Movie Review: Dumbo

Dumbo (2019)  

Directed by Tim Burton 

Written by Ehren Kruger

Starring Danny Devito, Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Eva Green 

Release Date March 29th, 2019

Published March 28th, 2019 

Dumbo is a good movie that I feel good about recommending. The film is solid, well-made, sturdy, family entertainment with just enough laughs and good nature to make it work. I find myself in an odd position with this statement however as I have received some backlash from my radio review of Dumbo. On the radio, I said that I liked the movie, that it was ‘good enough.’ This led to more than one listener asking me why I ‘don't like’ Dumbo. I’m here to tell you, I do like Dumbo despite its many notable flaws. 

Dumbo is the story of a little elephant born with giant ears who learns to fly with the help of a pair of ingenious siblings. This is a live action take on the 1941 Disney animated movie that, at 65 minutes in length, barely qualified to be called a ‘feature’ film. This version, crafted by daft auteur Tim Burton, is more than two hours long and feels about that long. Gone are the talking animals in favor of some well crafted human characters. Best of all, no problematic bird characters. 

Newcomers, Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins star in Dumbo as sister and brother, Milly and Joe Farrier. Milly and Joe recently lost their mother but are lucky to have their war hero father, Holt (Colin Farrell), back home from World War 1 and ready to resume life on the road with the Medici Brothers Circus, under the leadership of Max Medici (Danny Devito). Unfortunately, Holt lost an arm in the war and without his beloved wife, he’s lost his once vaunted horse show. 

With nothing else available with the circus, Max puts Holt in charge of the elephants and specifically, a new baby elephant that Max hopes will be the savior of the circus. Then, Max meets Dumbo and sees his giant, ungainly ears. Max doesn’t believe that Dumbo will be an asset to the circus and when Dumbo is mistreated by the circus roustabouts, Dumbo’s mom, Jumbo leaps to her son’s defense and a man is killed. 

Jumbo is deemed a dangerous animal and is sold to another circus. With his mother gone, Dumbo is left in the care of Milly and Joe who care for him and teach him a game. They begin blowing a feather back and forth only to find that when Dumbo sniffs the feather and sneezes, he flies up in the air with his giant ears as wings. Eventually, with prodding from Milly and Joe, Dumbo learns to fly and becomes the star of the circus. 

Naturally, the flying baby elephant gains nationwide notoriety and the attention of circus entrepreneur, V.A Vandervere (Michael Keaton). Vandervere makes Max his partner in a massive money venture that lands the entire Medici Circus in the big city where Dumbo will star alongside Collete (Eva Green), an acrobat in a brand new, outlandish show. Vandervere means to exploit Dumbo for all he’s worth, even if that means making sure Dumbo never sees his mom again. 

There are no spoilers in that description as there are more characters and more action to what I have described in this review in Dumbo. Tim Burton does well to craft a large, entertaining and colorful canvas. Despite that, this is not typical of Tim Burton’s style. There is an impersonal, mercenary quality to Dumbo that is unusual for Burton’s work. Burton directs like a director for hire rather than a director with a dedicated vision for telling this story. 

Dumbo has a perfunctory quality that makes the film far more average and standard than truly great entertainment. There is nothing really, terribly wrong with Dumbo, but it is not transcendent or memorable in the way Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella was or even as elaborate and fantastical as the live action Beauty and the Beast. The scale feels smaller and the story lacks the kind of stakes that those films established. 

The biggest issues with Dumbo are more taste issues. For instance, I didn’t care for the way that Tim Burton directed Michael Keaton to be Johnny Depp-lite. Keaton’s Vandervere has all of the quirk and cadence of Johnny Depp at his most affected. The same could be said of Eva Green who is directed by Burton to play Colette exactly as Burton’s wife Helena Bonham Carter would have played her, with the same lilting affectations. 

This, aside from a few scenes reminiscent of the lovely watercolors of Alice in Wonderland, though far better than those dreadful movies, are the only Tim Burton signatures in Dumbo. As I mentioned earlier, he doesn’t appear invested in this story or this production in the way he has in his previous movies, specifically the movies he wrote and directed on his own. Burton appears comfortable having delivered screenwriter Ehren Kruger’s simplistic story to the screen with little innovation. 

Nevertheless, Dumbo is not a bad movie. Dumbo the character is quite engaging for a CGI creation and the flying scenes capture the wonder of the circus and a world where magic still seemed possible. The period setting has a dreamlike, magical quality and though the milquetoast heroes don’t standout all that much, they do enough to be rousing and charming enough to keep audiences engaged and in a pleasant mood. 

Dumbo is a good movie. It’s at the lower end of the modern Disney live action adaptations, above Alice in Wonderland and The Jungle Book but well below the transcendent masterpiece that was Cinderella and the lovely Beauty and the Beast. It will be interesting to rank Dumbo when Aladdin and The Lion King finally arrive in theaters this summer and next summer respectively. For now though, I do recommend taking the family to see Dumbo. 

Movie Review Sicario

Sicario (2015) 

Directed by Denis Villenueve 

Written by Taylor Sheridan 

Starring Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin 

Release Date September 18th, 2015 

Published September 17th, 2015 

Sicario stars Emily Blunt as Kate, a tough young FBI Agent who is recruited for a joint government task force on drug enforcement. Immediately she smells something fishy, especially after she meets Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), a specialist in cartel politics who is supposedly working for the Department of Justice. Alejandro answers only to Kate’s new boss, an equally shady character named Matt (Josh Brolin).

Both Alejandro and Matt are suspiciously good with a weapon for a pair of Department of Justice lawyers and that’s not the only thing about this new assignment that is nagging at Kate. Among other things, Kate’s first day on the job finds her crossing the Texas-Mexico border to capture a high level drug asset. The fact that she’s flanked by an elite military force for this mission gives the strong impression that whoever has arranged this, is working outside the bounds of diplomacy and the rule of law.

As the story evolves, Kate is torn between the desire for results in the unending battle between the government and the fractured but still functioning cartels which have only grown more violent and territorial since the fall of the Medellin cartel which had kept an uneasy peace among the cartels while keeping the flow of drugs into America as high as it has ever been. The choice for Kate is simple, the idealistic and seemingly futile pursuit of results inside the bounds of the law or giving up a piece of her very soul for the chance to slow the flow of drugs into the country.

How much moral flexibility does Kate have? Can Kate kill unconvicted people if it means capturing or killing those who’ve earned it? These questions form the drama and suspense of Sicario and director Denis Villenueve gives these questions weight and patiently unfolds them as the movie goes on. Villenueve, one of the finest filmmakers working today, an Academy Award nominee for his work on Arrival, has a mastery of pacing and building toward powerful moments.

With the help of two time Academy Award nominee, Editor Joe Walker, Villenueve slowly allows tension to build via clever character moments and splashes of sudden violence. The editing is seamlessly brilliant and essential to how Sicario slowly builds to a pair of remarkably tense closing scenes including a sweaty and intense dinner conversation with a drug kingpin and one final moment between main characters that is downright devastating.

I could go on and talk about the brilliant production design by Patrice Vermette, another two time Academy Award nominee or about the breathtaking cinematography of Roger Deakins, an Academy Award winner for his work on Villenueve’s Blade Runner in 2017 and the only member of the cast and crew of the first Sicario movie to be nominated for an Academy Award. Believe me when I tell you, every sequence of Sicario is impeccable.

Great performances, tremendous direction, beautifully spare cinematography and production design and a great story combine to make me very excited for the new movie Sicario Soldad. It should be fascinating to watch Alehandro and Matf do what they do without Kate around to force them to weigh their consciences. Just how low will these rogue elements of our spy underground go to stanch the drug pipeline between the U.S and Mexico.

