Movie Review Greenberg

Greenberg (2010) 

Directed by Noah Baumbach

Written by Noah Baumbach

Starring Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans 

Release Date March 19th, 2010 

Published May 12th, 2010 

Dear Roger Greenberg

Unlike you I rarely write complaint letters but having spent time with you, courtesy of writer-director Noah Baumbach, I felt compelled to write to you. My complaint is that I feel I am far too like you and I aim to change that. I guess this isn't so much a complaint, maybe even more of a thank you. Wanting to not become like you may change the very course of my life.

Sincerely,

Sean Patrick Kernan

The movie Greenberg may have honestly changed my life. Heretofore a misanthrope with an honest distaste for most other people I am compelled by the example of Ben Stiller's performance in Greenberg that this is the path of a lonely, pathetic and desperate existence where even those you do connect with will be dealt the blow of your worldview eventually.

Roger Greenberg is 41 years old and staying at his millionaire brother's mansion for several weeks while his brother is on a family vacation, his aim is to actively do nothing. What nothing entails is unclear as Roger seems to hate everyone and everything but desperately calls old friends and acquaintances begging for some company. This would require him to do things and there you have his conundrum.

Among the things for Roger to do is spend time with his brother's assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig) who reveals herself to be one of the rare people who can tolerate his constant bad attitude. An aspiring musician, Florence speaks to Roger's own longings; he once was in a band that came up short of the big time because of him.

Music is not a big part of Roger and Florence's relationship. The dominant theme is Roger pushing and pulling and Florence finding his anger and mood swings to be a mask for a vulnerability that she finds irresistible. These two people would be meant for each other in any other movie but in the complex web of character conflict woven by writer-director Noah Baumbach, their personalities provide realistic roadblocks to happiness.

This is the finest work in Noah Baumbach's previously overrated career. Greenberg irons out the issues with his Margot at the Wedding in which all of the characters were mini-Greenberg's and thus intolerable. With no one to point out what jerks they all were, the characters sprayed venom in all directions until the movie could not sustain the momentum of their irksomeness.

In Greenberg only Roger is bitter, sad, hateful and desperate and it's easier to tolerate. Everyone else in the movie reveals Roger's character and forces him to confront himself. This allows the character to evolve and if not change, at least check the attitude to the point where other people can tolerate him.

Ben Stiller's performance in Greenberg is a stunner, especially considering his remarkably awful turns in not one but TWO Night at the Museum movies. One could fairly wonder if he could ever be taken seriously after repeated slap fights with a monkey but Greenberg shows there is still talent there. 

Greta Gerwig is wonderful as the often wilting but wily Florence and just as good is Rhys Ifans who plays Roger's best friend Ivan. Years ago Roger and Ivan were in a band together and naturally Roger blew the whole thing with his bad vibes. To his astonishing credit, especially for a Baumbach character, he doesn't hold it against him and what Ifans plays so well are the unspoken reasons why he doesn't hold it against him.

Greenberg is filled with all of the subtlety and wit that Noah Baumbach always thought he had but has never really demonstrated. The characters are flawed, intelligent and achingly normal creatures that are not defined by their wounded psyches, aside from Greenberg that is. It's almost anti-Baumbach in that way.

Most important for me is the performance of Ben Stiller who reveals portions of Roger that I'm sure many people like me recognized far too well in our own lives. Like him I am an angry, self sabotaging misanthrope who mistakes edgy self involvement for wit and loathing of humanity as insight. Yes, I do those things and after seeing the result in Greenberg I aim to be different. What more can one ask of a great work of art but to have it reveal something of them.

For that, for me, Greenberg is a revelation.

Movie Review Pirate Radio

Pirate Radio/The Boat That Rocked (2009) 

Directed by Richard Curtis

Written by Richard Curtis

Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Emma Thompson

Release Date April 1st, 2009 

Published November 12th, 2009 

Oh how sad, a good premise gone bad. Pirate Radio has a sensational premise. Set in 1966 it tells the story of a Rock N' Roll radio station moored off the shores London. Why is the radio station on a ship in the Atlantic? Because 1966 was the year that rock music was banned in the UK. Brilliant subversives took the cause of rock n roll to the sea and broadcast rock, soul and pop tunes to millions.

If you think the premise is good, how about the fact that Pirate Radio is written and directed by Richard Curtis, the brilliant mind behind Four Weddings and A Funeral and Love Actually, with a cast that includes Oscar winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, January Jones and Emma Thompson. How could this have gone so very, very wrong?

