Date October 4th, 2002 

Published October 3rd, 2002 

When I was sixteen I dated this girl that was completely out of my league. Her name was Teri and she was this statuesque blonde who seemed as if she had walked off some fashion magazine. Call it low self esteem but I can't imagine what she saw in me, she said that I was sensitive and made her laugh. We didn't break up when she moved away to San Diego but there was this childish hope that we would see each other again. That hope died not soon after when she died in a car accident.

It's strange what you remember about a person. I vaguely remember how beautiful she was but what I really can't forget are these little conversation fragments. Small portions of conversations where she said something that stayed with me forever. She argued vociferously for Van Halen with Sammy Hagar over Van Halen with David Lee Roth. She confused Walter Payton and Refrigerator Perry; she called him Refrigerator Payton.

The movie Moonlight Mile brought these memories back in a big way, so forgive this reviewer if I'm a little easy on this one.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Joe who, as we meet him, is waking up in a strange bed. We come to find that it is in the home of his would-be in-laws, Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and Jo Jo (Susan Sarandon) Floss. They would have been his in-laws except that the daughter he was going to marry died. The day of the funeral Joe feels like a member of the family as he helps fill in with the chores that his fiancée Diane would have done were she there.

Ben and Jo Jo are dealing with the loss of their daughter in their own unique way. Ben by getting back to work as a real estate agent and Jo Jo by acerbically running down anyone who attempts to offer comfort or those who don't. The plan for Ben and Joe was for them to go into business together after the wedding. Ben still wants to go through with it, while Joe is just going through the motions of helping the family.

Through the strange circumstance of having to retrieve the invitations to the wedding which are about to be mailed, Joe meets Birdy (Ellen Pompeo) a flighty, unusual girl who is the first person not to look at Joe as if he were a wounded bird. She is sensitive to Joe's feelings but never drifts into the cliched mourning and pity that so many people offer as comfort. Joe is hiding one important secret, one I won't reveal, but it's not an Earth shattering secret. It's not a dramatic plot twist; it's a simple truth. A difficult truth but one that when revealed will hurt a little.

Grief is a personal thing, there is no one way to grieve. For me it was not listening to Van Halen for a very long time. That sounds ridiculous but it's strange what comes to mean something to you. In Moonlight Mile, Susan Sarandon's character has a thing with setting her watch. It was something she and her daughter shared.

Director Brad Silberling whose previous film, City of Angels, touched on similar emotions has grown a great deal since that film. Where City of Angels pounded home every emotion with soft focus, a softer soundtrack and a dewy eyed Nicholas Cage, Moonlight Mile is more daring and intellectual. The issues and relationships are more complicated and romantic in their uniqueness.

The performances are spectacular, especially Sarandon in the film’s smallest role. Sarandon has two very big speeches in the film that in the hands of a lesser actress could have come off as showy and over the top. Sarandon is pitch perfect and makes a tricky scripted speech easier to take seriously.

Dustin Hoffman also hits all the right notes as his grieving father who believes his daughter’s death is his fault. She was killed by a gunman in a restaurant across the street from his office as she waited for him to arrive. One can only imagine that kind of guilt and though Silberling employs a rather shallow plot device involving a phone, Hoffman overcomes it with his professionalism and natural charisma.

Then there is Jake Gyllenhaal who seems to be very hit and miss. In Bubble Boy and Lovely and Amazing, he is forgettable. In Donnie Darko and this film, he is absolutely brilliant. You never know what to expect when he's onscreen. Here, teamed with an extraordinary supporting cast, he shines. His chemistry with Ellen Pompeo as his odd duck love interest is sweet, romantic and touching.

I can't forget about the film's soundtrack, full of 70's rock n’ roll tunes. The film is set sometime in the mid-to-late 70's though it's never really acknowledged. The soundtrack features Elton John, Steam, Van Morrison and of course the Rolling Stones, whose song Moonlight Mile provides the film’s title. I guess it's easy for me to like this film because I relate to it so well. But I honestly believe that anyone should be able to connect with a movie as well acted and directed as Moonlight Mile.