Movie Review Shutter

Shutter (2008) 

Directed by Masyuki Ochiai 

Written by Luke Dawson 

Starring Joshua Jackson, Rachael Taylor 

Release Date March 21st, 2008 

Published March 22nd, 2008 

As I walked into the theater to see the latest American remix of a Japanese horror film, Shutter, I told one of the ushers exactly how I thought the film would play out. Based on my years of experience with this kind of movie and the film's ham-fisted ad campaign, I was able to devine the entire plot and plot twist of Shutter without having witnessed a frame. Watching the movie play out, exactly as I predicted, I was forced to stifle laughter, not wanting to spoil the experience for those of such hardy stock they have made themselves unaware of any previous Japanese horror film and of the film's ad campaign. Their ignorance being their only salvation.

Joshua Jackson stars in Shutter as Ben, a fashion photographer newly married to Jane (Rachel Taylor). The happy couple is forgoing their honeymoon in favor of a working vacation in Japan where Ben will work during the day and tour the country with his new bride at night. That was the plan anyway. Unfortunately, on the way to their temporary new home they are involved in an accident and a young girl is killed. Or so they thought. Jane is convinced that she ran over a woman but when the police arrive, no body is found.

Haunted by the accident, Jane tries to get on with life in Tokyo. Traipsing around the city snapping touristy photos, Jane makes a terrifying discovery, the ghost of the woman she thinks she killed is appearing in all of her photos. James Kyson Lee plays an expository character named Ritsuo who conveniently explains what he calls spirit photography, ghosts linked to people and only seen in photos. Another expository character fills in the blanks about why spirits attach themselves to the living and if you haven’t already figured out where this story is heading, you don’t watch many movies.

Directed by J-horror veteran Masayuki Ochiai, Shutter starts off as a rip off of The Ring and never deviates from the ripoff path. Where in The Ring it was a cursed videotape in Shutter it’s cursed photography. Where in The Ring it was a young dead girl stalking the living through media format in Shutter, oh what a shock, it’s young dead girl stalking people thru media format. Even the deaths in each film are similar. A guy falls from a balcony in Shutter just as Bill Pullman drops from a balcony in The Grudge. Life force sucked out in Shutter? How about the death of the young nurse in the opening The Grudge?

Director Ochiai and screenwriter Luke Dawson deliver not one original moment during the brutal 90 minutes of Shutter.

Movie Review Rio

Rio (2011) 

Directed by Carlos Saldanha 

Written by Don Rhymer, Jennifer Ventimilia, Sam Harper

Starring Jesse Esenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx, Jemaine Clement

Release Date April 15th, 2011 

Published April 15th, 2011

With a cast bursting with award winners and the winning team behind the "Ice Age" movies at the helm it can come as no surprise that "Rio" is a delight. Sweet, funny and heartfelt, this coming of age story about a bird learning to fly and falling in love for the first time is a wonderful bit of 3D animated fluff.

"Rio" features the voice of Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network's" socially awkward Mark Zuckerberg, as a socially awkward Blue Macaw named, aptly enough, Blu who lives in, of all places, Minnesota. Blu was poached at a very early age from his tree top home in Brazil. He fell off a truck in Minnesota and has since been raised by Linda (voice of "Knocked Up's" Leslie Mann).

Learning to Fly

Being domesticated left Blu with little need or want to learn how to fly. He's perfectly happy walking and leaping about Linda's house sipping hot chocolate and reading. Of course, Blu is in for a major life change and it comes in the form of Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), a Zoologist from Brazil who implores Linda to bring Blu to Brazil in order to mate with another Blue Macaw named Jewel (voice of Ann Hathaway).

Once in Rio Blu meets Jewel and finds her less than friendly. Jewel is eager to escape, no matter what happens to the species or Blu but when both she and Blu are captured by poachers, including an evil Cockatoo named Nigel (Flight of the Conchords Jemaine Clement), she finds that she will be stuck with Blu for a while and his lack of flight will make their new unfortunate and unplanned adventure a bit more difficult.

Singing in Support

Rounding out the exceptional voice cast of "Rio" is Jamie Foxx as a soulful voiced Canary named Nico, Black Eyed Peas member Will I. Am as a Samba loving Cardinal named Pedro and George Lopez as Raphael a Toco Toucan who was once the bird king of Carnaval but is now a stay at home dad to 18 kids. Raphael becomes Blu's flying guru and with Nico and Pedro, the cheering section as Blu makes his awkward moves on the stubborn but sweet Jewel.

"Rio" is a gloriously fun, sweet and samba infused adventure that even the darkness of the 3D cannot manage to ruin. Though I imagine that the colors of Rio pop more in 2D and look much better, the 3D print I watched was lively and colorful enough to help me get past most of my reservations about 3D. The creative team behind "Rio," led by director Carlos Saldanha, doesn't overuse the stuff flying toward the screen in 3D effect and instead employ the best of 3D in the scenes soaring over the stunning animated cityscape of "Rio."

Feel that Samba Beat

The music of "Rio '' is like another character in the story with the Samba acting as the film's beating heart. Legendary Brazilian artist Sergio Mendes acted as the film's Executive Music Producer and with Carlinhos Brown crafted a score that is irresistibly danceable. Jamie Foxx and Will I. Am make a sensational musical team on the song "Hot Wings (Wanna Party) but it's Foxx who gets the movie's best musical moment singing the "Rio '' love theme.

"Rio" is a real treat. Bright, colorful, tuneful and funny, kids are going to flip for these terrific bird characters and mom and dad will enjoy the terrific music and the strong message of friendship, love and coming of age. The team behind the "Ice Age" movies, Blue Sky Studios, has another hit on their hands with "Rio."

Movie Review The Cave

The Cave (2005) 

Directed by Bruce Hunt

Written by Michael Steinberg, Tegan West

Starring Cole Hauser, Morris Chestnut, Eddie Cibrian, Lena Headey, Piper Perabo

Release Date August 26th, 2005

Published August 27th, 2005

Did you know that Cave Diver is a legitimate profession?

I had no idea! To me it sounded more like the title to some long lost "Mystery Science Theater 3000" feature than any legit money making venture. That perception was only enforced by the goofy goings-on in the new creature feature The Cave in which a group of cave divers line up to become lunch for some alien knockoff.

Cole Hauser leads a multicultural cast to their doom as the head of a cave diving team brought to some third world European locale to investigate a massive series of caves uncovered during an archaeological dig. Hey wouldn't you know it, these caves are the cursed remains of a once destroyed church.  They almost always are. Once inside, our intrepid divers are picked off one by one as if the plot had been written by an efficiency expert.

Director Bruce Hunt has little time for developing characters, what with all of this cool cave diving equipment to show off and all of the cool underwater photography to play with. Instead Hunt, with screenwriters Michael Steinberg and Tegan West, opts for multi-cultural placeholders who stand in line and wait for their turn to be monster food. Naturally such a simplistic story has attracted Morris Chestnut who just made this same movie last year with a giant snake, Anaconda 2: The Search For The Blood Orchid. Chestnutt is not a bad actor but has been a magnet for bad scripts (Like Mike, Half Past Dead) and parts well below his talent (Confidence, Under Siege 2) ever since his terrific debut in John Singleton's Boyz In The Hood.

Cole Hauser's rise to above the title star continues to puzzle me. Last year he top lined Paparazzi, a film that never should have seen light outside the video store. Now he leads The Cave which at least has the budget required of a big screen feature but little else. Don't most actors have to prove they can open a movie before they are given two starring roles in a row. Whoever decided Cole Hauser was a star may need to rethink that after The Cave. I would not speak so ill of Hauser, who wasn't bad as one of those nameless character actors with a recognizable face in films like White Oleander and Pitch Black, if he had just stayed with those types of roles.

Almost unrecognizable in this B-list cast is Coyote Ugly star Piper Perabo. Oh how the once promising star has fallen. Ms. Perabo really did look like a star in the overheated Jerry Bruckheimer dramedy Coyote Ugly but she is far from that shining promise here in The Cave where she is only the second most prominent female character in the movie behind Brothers Grimm star Lena Headey. Ouch! If you don't know how good Ms. Perabo is, forget Coyote Ugly, avoid The Cave, and check out the tiny Canadian independent Lost & Delirious. Her earnest romantic tragedy in that film is at times trite but more often moving and lovable.