Pirate Radio tells the story of some heroic music lovers. Quentin (Bill Nighy) is the fun loving; sea-faring owner of Rock Radio, the most listened to pirate radio station on the high seas. His ratings are high thanks to an American DJ known as The Count (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and a collection of oddball jocks including failed comic Angus (Rhys Darby), shy morning guy Simon (Chris O'Dowd) and ladies man Dave (Nick Frost).

Together they roll the high seas rocking, drinking and engaging in general debauchery. Or so we are told, one of the failings of Pirate Radio is how often the film leaves the best stuff off screen. This is supposed to be a movie about rock radio in the 60’s. Girls, drugs, booze, sex. And yet, we rarely see any of it. It's one thing to imply wild, rock n'roll good times but Pirate Radio can't even imply good times well enough.

Into this allegedly wild environment young Carl (Tom Sturridge) arrives. Kicked out of school for some reason, Carl's mom (Emma Thompson) sends him to stay with Quentin who may or may not be his father. What Carl or his new roommate, known to everyone on the boat as Thick Kevin (Tom Brooke) , do in exchange for staying on the boat is anyone’s guess.

Then again, motivation for any of these characters is lacking throughout Pirate Radio. So truncated is the character development in Pirate Radio that scenes arrive, exist and disappear seemingly at random. One moment a character is on the radio and in the next he's sitting around with the other DJ's laughing and drinking and while it's all congenial, even occasionally funny, there isn't much of anything going on.

Tension is supposed to build with the arrival of a new DJ named Gavin (Rhys Ifans) but again we aren't sure why. Yes, he's cocky and dismissive but we know too little about him or the people he rubs the wrong way to care why anyone is so terribly upset. Gavin is initiated in a bizarre contest with the Count that wastes a good 10 minutes of screen time.

Kenneth Branagh, playing the necessary villain as the officious government prat Sir Allistair Dormandy, is the only actor to discover his character's purpose. Though his proper British stiff is well lampooned he too lacks nuance beyond repeatedly defining himself as a jerk. At least he has a definition. Branagh's put upon assistant Mr. Twatt, yes you read that right, is a one note joke that gets less funny each time it is uttered.

There may be a behind the scenes reason for the complete failure of Pirate Radio. The film was released 8 months ago in England; then called The Boat That Rocked. The film was 20 or so minutes longer and allegedly had a lot more character stuff. Maybe, just maybe, there is something in there to explain the actions of these characters and give them depth beyond the caricatures. Then again, as it is Pirate Radio feels over long; making the film longer has rarely improved any movie.

Then again, there is a rumor that the original didn't have this version's prolonged, shipwreck of an ending, or at least didn't linger on it as much as this version does. That could definitely be an improvement. No matter what the first version of Pirate Radio/The Boat that Rocked looked like this version stinks out loud.

Movie Review Official Secrets

Official Secrets (2019)

Directed by Gavin Hood

Written by Gavin Hood 

Starring Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans

Release Date October 18th, 2019

Published October 18th, 2019 

Official Secrets is the kind of sturdy, unassailable drama that director Gavin Hood is good at making. Dispassionate and a little dull, longing for colorful characters to liven up the presentation, but filled with factual interpretation that is true to the subject and dramatized well enough to hold your attention and earn most of the feelings intended by the story being told. Call it the church of being just good enough. 

Official Secrets, a title I struggle to remember even as it is a title that fits well in the context of the story, stars Keira Knightley in the true story of Katherine Gunn,  a worker bee at a British intelligence agency in the midst of the most recent Iraq conflict. The American government is pushing hard for war and Tony Blair has become George W Bush’s go-to ally for getting the pro-war message out. Everyday, the case for war is growing and it will take a revolutionary act of defiance to slow it down. 

That was the act of Katherine Gunn, an act of revolutionary defiance. Gunn stole a memo from her work interpreting and transcribing intelligence drama for the GSA. In the memo was proof that the Americans were spying on members of allied countries in hopes of pressuring those countries to vote in favor of going to war against Saddam Hussein. Releasing this explosive memo to the public would be an embarrassment to British leadership and turn the British public further against the war. 

With the help of a war protesting friend, the memo goes from Katherine, through to a reporter at the Observer newspaper, Martin Bright who, with the help of his editor, Peter Beaumont (Matthew Goode) and a fellow reporter working in America, Ed Vulliamy (Rhys Ifans), manages to confirm the information and print it in the newspaper. You assume from here that this is an inspiring story of a whistleblower but Official Secrets doesn’t seek to inspire as much as it strives to tell what really happened. 