Movie Review Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007) 

Directed by Zach Helm 

Written by Zach Helm

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman 

Release Date November 16th, 2007

Published November 15th, 2007 

Writer-director Zach Helm has a masterpiece in his future. A guy with this kind of imagination can't help but find greatness. Helm started his career with the inventive script for Marc Forster's Stranger Than Fiction, a film about a man whose life is narrated and manipulated by a novelist. Now he has moved on to his first directing gig and crafted the brightly imaginative kids flick Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.

Just the kind of film that one would assume was adapted from a kids book, it has that much imaginative detail, Mr. Magorium is entirely the creation of Zach Helm. He was inspired by his time working in a toy store before Hollywood came calling. Assembling a top notch cast, including Stranger Than Fiction co-star Dustin Hoffman and the ethereal Natalie Portman, Helm creates a flawed but good natured family flick without the saccharine taste often attributed to the genre.

Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) has run his magical toy shop for more than 150 years, by his own count. He has made toys for Napoleon, Lincoln and any number of famous historical figures in his lifetime. Now however, it is time for his career to come to an end and indeed his time on this earth. No, Mr. Magorium is neither sick nor suicidal, it's just his time to go.

Before he leaves however, Magorium wants to make sure that his magic toy store is well taken care of. Ever since she was a young piano prodigy to the time she became manager of the toy shop, Molly Mahoney Natalie Portman) has been unknowingly groomed to take over the store. Now that Mr. Magorium is leaving he wants her to have the store.

Molly has never had a moment's doubt about the magic of the store but her failure to write a grand piano concerto after years of being a prodigy have left her with no belief in the magic within herself. Thus why she refuses to accept Mr. Magorium's offer of the store, and she is especially not ready for him to leave. Meanwhile Magorium hires an accountant, Henry (Jason Bateman) to look into the store's finances and discover the magic himself.

The whole thing about finding the magic within which is quite a cheeseball idea and yet it somehow works. Admittedly I almost choked on the line 'finding the magic within herself'. Nevertheless, that is the point of the film and that is not a bad aim for a kids flick. So many modern kids' flicks can barely claim to have such good intentions, often sacrificing good intentions in favor of loud noise and bright colors. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is not short on bright colors. Thankfully, writer-director Zach Helm has the good sense not to forget to tell a good story as he dazzles us with color and the magic of the toy shop.

Dustin Hoffman is no doubt channeling a bit of Willy Wonka in his Mr. Magorium. In fact, it's just the combination of Gene Wilder's sneaky, smarmy Wonka and Johnny Depp's wackjob, childlike Wonka. The combination works to make Mr. Magorium a terrifically funny and unique character like a grownup Pee Wee Herman.

Natalie Portman's pixie-ish beauty is the perfect casting for Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium even if her performance has a few off notes. Ms. Portman is always a joy to watch but as written her character is the roadblock that keeps Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium from taking off as a truly great movie. As written Mahoney doesn't want to own the magical toy store but it is a struggle for Portman herself to make this feel true.

As cheery and fun as she is and the way she lights up at the magic all around her, it is nearly impossible to believe that she wouldn't jump at the chance to own her own magical toy shop. She seems born to the job. Thus, the film flounders as it tries to keep Mahoney from her destiny and we must wade through a few to many scenes of her doubts and realizations.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is the kind of family entertainment you won't mind the kids picking up on DVD or catching on cable on a Saturday afternoon. It's harmless and playful and full of imagination and color. That's more than you can say about a number of the so-called 'family movies' we've seen in the past few years. I'm looking at you Cheaper By The Dozen and Are We There Yet.

Director Zach Helm has a masterpiece in his future and based on the wildly imaginative Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, it ought to be quite eye-catching.