With all apologies to my mother who always liked to drop that classic mom-ism, 'If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all',  there is simply nothing nice to say about the acting of former underwear model turned TV actor turned movie blackhole Eddie Cibrian. The guy is like a placeholder waiting for a real actor to step in. His blank stare and thudding delivery makes one wonder if he was simply there to block the lighting and then the real actor never showed up.  That is the only way I can make sense of his being here.

Cibrian plays Tyler and Morris Chestnut plays Tom Buchanan. However, whether it was due to bad editing or simple oversight, the actors appear to switch character names throughout the film. In an early scene where the team is plotting its cave descent both characters are referred to as Tyler at least once. That is slightly better than poor Daniel Dae Kim ("Lost") who may as well have been called That Asian Guy because he just doesn't seem to have a name throughout the film.

There were actually some things I liked about The Cave. The underwater photography, for example, is very cool. The crisp, clear blue water is beautifully shot, credited to Cinematographer Ross Emory, although second unit Director Wes Skiles is credited as the Underwater Unit Director. The scuba equipment, so lovingly dissected by the expositional dialogue, I'm told is top of the line stuff by a friend who dives for a living. My friend was also quite impressed with the underwater scenes for what that's worth. He does that professionally as well.

That is about it for the niceties unfortunately. Out of the water, The Cave is a knockoff of the two Anaconda films, Deep Rising, Mimic, Deep Blue Sea and any number of creature features in which an ensemble of B-listers comprise a buffet for some computer generated baddies. All of those films are mere retreads of the ultimate Sci-Fi ensemble flick Alien, which is also the only film to get that formula right, not once but twice if you count its excellent first sequel.

It's a given that particular plots are going to be rehashed, especially when they have been financially successful in the past. In the case of a film with a plot such as this you have to grade on a curve. The key to taking a cliched plot like that of The Cave and making an entertaining movie of it is to dress it up with lighting, with sets, with great dialogue, and with at least a few interesting premises. The Cave has some nice underwater locations that are very well photographed and some cool looking scuba gear but not much else.

Movies like The Cave make me long for the long lost wit and sarcasm of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" in all its movie-bashing glory. Just imagining the fun that Crow, Mike Nelson and Tom Servo could have had slicing up The Cave is more entertaining than anything in the film's 90 some odd minute runtime. Naturally the Alien plot will continue to have knock-offs produced again and again and again as years go by but perhaps they'll die out once we stop throwing our hard-earned money at them. 

Movie Review Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes (2009) 

Directed by Guy Ritchie

Written by Anthony Peckham, Simon Kinberg

Starring Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Kelly Reilly

Release Date December 25th, 2009 

Published December 24th, 2009 

I am aware of Sherlock Holmes by pop culture reputation only. I have not read the novels or seen any of the films starring Basil Rathbone, the actor who I am told is the definitive Holmes on screen. My only exposure to the character is through pop cultural osmosis, references made by countless other outlets. I mention this because many others seem to find director Guy Richie's take on the legendary character offensive in some way related to their feelings for what is known of the character.

I can compare it, in a slightly odd way, to how I feel about the faux vampires of Twilight. In my opinion they aren't really Vampires. They walk around during the day, they play baseball, they are about as menacing as a bag of declawed kittens, and they are NOT vampires. I am tied to the classic version of Vampires and admittedly it creates a bias. I have no such bias for or against Sherlock Holmes.

Robert Downey Jr. stars as Sherlock Holmes who, as we join a chase in progress, is running to some sort of showdown. Along with his faithful sidekick Dr. Watson (Jude Law), Holmes has uncovered a secret society that is in the midst of a ritual sacrifice when Holmes and Watson arrive. A brawl ensues, the fair maiden is rescued and the murderous Lord Blackwood (go to bad guy Mark Strong) is apprehended.

Case closed? Hardly. The capture and eventual hanging of Lord Blackwood were all part of Blackwood's devious plot. As he tells a skeptical Holmes, he plans on resurrecting himself and leading a plot to take over the world, restoring England to the status of a world power under his leadership.

Meanwhile, Dr. Watson who has lived and worked with Holmes for years is set to move on. He has met a woman, Mary (Kelly Reilly), and is going to marry her, even if Holmes stands opposed to the idea, which is somewhat unclear but a fun source of tension for the bickering partners.

Back to the plot, on the night of Lord Blackwood's execution, after he confesses his plot to Holmes, Lord Blackwood does rise from the grave causing a massive panic in London. It's up to Holmes and a reluctant Watson to figure out how Blackwood pulled off the resurrection and stop him before he launches his takeover of the country.

Also employed in this plot is Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), the one only woman ever to draw Holmes' attention away from sleuthing. Irene has recently returned to London with a mysterious benefactor who remains in the shadows but who will no doubt play an important role in future sequels, wink wink.

And really, isn't that all we can expect from Sherlock Holmes, a table setter for future sequels. Honestly, if you were looking for anything other than the beginning of a franchise you were on a fool's errand. Sherlock Holmes is a machine built to create a franchise and on this lowly task it is supremely successful.

The bantering between stars Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. has the potential for greatness, in sequels. The action direction that Director Guy Richie takes these characters in shows potential that could flower in future sequels or become supremely irritating, wait and see. As for this Sherlock, it's like a starter kit for people like me who know Sherlock only by reputation but know the work of Downey and director Guy Richie like old friends.

There is a homey sort of professionalism to the work of both Downey and Richie. They are working at such a level of comfort together that things are at once pitched perfectly to create this character for future sequels and find enough friendly charm in this movie to make you want to see that sequel. Sure, you're being fleeced but in such a fond way, you don't mind so much.

Sherlock Holmes is never anything more than the beginning of a business arrangement between friends. Guy Richie, Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law pitch you these characters, their funny banter, and the idea of Sherlock Holmes: action hero and you sit idle witnessing it and welcoming it. You are agreeing that the sequel is why we are all here and that this is just the pitch.

This will be unsatisfying for some, but for those disposed to the charms of those involved, you won't mind at all. Sherlock Holmes is a welcome introduction to a character and his future endeavors yet to be brought to the screen. If this idea doesn't offend you, you are just the audience for Sherlock Holmes.

Movie Review Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) 

Directed by Rupert Wyatt

Written by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver

Starring James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Tom Felton, Andy Serkis 

Release Date August 5th, 2011

Published August 4th, 2011 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the surprise movie of 2011. What you think is going to be a goofy action adventure about apes and James Franco evolves into this shockingly thoughtful examination of what it is to be sentient. The performance of Andy Serkis as the lead ape Caesar easily rivals his extraordinary Gollum in the Lord of the Rings series and deserves honest awards consideration.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes acts as something of a prequel to the 1968 Planet of the Apes; even making reference to the Mars mission of the original film as having been lost in space. James Franco stars as Will Rodman, a scientist working for a drug company and hopeful that he has created a cure for Alzheimer's.

Unfortunately, as Will is seeking final permission to begin human trials following successes with a very special, now super intelligent ape, Will’s ape test subject flips out and has to be put down after a violent rampage. Naturally, everyone believes the rage was a side effect but in fact the ape believed that her newborn was being taken from her.

Though he is supposed to put down all of the apes, Will takes the newborn ape home with him. At home, where Will lives with his Alzheimer's afflicted father (John Lithgow), Will names the ape Caesar and soon discovers that Caesar displays the same extraordinary intelligence his mother had.

Years pass and Caesar grows smarter and stronger. A slight injury to Caesar leads Will to meet Caroline, an ape expert, and soon a small family has begun to form. Also during this time Will has begun work on a new version of his previously successful drug that he begins testing on his own father with stunning success.

The scenes of familial bliss, Caesar’s growing up and Will’s dad’s recovery are observed with great care as if director Rupert Wyatt honestly believed these scenes were as important as the obligatory violent siege that is promised by the film’s title and marketing campaign.

Many directors would not take as much care as Wyatt does to make these scenes resonate. Most directors would signal their impatience about getting to the violence and the exciting rampage; Wyatt takes care to deliver characters who will make the siege late in the film really mean something.