The reality was that it took weeks before the memo was published and enough time passed that Katherine began to think it would never be printed and she was okay with that. Rather than being single mindedly obsessed with getting the truth out, Katherine is frightened and resigned to the fate of the world going to war even as she knows it should not be happening. When the memo is published, Katherine becomes exposed and rather than being inspired to the fight, she is dragged into defending herself before finally buying into her own cause. 

That’s pretty much as it happened in reality as well. Katherine Gunn became a revolutionary almost by accident. She wanted to stop the war but she was plagued by doubts and was even willing to forget about the whole thing and go on with her life while the war that she knew was illegal and unjust raged on. Katherine is a hero but a complex one and Keira Knightley does well to play that conflict and allow that to drive the narrative nearly as much as exposing the war as a fraud. 

Of course, this movie doesn’t do us much good now. Movies like Official Secrets feel obsolete in the wake of all that has happened, including the Iraq War, Afghanistan and the conflicts we appear to be readying for around the globe today courtesy of a President seemingly spoiling for a fight. It’s great to have a historic document like Official Secrets but the film doesn’t escape from the futility of the history that inspired it. 

You have a duty to stand against tyranny is a good message but not one that Official Secrets makes all that memorably or forcefully. 

Movie Review Hannibal Rising

Hannibal Rising (2007)

Directed by Peter Webber

Written by Thomas Harris

Starring Gaspard Ulliel, Rhys Ifans, Dominic West, Gong Li, Kevin McKidd

Release Date February 9th, 2007 

Published February 9th, 2007

Writer Thomas Harris is wildly popular and tremendously overrated. Though Harris is the creator of the iconic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, the character only gained its legend through the skilled performance of Sir Anhony Hopkins in 1989's Silence Of The Lambs. Harris has a taste for the macabre and knows how to set a gory scene but as demonstrated in Hannibal Rising, his true talent lies in cannibalizing his past success.

Hannibal Lecter (Gaspard Ulliel) lost his parents to world war 2; but lost his little sister Mischa to murder. Her killers were thieves and opportunists who also looted Hannibal's home after his parents death. Led by a vicious, cold blooded man named Vladis Grutas (Rhys Ifans), this brutish lout did unspeakable things to survive the war but what they did to Mischa is too horrifying to recount.

Vowing revenge on his sister's killers, Hannibal fought his way out of captivity in a russian orphanage and made his way to France where his uncle has passed away but left behind the last shred of family Hannibal has left. His aunt is a beautiful asian woman, Lady Murasaki (Li Gong) who immediately takes to the troubled young teen. 

Hannibal is quick to fall for his aunt and when she is insulted by a butcher at an outdoor bazaar, Hannibal takes a swift and horrifying vengeance. Thus begins the life of one of the most bloody and terrifying killers in history. As luck would have it, the men who killed Hannibal's sister happen to have come to France. What luck.

Directed by Peter Webber, who made the sumptuous period romance Girl With A Pearl Earring, Hannibal Rising is gorgeously crafted. The sets, lighting and period details are spot on. The problems lie in Thomas Harris' script, a truncated version of a book that was truncated in its own right. The story lacks depth, it lacks character detail. The entire story trades on the legend we know from Silence of the Lambs and our fascination with the Hannibal Lecter character created by Anthony Hopkins.

Young French actor Gaspard Ulliel struggles mightily in the role of young Hannibal Lecter. Because Hannibal Rising exists to cannibalize the legend of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, Ullel is forced to suffer the comparison and he fails miserably. Ulliel is a slight, pale, almost ghostly presence who shows none of the charismatic menace necessary to bring the great Hannibal Lecter to life.

You can't blame the young Frenchman, he was in an untenable situation. No actor could have taken this role and made it work as it's written. This take on the life of Hannibal Lecter that attempts to take one of the screen's most terrifying villains and turn him into some comic book avenger hero, is a complete misfire. Part of the excitement and kink of Dr. Lecter was not knowing why he did what he did. That Lecter might kill a man for offending his taste is horrifying and exciting at once.

Rationalizing Hannibal and applying pseudo-psychology to his actions removes the kink that gave that edge to Hopkins' Lecter. Now, the easy response to that complaint is that this is not Hopkins' Lecter. My response to that is that if you make a Lecter movie it becomes about Hopkins' Lecter, especially when your story has little else to build around.