The best work in the film comes from Andy Serkis who brings a stunning level of sentience and poignancy to Caesar. Serkis’s careful movements, his remarkable eyes, give this ape character a reality, a soulfulness that is entirely unexpected. Considering his previous work as Gollum it shouldn’t be surprising but the level of humanity that Serkis brings to Caesar is shocking.

The human characters are good; James Franco brings a very important sincerity to Will. His earnest affection and loving protection of Caesar are necessary elements needed to sell the surprises of the third act. Freida Pinto is a slightly more functional character as is John Lithgow as Will’s dad but each character is decent and caring and most importantly, they have our sympathy.

Through these characters and their affection for Caesar we feel okay caring about him. If Franco were winking about being in a movie with an ape and how inherently goofy that idea is we’d drop out of the movie and be unable to care the way we do. Instead, Franco plays it surprisingly straight, honest and earnest.

The villains are cardboard, stock characters with little to no subtlety. There is the corporate magnate (David Oyelowo) who is willing to risk ending the world in pursuit of a buck and then there is Draco Malfoy aka actor Tom Felton as the caveman ape handler who tortures Caesar into leading an ape revolution.

If Rise of the Planet brought a scintilla of subtlety or complexity to these villains the movie could be a District 9 level quality blockbuster. That film humanized aliens in a most unique and affecting manner just as Rise of the Planet of the Apes humanizes apes in the most unexpected and compelling manner.

I wasn’t sure if I even liked Rise of the Planet of the Apes immediately after I watched it. Sitting with the film for a few days I was struck by what stayed with me about the movie and the reservations that fell away. At first I was wondering if I could really take seriously a movie about Apes and a few days later I couldn't escape the complex and thoughtful performance of Andy Serkis.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes may not be the Summer Popcorn Blockbuster you are expecting but see it and I am sure you will find as I did that this is both a compelling character piece and a thrilling bit of action adventure. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a Summer blockbuster with a brain.

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 She's Outta My League

She's Outta My League

Directed by Jim Field Smith

Written by Sean Anders, John Morris

Starring Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J Miller, Mike Vogel, Krysten Ritter

Release Date March 12th, 2010 

Published March 12th, 2010 

Anyone who thinks actor Jay Baruchel is an unlikely star of a major mainstream comedy must have never seen him on the brilliant and unfortunately brief TV series Undeclared. Baruchel was a natural comic lead, sympathetic, self deprecating and very funny. He brings that same mix of vulnerability, angst and good humor to She's out of My League and while it's not Undeclared, it is a modestly funny distraction worth the price of a movie ticket.

Kirk (Baruchel) works in airport security with his three closest pals, Stainer (TJ Miller), Devon (Nate Torrence) and Jack (Mike Vogel) because he really can't think of anything better to do. He wants to be a pilot but lacks the ambition to pursue a pilot's license, content to hang out with his friends. Kirk's life gets a jolt when by chance he catches the eye of Molly (Alice Eve) a smoking hot blonde who accidentally leaves her phone at Kirk's security post. She repays him with a date and then another date before Kirk finally understands that she is honestly, romantically interested in him.

Thanks to years of low self esteem and his friend's awful ability to have his back, Kirk has an impossible time believing a woman as beautiful and successful as Molly could really be interested in him. For her part, Molly admits to her friend Patty (Krysten Ritter) that Kirk is a safe choice because he is unlikely to break her heart.

The conflict is believable and while it plays for laughs it works as a strong roadblock for Kirk and Molly's romance. Baruchel and Alice Eve have a strong chemistry playing first the mismatch and eventually settling into a strong romantic vibe. The strength of She's out of My League is Baruchel and Eve's ability to make us care about them while the film whirls from one lowbrow gag to the next.

Playing Kirk's best friend Stainer T.J Miller tries a little too hard to be the missing member of the Knocked Up supporting cast. That said, Miller has a few strong moments, especially when he's playing in his awesome cover band "Adult Education." If you don't know what the band is covering, you aren't trying hard enough. Stainer is pivotal to the film's finish but I could have done without much of his act.

Not all of She's out of My League works but what does is very strong. Jay Baruchel has strong comic instincts and the film plays well to his strengths, vulnerability and a strong sense of who he is. Alice Eve is beautiful and rounds out the character with honesty and self awareness. The romance has depth beyond the wild gags, as the best of this kind of comedy does, and that make She's out of My League worth your time at the theater.

Movie Review: Cadillac Man

Cadillac Man (1990) 

Directed by Roger Donaldson 

Written by Ken Friedman

Starring Robin Williams, Tim Robbins, Paul Guilfoyle, Annabella Sciorra

Release Date May 18th, 1990

Published May 18th 2020

“Movies are machines that generate empathy” Roger Ebert 

My favorite theme in a movie is compassion. Watching genuine compassion from a character in a movie almost always gets to me. Cadillac Man was not a movie I expected to have compassion as a theme. On the surface, Cadillac Man is about a supremely selfish, self-involved car salesman who is taken hostage and has to use his ability to lie, cheat and steal to get himself out the jam. 

That’s just the surface, in the performance of Robin Williams as Joey, we have a desperately soul-sick man whose shallowness is beginning to wear away his will to live. He doesn’t want to die, he doesn’t even want to change too much, but Williams in his sweaty, sleezy, gesticulating performance, communicates Joey’s emotional emptiness and the desire he has to be better, even if he doesn’t realize it yet. 

Joey’s about to be forced to have the realization that he wants to be better in a highly stressful and dangerous way. As he’s desperately trying to sell cars to save his soul-sucking job, Joey winds up in the middle of a hostage situation. Into the scene comes Larry (Tim Robbins), the crazed husband of one of Joey’s co-workers, Donna (Annabella Sciorra). Donna’s been sleeping with the boss’s son, Little Jack (Paul Guilfoyle) and Larry has come to the dealership with an automatic weapon to exact revenge. 

Again, that’s the surface of the situation. Yes, Donna is cheating with the boss’s son, but Larry doesn’t really have a plan for revenge. He has the gun and what he claims are plastic explosives, but in reality, he’s the same kind of sad sack, lost soul that Joey is, only not nearly as self aware, intelligent, or brazen. Larry is like a lost child who just needs someone to care about him a little and Joey is a man who knows how to read people, sizes him up right away. 

Sensing that he can get everyone out safely, Joey turns to his skill as a salesman and sets about calming Larry down, serving his emotional needs, and almost instinctively, the goodness in Joey becomes the driving force of what comes next. For the next hour, Joey sets about becoming Larry’s friend, soothing his ego, nursing him and along the way, Joey transforms from a desperate man trying to save himself to a genuine person, who wants nothing more than to save everyone. 

That’s never on the surface of Cadillac Man. You get all of that just from Robin Williams’ incredible performance. The turn that Joey makes from self-obsessed con-artist to Larry’s friend and the protector of everyone in the car dealership happens steadily over the length of the midpoint of the movie, and through the final act. It begins as an act of a desperate man and becomes genuine compassion and empathy from one desperate, sad, man to another. 

All while this is happening director Roger Donaldson keeps up a relentless pace. Cadillac Man rarely lets up on the pace. The dialogue, the plot, the scenes, move with great quickness. Even before Larry arrives, about 40 minutes into the movie, he makes an early cameo but Robbins doesn’t arrive fully until the midpoint, the story sets the table incredibly well by introducing the competing ways in which Joey has dug himself into a seemingly inescapable hole of his own careless and callow creation. 

The opening act, with a motormouthed Joey talking directly to the camera before getting to work, allows Williams to be dynamic and of the kind of Robin Williams we know. As the act progresses though, and the walls start to crumble around Joey and this empty, selfish place he's created for himself, the film begins to take shape. Larry then enters in full chaos and shakes the foundations of the movie. Joey's resolve to keep his various lies in place begins fall down and as we watch the man reborn into a place where he is a genuine person it's fascinating to watch. 

Williams acts the role of Joey with his entire body. The sweaty energy that Williams brings to his broad stand up comedy here is inverted into drama as the quick wit searches for real answers instead of punchlines and pathos in instead of laughing payoffs. It's really rather extraordinary and unlike any other Robin Williams performance. Williams takes an empty suited, selfish, borderline villainous character, breaks him down to pieces and rebuilds him before our eyes without ever letting up on the pace of the story being told. 

Cadillac Man is desperately underrated and cruelly forgotten by time. Williams, known for his broad comedic roles, has a legend that overshadows his often brilliant dramatic work. That's why I wrote this review, I want to get people to see what I think is arguably the best Robin Williams performance. The one least seen by the masses and one that can work to remind people just how brilliant Robin Williams could be in just about any role. 

Cadillac Man is maybe my favorite movie of 1990. 

Movie Review The Crazies

The Crazies (2010) 

Directed by Breck Eisner 

Written by Scott Kosar

Starring Timothy Olyphant. Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson

Release Date February 26th, 2010

In a world of been there, done that, sometimes the best a filmmaker can do is improve upon the things that have been done before. That is exactly what director Breck Eisner does with the pseudo-zombie flick The Crazies. Eisner takes the elements we've seen before from movies like Resident Evil or 28 Days Later or George Romero's oeuvre and simply does the same thing better or at least with a neat twist. The result is a smart, atmospheric, fast paced horror flick that entertains from beginning to end with strong characters and a clever spin on expected scenes.

Something strange is taking place in Ogden Marsh Iowa. In the midst of a High School baseball game a guy everyone in town knows wanders onto the field carrying a shotgun. The field is cleared and the man is confronted by the local sheriff, Dave Dutton (Timothy Olyphant). Dave is eventually forced to shoot and kill the man in front of most of the population of Ogden Marsh.

Later, another fine, up-standing citizen of Ogden Marsh burns down his house with his wife and child inside and no indication of a motive. Sheriff Dave, being smarter than most movie versions of small town sheriffs, quickly surmises something beyond mere coincidence in these crimes. With his deputy Russell (Joe Anderson) and his wife Judy (Radha Mitchell), Sheriff Dave discovers the sinister origins of what eventual military invaders of the town call 'The Crazies.'

To give away too much of the plot would spoil the fun of this clever, quirky and even humorous film. The humor is subjective and maybe unintentional, but I laughed a few times at the unique twists and turns of this exceptionally well made genre movie. Director Breck Eisner takes a highly familiar premise and jazzes it up with odd angles and nimble inversions of expectations.

Timothy Olyphant is the perfect star for The Crazies. He's handsome with a relaxed, good ol' boy manner. His toughness was solidified by his role on HBO's beloved Cowboy series Deadwood and he has a classic John Wayne sort of swagger that makes him just the guy you want to be behind when the stuff hits the fan.

Radha Mitchell is a slightly esoteric choice to play the sheriff's wife but she has a number of effective scenes, especially as the damsel in distress late in the film and one seriously butt kicking scene that will have audiences cheering. A hint about Mitchell's big scene: keep an eye on the three big redneck hunters who pop up at unexpected moments.

The Crazies is a genre movie that embraces its genre-ness; takes the conventions head on and is effective for the minor twists on what is expected. You've seen this type of movie before but you don't often see it with this much visual wit, skill and savvy. The Crazies is, quite surprisingly, one of my early favorites of 2010.

Movie Review: Cop Out

Cop Out (2010) 

Directed by Kevin Smith

Written by Kevin Smith

Starring Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Rashida Jones, Michelle Trachtenberg

Release Date February 26th, 2010 

Published February 25th, 2010 

Let's get one thing straight, I am in fact a Kevin Smith apologist. I have loved all of Kevin's movies, yes even Jersey Girl, loved it. Thus, I remove any thought of objectivity from this review of Cop Out. I am a Kevin Smith fan and I liked Cop Out. While other critics seem to delight in trashing this harmless, filthy mouthed throwback to 80's buddy cop movies, I sat back and laughed uproariously.

Cop Out stars Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan as detectives Jimmy Monroe and Paul Hodges. They seem like total opposites; Jimmy is laid back yet menacing while Paul is wild and outlandish. Yet, they have been partners for years with a notable reputation, good cops who tend to find trouble.

The latest trouble involves getting an informant killed and blowing a major undercover drug sting. This gets them suspended for a month. Meanwhile, Jimmy is trying to find the cash to pay for his daughter's (Michelle Trachtenberg) wedding and Paul suspects that his wife (Rashida Jones). These subplots offer funny sidelights for Jason Lee and Sean William Scott.

The meat of the plot unfolds when Jimmy gets robbed of a valuable baseball card and he and Jimmy set out to retrieve it. Naturally, the card lands in the hands of the drug dealer who they were after in the first place and none of this is really all that interesting or important. The plot of Cop Out is secondary to Smith, Willis and Morgan hamming it up in homage to the great buddy cop movies of the 80's.

Kevin Smith is the perfect director for Cop Out. The film is both a send up of and a loving tribute to goofball buddy cop movies. Smith being a virtual pop culture almanac delivers on every beat of the buddy cop movies we love right down to a synth pop score that only Harold Faltermeyer could really appreciate.

Kevin Smith, Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan dive headlong into the parody fun not with obvious, Naked Gun style gags but by doing exactly what an 80's buddy cop movie did but with Kevin Smith style language, filled with plenty of four letter words and references that will someday make a great drinking game.

Is Cop Out a great movie? No. The plot is slapdash the subplot payoffs are meaningless and don't even start on the continuity errors. None of that however, really matters because Cop Out is what it sets out to be, a goofball tribute to the buddy cop movies that dominated the 1980's. Forget the Filmmaker Magazine critiques; this is fun stuff for an audience seeking a mindless toss back to the movies they loved in the 80's.

Movie Review Shutter Island

Shutter Island (2010)

Directed by Martin Scorsese 

Written by Laeta Kalogridis

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Max Von Sydow, Ben Kingsley

Release Date February 19th, 2010

Published February 18th, 2010

This is one of the most difficult reviews I have ever had to write. Martin Scorsese is, arguably, the finest filmmaker I have written about in my lifetime. I have an unending amount of respect and even awe for the man and his movies. Seeing one of his films is about as close as I come to a religious experience.

So, seeing one of his films and feeling that the film came up short of my expectations is not easy. It's not that Shutter Island is a bad movie but rather that I expect so much more from a filmmaker as great as Martin Scorsese. To watch as he steps into one of the biggest movie potholes in history is a little devastating for me.

Shutter Island stars Scorsese's most frequent, recent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio as a Federal Marshall named Teddy Daniels. Teddy with his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) has been dispatched to a place called Shutter Island, a mental institute for the criminally insane, where a patient/inmate has gone missing.

There is no possible way that the patient, Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), actually escaped. Shutter Island is an actual island several chilly miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Installed on what used to be a Civil War base, Shutter Island is a forbidding structure that getting into is hard enough, getting out is unthinkable.

And yet, Rachel Solando is missing and no one seems to know how she got out. Why a Federal Marshall is needed for this case is a question never asked. Rachel didn't get off the island and is dead if she did. The hospital has a staff of ex-military and police officers for security who are searching for Rachel when the Marshalls arrive.

Teddy has a secret of his own related to the island but I will leave you to discover that. There are a number of nimble twists and turns to Scorsese's storytelling in Shutter Island. The screenplay was adapted by Laeta Kalogridis from a novel by Dennis Lehane whose novels Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone have previously been adapted into excellent movies. Ms. Kalogridis had an exceptionally daunting task in adapting Dennis Lehane's novel for a script by Martin Scorsese and that may be where the film's biggest problems lie.

The cinematic touches of Shutter Island are remarkable. Scorsese's eye is perfectly intact as he and cinematographer Robert Richardson pay homage to Hitchcock, noir detective stories and The Twilight Zone. Especially effective are Teddy's artful nightmares which contain stirring and terrifying imagery. For the visuals alone I could recommend Shutter Island.

The cast is solid as well as we continue to watch the evolution of Leonardo DiCaprio through the eyes of Martin Scorsese. In his non-Scorsese work DiCaprio's boyishness always seems to get played up. His pudgy cheeks and wet eyes were the central image of the failed Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes. Scorsese however,  pushes DiCaprio to be a man on screen and DiCaprio rises to each challenge. 