Hannibal Rising does a disservice to the legend of one of the screen's greatest villains. An almost whiny ringing of hands over the history of Hannibal Lecter, Hannibal Rising trades on the character's history at the expense of his legend. To fault Hollywood for grabbing at cash is a waste of time but when the artists start grabbing at the big money the way writer Thomas Harris has, that is when the art truly begins to suffer.

Movie Review Rancid Aluminium

Rancid Aluminum (2000) 

Directed by Edward Thomas 

Written by James Hawes 

Starring Rhys Ifans, Joseph Fiennes, Sadie Frost

Release Date January 21st, 2000 

Published May 30th, 2002 

Paging the Hollywood career counselor, call on line 1 from Josef Fiennes.

After starring in a Best Picture winner and seemingly emerging from the shadow of his Oscar nominated brother, Joseph Fiennes has taken it upon himself to do absolutely nothing. I appreciate his willingness to spurn big money Hollywood projects, but Josef is taking this to an extreme that could land him in straight-to-video purgatory. His first major misstep is a pale imitation of a Guy Ritchie movie called Rancid Aluminum.

Rhys Ifans, best known as Hugh Grant's roommate in Notting Hill, stars as Peter, a slacker who, following the death of his father, takes over the family publishing business. Peter's promotion comes at the expense of his far more qualified friend Sean (Fiennes). Sean sets about to get revenge and take over the company by buddying up to the Russian mob.

This is how you know you’re creatively bankrupt, when you need the bad guys of choice for every hack writer in Hollywood, the Russian mob. The hack in this case is first time director Ed Thomas who attempts to incorporate every genre of film he's ever seen, from lame straight-to-video suspense trash, farcical comedy, and even romantic comedy.

Fiennes and Ifans are both awful in this film, especially Fiennes who is saddled with an unspeakably bad Irish accent and looks bored to tears. This film didn’t bore me. I was too busy attempting to decipher the accents and whatever the plot was to be bored. No, for me, Rancid Aluminum isn't a boring film. It was just incoherent, stupid and well, rancid.

Movie Review Formula 51 aka 51st State

Formula 51 (2002) 

Directed by Ronny Yu 

Written by Stel Pavlou 

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, Rhys Ifans, Meatloaf 

Release Date October 18th, 2002 

Published October 19th, 2002

My local multiplex has been open for about 4 and a half years. In that time I have seen almost every film to come through there. In those 4 and a half years I have never had to ask about their refund policy, because no matter how bad a film I have seen I have never walked out before something was over. Until I saw Formula 51.

This belligerent, aggressively stupid film stars Samuel L. Jackson as Elmo Mcelroy, a legendary drug chemist who’s newest creation is said to be 10 times more powerful than crack. Elmo is expected to give his new product to his boss, known as The Lizard (Meatloaf), but Elmo has other ideas and attempts to kill The Lizard. From there, Elmo takes off for the home of the Beatles, Liverpool, where he plans on cutting a better deal. 

What Elmo doesn’t know is that The Lizard isn’t dead and has a hitwoman searching for him. Emily Mortimer is the expert hitwoman named Dakota. As she plans her hit she finds Elmo in the company of her ex-boyfriend Felix (Robert Carlyle). Dakota’s plans change, and it’s now her job to keep Elmo alive. Also somehow involved in this ridiculousness is a group of Nazi skinheads who want Elmo’s formula.

It was after the skinheads abducted Elmo and Felix that I took my leave of the theater. Not before though the scene where Elmo uses some explosive laxatives to aid in his and Felix’s escape. Director Ronny Yu’s decision to graphically portray the results of the explosive laxative is part of the reason why I walked out, but not the only reason.

Even before the unnecessary laxative closeup, Formula 51 was developing into the kind of film that would think explosive laxatives are funny. This doltish exercise in lethargic action comedy, is supposedly in the mold of Quentin Tarentino mixed with Guy Richie. In actuality it’s a mixture of something Quentin Tarentino pissed on and Guy Richie flushed.

I sat all the way through Rollerball, Fear Dot Com and Sweet Home Alabama. I managed to stay in the theatre all the way through Armageddon and the religious movie Left Behind starring KIRK CAMERON! I have even made it through multiple Freddy Prinze Jr movies all the way to their doltish ends, but I couldn’t make it through Formula 51, possibly the worst film I have ever seen. 