The rest of the cast is well populated with figures of menace and intrigue. Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow seem as if they have played the roles of the menacing doctor's at Shutter Island before. Mark Ruffalo perfectly balances insistent camaraderie with his new partner with enough skepticism to keep Teddy from suspecting him.

Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson play two halves of a whole character and could not be better at getting under DiCaprio's skin. Michelle Williams rounds out the cast as Teddy's late wife and the less said about her the better. It's a very strong performance but so key to the plot that I don't want to spoil it with detail.

The final moments of Shutter Island however, for me, are a massive disappointment. I cannot go into detail because you might see the movie and disagree with my assessment. I don't want to rob you of the chance to find the ending satisfying. I didn't find it satisfying, indeed I found it insulting, especially after the exhausting and exciting journey to get there. 

Honestly, I predicted Teddy's fate from the first trailer I saw for Shutter Island several months ago. I have not read Dennis Lehane's novel, choosing to avoid it and avoid spoiling the film. Yet, I was able to predict what would happen at the end of Shutter Island. I hoped Scorsese might find a way to surprise or come up with a way to get the same conclusion in a less predictable fashion. Instead, the structure of the plot makes the ending all the more painfully predictable and irritatingly unsatisfying when it comes.

Shutter Island is exceptionally well crafted and everything that leads up to the final moments is spectacular in its cinematic detail. Sadly, the final moments are such a disappointment that recommending the film is difficult if not impossible. I guess I can’t say don’t see it; there is too much good work not to. Just be prepared for a disappointing end and the rare occasion of being disappointed by Martin Scorsese.

Movie Review: Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day (2010) 

Directed by Garry Marshall 

Written by Katherine Fugate 

Starring Jessica Alba, Patrick Dempsey, Anne Hathaway, Queen Latifah, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner

Release Date February 12th, 2010

Published February 14th, 2010 

Garry Marshall, how do I loathe thee, let me count the ways. I have loathed every inch of film you have ever cut and print. Every word on the page of one of your scripts has been like a dagger in my chest. Your magnum opus Pretty Woman is one of the most loathsome, irresponsible and despicable fantasies ever crafted.

I still have nightmares of your attempt to make an S & M themed romantic comedy starring Dan Akroyd and Rosie O'Donnell. In all seriousness, which concentric circle of hell did you escape from? Mr. Marshall's latest bit of awfulness is arguably his most banal, rendered so by having so much star power you may be to blind to realize how you're being terrorized.

Valentine's Day is ostensibly about love and its many complications played out over the hallmark crafted Holiday. 20 or some odd number of characters each has an interconnected part to play in this series of failed single romantic comedies wrapped into one massive failure.

Among the glitterati to loan there sheen to Mr. Marshall's failed vision of comic romance are Ashton Kutcher as a flower shop owner and Jennifer Garner as, prepare for the surprising twist, the best friend he's always loved but didn't know it. He's just become engaged to Morley (Jessica Alba) who is carrying on an affair with her blackberry. Meanwhile the best friend is sleeping with a married man (Patrick Dempsey).

Don't worry, like all despicable married men in romantic comedies, he's leaving his fabulously wealthy wife and children to be with his poor school teacher mistress. I must say, I did marvel at Mr. Marshall's ability to cram that many well wrung clichés into one storyline.

There are several thousand other stars in Valentine's Day including Oscar winners (Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine), Oscar nominees (Anne Hathaway, Queen Latifah), TV stars (Eric Dane and Dempsey both from Grey's Anatomy, Kutcher and Topher Grace from That 70's Show) and even pop stars and Twilighters (Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner as the most vapid characters in an entirely vapid movie).

There are still countless other well known people in Valentine's Day but who really cares. At some point we in the audience belong to some weird version of Hollywood census takers, right down to the questions of demography as many characters are defined by their race in the most statistical of fashion. 

To count the ways that Valentine's Day is offensive would actually take longer than my list of reasons for hating director Garry Marshall. The film isn't merely a recycling dump of romantic clichés; it's also a garbage dump of racial and sexual stereotypes. Oh. And don't even ask about sex because despite the theme, sex is purely something that exists the night before Valentine's Day and not the day of. 

Ludicrously awful, Valentine's Day attempts to mask the odor of it's inanity with a traffic jam of celebrity. The pretty people wandering in and out of the 50 or so failed movies jammed into this one movie fails to distract from the sheer brainless insipidity of Valentine's Day.

Movie Review: An Education

An Education (2010) 

Directed by Lone Scherfig

Written by Nick Hornby

Starring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Emma Thompson

Release Date February 5th, 2010

Published March 17th, 2010 

Wading through the “A Star is Born” hype surrounding Carey Mulligan in “An Education” is a bit of a chore. Coming to the movie late as I am; research is filled with endless paeans to her brilliance and innumerable comparisons of Carey Mulligan to Audrey Hepburn. If I sound a little bitter it has nothing to do with Ms. Mulligan's actual performance. It's that I find it hard to move about the muck of repeated praise and find my own feelings.

Carey Mulligan stars in “An Education” as Jenny, a 16-year-old with dreams of Oxford University and romantic sojourns to Paris with some lovely boy of her future. Jenny's parents, Jack and Marjorie (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour), don't mind Jenny’s daydreaming as long as it doesn't interfere with good grades and extracurricular activities such as band.

Jenny's first real distraction arrives in the form of a sports car and the charming cad inside. The cad is David and while he feigns interest in keeping Jenny’s cello from getting wet in the rain, his real interest is apparent to everyone. Jenny is naïve but not unaware. She accepts the ride home and is soon accepting much more.

David offers Jenny the life she has daydreamed about; including that romantic Parisian adventure. Meanwhile he charms her parents so thoroughly that he could have his way with Jenny in their home if he chose to. If 35-year-old David's designs on 16-year-old Jenny weren't troubling enough, he has even more sinister secrets waiting to be revealed.

“An Education” was directed by Lone Scherfig, a Danish director making her English language debut. Scherfig shows that a young girl coming of age is a relatively universal story no matter your country of origin. Many a beautiful young girl will find elements of their own lives reflected in Jenny's wide eyed willingness to be seduced. The allure of the older man, with the daddy issues inherent, is yet another seemingly universal story reflected in “An Education.”

The script from Nick Hornby, only his second screenplay, the first not based on his own work, is bittersweet, intelligent and warm in its way. Jenny's life at home is not miserable or drab, just realistically dull, as seen from the perspective of a 16-year-old girl. Hornby does a terrific job of balancing the dull home life with the adventurous life with David, never making either seem overly hellish or overly romantic.

Ms. Mulligan is a radiant presence who never overplays Jenny's youth or faux worldliness. Her talent with Jenny is capturing the moment and one in particular stands out. In a nightclub with David and his friends after a night at the symphony, Jenny smokes her first cigarette. Watch the way she balances Jenny's embarrassment with a desperate attempt to look like she belongs. It's a little detail but so knowing and a great instinctual acting moment. None of the other characters had taken notice, well aware of how young she really is, but Jenny knew and that's what Ms. Mulligan knew.

Carey Mulligan adds these seemingly minor but brilliant touches throughout “An Education.” Her supporting cast is right there with her. Peter Sarsgard has not been this good since his degenerate performance in Zach Braff's, “Garden State.” Alfred Molina deserves an Oscar nomination for his controlled doddering as Jenny's dad and Cara Seymour is the quiet soul of the film, supportive, frightened but stalwart and trusting.

It's a fabulous cast and a very well told story. So what is holding back my appreciation? There is a musty quality to “An Education.” The film is set in the 60's so, of course, the filmmakers want to give a feel for the time, I get that. What I am talking about is content not quality; it's an exceptional re-creation of period. My issue is the values and ideas of the film that feel old and dated. The link that baby boomers have to Paris as the embodiment of sophistication and romantic adventure is severed for my generation. We are more likely to think of New York or even London before Paris. The idea makes the film feel old, even if it is true for the character and her time.

Emma Thompson's cameo as an officious schoolmarm holds one of the film's other pitfalls. As she shoulders her way into the film as a representation of an authority the film simply doesn't need, Ms. Thompson’s cameo sticks out, calls attention to itself.

Finally, in the third act another actress is employed to force the ending back to an acceptable place for the simple audience. Olivia Williams plays a teacher with convenient sympathies and paves the way to a much easier ending than what may have been true for the situation.

These are minor quibbles really. “An Education” is in so many ways a brilliant movie, maybe one of the best of the year. Just, be forewarned if you are approaching “An Education” based on the amazing hype you may come away as slightly disappointed as I am.

Movie Review: Dear John

Dear John (2010) 

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom

Written by Jamie Linden 

Starring Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Henry Thomas, Richard Jenkins 

Release Date February 5th, 2010

Published February 4th, 2010 

Dear John is a romance starring actor Channing Tatum's abs and actress Amanda Seyfried's eyes. As he takes his shirt off to reveal his ripples her wide, deep eyes travel the lengths of his musculature and boom you have a movie. This will be enough to satisfy the depraved teenage girls whose eyes will also travel the full length of Mr. Tatum's tummy again and again.

For the rest of us however, those not inclined to stare longingly at Mr. Tatum's Playgirl centerfold audition, Dear John is a dreary bore of romantic cliché and moony mawkishness.

I already described the plot, he takes his shirt off, she stares, the end, but I am sure some of you would like a little more detail. After all, Dear John did not begin life as an adaptation of Jergen De Mey's bestseller The Action Hero Body but rather as an adaptation of one of Nicholas Sparks's astonishing series of simpleminded romance hits.

Dear John tells the story of John, how inventive right. John is a soldier who while home on leave in early 2001 meets cute with Savannah (Seyfried) when she loses her purse in the ocean and he dives in to save it. She's with a boy when this happens but he has a shirt on, John doesn't and his glistening, rippling self is all it takes for that guy to go away, hell I can't even remember who he was.

John joins Savannah for a party at her home and an introduction to the special needs child she spends time with seals their fate as lifetime lovers. The love birds spend the summer together, her appreciating his repeated shirtlessness, he staring longingly if emptily into her wide pool-like eyes. Things are said but nothing is more important than their respective beauty.

Then John has to ship out and since this story is set in 2001 there is a pretty big twist coming up, wink wink. Yes, 9/11 is a plot point in this dopey romance and as the film manages to make sex, romance, mental illness, war and death trivial even the deadliest terror attack in American history can be rendered inferior when compared to the romance of two extraordinarily self important beautiful people.

What is supposed to be dramatic and romantic is captured by director Lasse Hallstrom in his typically vacant, pretty postcard style. It's a style that is relatively well placed in a film about two pretty people being pretty and for those who watch with the sound off, the style may enhance the experience. This is not an option of course for most theatergoers who will have to endure dialogue so benign and simple you can hear the breeze emanating in the characters ears as they speak. Cheesy platitudes meet at the intersection exposition and bland pop music scoring to create a mind numbing throb of vapidity. 

An ode to the ab workout, Dear John succeeds in providing fantasy material for those inclined toward Channing Tatum's rippling-ness. Otherwise, the film is one massive bore that manages to trivialize war, sex, autism and yes even 9/11. It's really rather remarkable that a film could be so offensive in such a forgettable fashion. Dear John is so dull that I can hardly muster the bile to be offended by it.

Movie Review: When in Rome

When in Rome (2010) 

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

Written by Mark Steven Johnson, David Diamond, David Weissman

Starring Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard

Release Date January 29th, 2010

Published January 30th, 2010

An explanation: In the past I have been accused of being too hard on kid’s movies while going easy on cheesy romantic comedies. This is not inconsistency or hypocrisy. The fact is that children with their still forming brains in desperate need of development in the area of critical thinking must be protected. Teens and adults, the audiences for cheesy romance, need no such protection.

Fully aware of the dopey clichés of the romantic comedy, the teen and adult audience can safely view even the lamest examples of the genre with little damage. Occasionally, some of these overly familiar, simpleminded romances are so simple and so aware of their limitations that our lowered standards are appropriate and fair ways to judge them. Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel's When in Rome is a perfect example. Dull witted with terrible supporting characters, the film has charms for the forgiving audience.

In When in Rome Kristen Bell stars as Beth a museum curator who is shocked when her little sister Joan (Alexis Dziena) shows up at her door engaged to be married. Joan is getting married to man she met on a plane and has known for about two weeks. He's from Rome and the wedding will be there forcing Beth to drop everything, including an important bit of work, to run off for two days.

At the wedding Beth meets Nick (Josh Duhamel), the Best Man. The two have a couple of charming romantic and funny moments. With Beth flubbing a couple wedding traditions and Nick's penchant for stumbling about, these two bond quickly with each other and we with them.

Naturally, it is too early in the film for them to be together. Thus, Director Mark Steven Johnson separates the two with a typical misunderstanding, this one leaving Beth drunkenly dancing in the Fountain De Amore, the Fountain of Love, where she steals some coins tossed by men searching for love. The coins are enchanted and the men will follow her back to New York to try to win her heart. So will Nick, but is one of the coins his?

Yes, the plot is lame and worse yet, several of the supporting performances are abysmal. Jon Heder plays a terribly unfunny street magician. Will Arnett wears a ridiculous wig and an even more ridiculous Italian accent as a wannabe artist. Dax Shepard is an offensively self involved male model who though enchanted struggles to like Beth as much as he likes himself.

Danny Devito is the only one among the group to salvage any dignity as a sausage magnate tries to impress Beth with gifts of meat. Devito gets a nice moment late in the film explaining the motivation behind his coin in the fountain; it's all that keeps him from being as humiliated as Heder, Arnett and Shepard.

The supporting players are, aside from Devito, pretty terrible but thankfully not so bad that they sink the whole film. That is because Kristen Bell, in her first starring role, and Josh Duhamel have such great chemistry. The two former TV stars, she on Veronica Mars, he opposite James Caan on Las Vegas, are just so darn cute together.

Bell has an edgy almost angry energy that is leavened by a great smile and ability to roll with the punches as the humiliations pile up. Duhamel undercuts his handsomeness with some good solid slapstick. Nick stumbles, walks into walls and drops down shafts and Duhamel plays the pain well. His back story as a former College Football star famous for one shocking moment on the field plays to his clumsiness.

Do not be mistaken, When in Rome is far from great. The film requires a great deal of patience and willingness to suspend judgment but for the willing Bell and Duhamel make a charming and great looking pair. While she smiles and takes her many humiliations in stride, he just stumbles about and they never stop being likable. That was enough for me to recommend When in Rome.

Movie Review: Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness (2010)

Directed by Martin Campbell 

Written by William Monahan, Andrew Bovell 

Starring Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston

Release Date January 29th, 2010

Published January 29th, 2010 

No one is likely to forget Mel Gibson's off-screen issues anytime soon, nor should they, he's awful. From his disturbing 'Passion' to his arrest and subsequent bashing of the Jewish people, Mel Gibson's private life has become very public and it affects everything the public perceives about him. All of this is part of what makes his performance in the thriller Edge of Darkness so remarkable.

Less than 10 to 15 minutes into what you are expecting to be a rather generic thriller, based on the somewhat innocuous title and vacuous TV campaign, Mel Gibson and director Martin Campbell make you forget, if only briefly, about Mel Gibson's character issues, focus on his movie character and the snaky, violent plot in front of him.

In Edge of Darkness Mel Gibson is Boston police detective Tommy Craven. He has just welcomed home his only child, Emma (Bojana Novakovic) and brought her home. The welcome is short-lived as Emma falls ill and Tommy rushes her to the hospital. That was the plan anyway, just as Craven opens the door to his home a man calls out his name and a shotgun blast blows Emma right back through the doorway.