Movie Review: Elizabeth The Golden Age Starring Cate Blanchett

Elizabeth The Golden Age (2007) 

Directed by Shekhar Kapur 

Written by William Nicholson. Michael Hirst 

Starring Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Rhys Ifans, Abbie Cornish, Samantha Morton 

Release Date October 12th, 2007

Published October 11th, 2007 

It's been less than a decade since Cate Blanchett burst upon the scene in Elizabeth. Up till then; a working actress in England, 1998 saw Cate Blanchett get the role of a lifetime playing the virgin queen Elizabeth, one of the most revered figures in English history. Now Ms. Blanchett returns to the role that earned her an Oscar nomination. Elizabeth: The Golden Age falls well short of the dramatic heights scaled by the original. However, Ms. Blanchett is as regal and beautiful as ever and finds just the right grace and style to keep The Golden Age from tipping over into utter melodramatic disaster.

Picking up less than a decade from where Elizabeth left off, Elizabeth The Golden Age finds Queen Elizabeth presiding over a divided country. Christians and protestants are at odds all over Europe and in Spain King Philip (Jordi Molla) is leading the christian cause with his Spanish Inquisition. In England, the struggle of Christians is epitomized by Queen Elizabeth's rival, Mary Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton), who English Christians have claimed as their true queen.

While trying to avoid a holy war of a religious division as well as actual war with Spain, Queen Elizabeth is looking into the idea of marriage as a diplomatic tool. She finds few of any of England's allies to be a suitable match. However, there is an Englishman who has caught her eye. His name is Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen).

Freshly returned from America, where he established the colony of Virginia in honor of England's virgin queen, Raleigh begins a flirtatious dance with the queen as well as with the queen's closet friend Annette (Susan Lynch). With war against Spain imminent and Mary Queen of Scots scheming in secret with potential assassins, the last thing the queen needs is romantic drama. Can Elizabeth balance her personal life with the duties of royalty and protecting England? Historians are likely snickering at such a question.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age plays fast and loose with history in order to craft a daytime soap opera of epic proportion. The grand guignol drama of Elizabeth is often worthy of the catty likes of Dynasty or Melrose Place. Just watch the hissy fit that Blanchett's Elizabeth is forced to play upon learning of Raleigh and Annette's affair. Heather Locklear on her best day could not have done better. That Ms. Blanchett is only momentarily set back by such lame histrionics is a true testament to her talent.

Director Shekar Kapur's true talent is opulent settings and grand costuming. Elizabeth: The Golden Age will no doubt compete for Oscars in set design and costume for the lavish colorful creations of Kapur and production designer Guy Dyas and costumer Alexandra Byrne. The lush beauty of Elizabeth The Golden Age and Cate Blanchett's ability to act and perform the work of a wonderful clothes horse, nearly make Elizabeth The Golden Age worthy of a recommendation. Nearly. 

Playing from a soap opera level narrative; Cate Blanchett pulls off an exceptional performance. Her Elizabeth is quick witted, cunning and brave with vulnerability that is very disarming. She is as strong in ostentatious costume as she is in battle armor preparing to lead her soldiers into battle. It's stunning how powerful Blanchett is in overcoming what is a truly underwhelming script.

Clive Owen and Geoffrey Rush also fight their way through the histrionics of Elizabeth: The Golden Age to varying success. Owen does spark with Blanchett in their few romantic scenes. In fact they spark so well that it's impossible to believe that Owen's Sir Walter would go for Susan Lynch's winsome girl Annette over Blanchett's blazing, womanly Elizabeth. As things play out, the only reason we see Owen with Lynch is because history recalls Elizabeth as the virgin queen.

As for Geoffrey Rush, the script truly lets him down. As Elizabeth's long time consigliere he is forced by this narrative to be blind and foolish until he is not. There is a subplot with his brother that is supposed to explain his foolish behavior but it's botched so badly that Rush's character is left adrift. Rush is far too good an actor to play a character made to look this silly. 

There is the potential for yet another Elizabeth movie if rumors are true. The virgin queen did live for many years past the end of The Golden Age. Fans of Shakespeare In Love will recall that an elder Elizabeth, played in Oscar winning glory by Dame Judi Dench, presided over the era of Shakespeare's England. I'm not at all opposed to seeing Cate Blanchett reprise this role as even in this supremely flawed film she is an electric performer.

Here's hoping another Elizabeth can be more than merely an opulent example of how beautiful Cate Blanchett is in very expensive costumes.