The violence in this scene is quick and merciless and sets the tone for the rest of the picture. Naturally, Tommy will conduct his own investigation of his daughter's murder. From here you may expect Edge of Darkness to become predictable and fall into typical thriller beats. It does not, in fact Gibson and Director Campbell forcefully make moves in this plot to avoid the typical and drive toward a narrative filled with surprise and suspense.

Lost in all of Mel Gibson's off-screen issues is the fact that he has always been exceptionally talented. His intensity, his physicality, his self effacing humor have all played a role in defining him as an actor capable of moving audiences in many different ways. He makes use of all of his gifts in Edge of Darkness and crafts his best performance since Braveheart.

Director Martin Campbell is a rising star. He was the director who re-launched the Bond series with the adrenalin fueled Casino Royale. Campbell has always been a strong action director but in Edge of Darkness he takes great care to deliver a directorial style that is free of the typical action beats and gets right to point of each scene.

There is very little wasted effort in Edge of Darkness. Take a scene where Craven is kidnapped. We've been here before, we know what to expect. All of sudden the scene is over and we are back into the plot. No talking killer, very little dialogue at all. It's a minor tweak of what is expected but it seems any departure from the expected can be a welcome change in this day and age.

Edge of Darkness does not reinvent the thriller, it's just made better. Better performances, better direction and most importantly, better Mel Gibson. After wandering off the path of stardom with his unfortunate behavior, Mel Gibson is poised for a strong career third act. Let's hope that his off-screen stuff is behind him and more films with the quality and excitement of Edge of Darkness are ahead.

Movie Review Legion

Legion (2010)

Directed by Scott Stewart

Written by Scott Stewart

Starring Paul Bettany, Adrianne Palicki, Willa Holland, Kevin Durand, Charles S. Dutton, Dennis Quaid

Release Date January 22nd, 2010

Published January 22nd, 2010 

When a movie's opening voiceover narration intones that God lost faith in humanity because 'he got tired of all the bullshit' you have to lower your expectations. Unfortunately, there just are not expectations low enough for a post-apocalyptic thriller as dopey as Legion. Paul Bettany, one of my favorite actors, stars in Legion as the archangel Michael, a General in God's Army. As God has lost faith in humanity, God sends Michael to earth with a mission. Michael however, is not going to obey orders. Seems God has ordered Michael to exterminate humanity.

Instead Michael travels to a diner in the middle of nowhere New Mexico where a disparate group of people sits patiently waiting for the plot to kick in. Among them are the diner's owner Bob (Dennis Quaid), his son Jeep (Lucas Black), Bob's old army buddy Percy (Charles S. Dutton), A WASP couple (Jon Tenney and Kate Walsh) and their bitchy daughter (Willa Holland).

Most important in this group is Charlie (Adrianne Palicki) who is with a child from some anonymous hookup but by some luck happens to be the savior of all mankind. As Michael informs Charlie, and us, if the baby is born he will lead humanity out of the darkness. Before the baby comes they must fight off God's Army of Angels led by Michael's long time friend and fellow Angel Gabriel (Kevin Durand).

The Archangel Michael is mentioned only once in the Hebrew Bible. It is said that he will stand for the people of Israel at the end of days. Not that the movie Legion gives a crap about the biblical arcana from which its main character came from. Director and co-writer Scott Stewart merely uses Angels and Archangels as a device for apocalypse. Legion exists only to place Paul Bettany in fetish wear, long leather coat, bandoleer, and lots and lots of guns, and watch him shoot people. He and the cast pile up a few bodies and then die in a particular order until the screen time runs out. Nothing much of interest happens and certainly nothing you cannot anticipate without seeing the movie.

Dennis Quaid continues a sad, pathetic career decline. It's hard to recall the last time Quaid was in a film worth watching. In Legion the most notable aspect of Quaid's performance is his dopey lopsided haircut. Yes, he gets a big moment near the end but by then you won't really care.

Paul Bettany is not the typical idea of a lead in an action movie. He brings a different energy to the role than your average action movie star might but sadly little more than looking cool in a leather jacket holding two giant machine guns is required of him. We’ve seen him do more, we want him to do more and we just don’t get it in Legion.

Little more than an idea, Legion drones and wheezes through a series of violent scenes briefly interrupted by mindless expository dialogue before reaching its violent and predictable end, Legion should be mindless fun but instead is just mindless. Remember the opening narration I mentioned about God giving up on humanity because God got tired of all the bullshit, I think I know how God might feel watching Legion.

Movie Review: Extraordinary Measures

Extraordinary Measures (2010) 

Directed by Tom Vaughn

Written by Robert Nelson Jacobs

Starring Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, Keri Russell

Release Date January 15th, 2010

Published January 14th, 2010

Harrison Ford reminds me of a great athlete in the late portion of a career. Not as embarrassing or sad as Joe Naimath with the Rams or Willie Mays with the Mets, but Joe Montana with the Chiefs is a good comparison. Like Montana in that late stage, Ford has lost a step but there are flashes of the old mastery of the game.

Extraordinary Measures has moments when the Harrison Ford we love shines through. Sadly, Ford is shuffled off screen far too often in favor of a turgid family melodrama that would be more at home on the ABC Family Channel than on the big screen.

Brenden Fraser is the star of Extraordinary Measures as John Crowley a father of 3 kids, 2 of whom were born with a rare genetic disorder known as Pompe. The disease will take the kids lives very young which presents John with a very difficult choice. John can spend as much time with his kids, alongside his wife Aileen (Keri Russell), or he can search for a miracle.

The search will involve flying half way across the country to Nebraska where a scientist, Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford) has a theory that could be a cure. All that stands in there way is cash, a lot of cash, and Dr. Stonehill's cantankerous, off-putting nature. Can they raise the money, work together and cure the kids or has John made the wrong choice?

If you cannot answer that question then clearly you don't see many movies. This isn't a spoiler, the movie is based on a true story. Reporter Geeta Anand wrote the extraordinary non-fiction book The Cure about the real John and Aileen Crowley who did indeed risk everything to save their kids and the historic medical breakthroughs that risk lead to.

There was no Dr. Stonehill however; he is one of many dramatic contrivances made by director Scott Vaughan. Extraordinary Measures is a movie built on melodramatic contrivances from Dr. Stonehill being based on 2 or 3 different brilliant doctors to the odd choice to change the ages of John and Aileen Crowley's children from babies to precocious pre-tweens.

In reality John and Aileen Crowley's children were 5 months and 17 months old respectively. In the film the kids are 7 and 9 and Megan Crowley, played by Mereditch Droeger, is a precocious little plot device used with saccharine glee to push and manipulate audiences with her cuteness. 

The story as written by Geeta Anand in The Cure did not need such melodramatic embellishment. The Cure is told with a journalistic urgency that is a rush to read. It's dramatic because the story is inherently dramatic, heart-rending and moving. The movie goes for a sappy movie-ness that compromises the urgent drama in favor of faux uplift and the jerking of tears. 

Brenden Fraser is an actor I have liked a lot over the years but he is all wrong in Extraordinary Measures. With his big wet eyes and doughy physique, Fraser seems to mistake his physicality for dramatic acting. Keri Russell is capable of far more than she is given to work with here. Shuffled aside for the male bonding of Fraser and Ford, Russell cries on cue, comforts the children and is supportive and that is the extent of the role. 

Harrison Ford is not great at playing second fiddle. Though he has aged he remains compelling and charismatic, more so than the younger Mr. Fraser. The scenes they share, Ford is the more interesting actor with the more complex and interesting character and Fraser suffers in comparison.  

Returning to my earlier point about Ford compared to a great athlete, there was a night in Joe Montana's final year when he threw for over 300 yards and won a game in overtime on Monday Night Football. It was Montana's last great game. Harrison Ford, I believe has that one last great game in him but Extraordinary Measures is not it. 

There are flashes here of the roguish, grumpy charmer that we came to love all those years ago from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to Working Girl and Regarding Henry. His late career has become something of a caricature, Ford barking a line or two and going through the motions. Extraordinary Measures is one of those performances but the flashes give you hope. That one big game is still out there for Ford. Let's hope it arrives soon.