Movie Review Hereafter

Hereafter (2010) 

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by Peter Morgan

Starring Matt Damon, Cecile de France

Release Date October 22nd, 2010

Published October 21st, 2010

At 80 years old it appears that Clint Eastwood is ready to start a conversation about death. He's touched on the subject before, in both “Million Dollar Baby” and “Gran Torino,” but that conversation has mostly expressed his futile desire to control his destiny and decide how he goes out. In his new drama “Hereafter” Eastwood begins a conversation about the afterlife that some will find fascinating and others will find unsatisfying.

Matt Damon is ostensibly the star of “Hereafter” as George, a former psychic turned factory worker. George had a very successful business talking to the dead with books and his own website but the inherent sadness of what he did finally forced him to give it up. Now, George keeps to himself out of fear that if he even brushes someone's hand he may pick up some psychic connection to the dead. Needless to say, this has put a crimp in his love life.

Across the globe a French journalist named Marie Lelay (Cécile De France) is on vacation in some unnamed Asian country when it is devastated by a massive tidal wave. Marie is nearly killed and experiences a near death experience. When she returns to Paris to resume her life she finds herself plagued by visions of the hereafter and wanting to know for sure if she had indeed experienced death and proof of an afterlife.

Similar thoughts consume a British youngster named Marcus (Frankie/George McLaren) who has just lost his twin Brother Jason (George/Frankie McLaren). Jason was 12 minutes older and the leader to George's follower personality. Without Jason calling the shots George is unmoored and desperate to find a way to contact Jason in the hereafter. After he is removed from his junkie mom and placed with a nice foster family, George continuously runs away to seek psychics, mediums and any other crackpot promising a glimpse of the afterlife.

These three stories will eventually coalesce into one story in one location and it's a rather jarring use of deus ex machina on the part of director Clint Eastwood and Oscar nominated screenwriter (Peter Morgan). You can forgive the forced and mechanical way the plot trips into one space but it's not easy and requires some serious heavy lifting on the part of star Matt Damon.

Damon is the key to much of what works in “Hereafter.” He plays his psychic wound with a deep, soulful longing that is highly compelling and yet another example of Damon's exceptional talent as a character actor and a movie star. Damon carries off George's ability as a medium with a believable solemnity and sadness. He doesn't want this gift but wields it with care and sensitivity and you believe in it because he does.

French actress Cecile De France is an astonishing beauty in her elegant French-ness. She is both aloof and alluring. Less interesting are the young twin actors Frankie and George McLaren. It's not their fault really. Rather, it's the feeling that placing a young boy in this role feels a little emotionally suggestive. It feels like a dramatic shortcut to cast someone so young in such an emotional role.

None of the actors gets much help from the story which is basically nonexistent. “Hereafter” is not really a story so much as a cocktail party conversation starter for existentialists and true believers alike. Do you believe in the hereafter? What do you think it's like? Is there life after death? Can you talk to the dead? Are dead relatives waiting for you on the other side?

The conversation starts and each of the characters in “Hereafter” seems to have a perspective but what you really want is a definitive idea of what Clint Eastwood believes and that is just not there in “Hereafter”. Mr. Eastwood is comfortable touching off the conversation but when it comes to offering a definitive point of view on the hereafter Eastwood backs away and leaves the audience to attend to the major questions on their own.

There is nothing wrong with this approach; it's certainly a fascinating conversation. However, when it comes to raising these questions in a film it raises an expectation in the audience that the filmmaker will offer some kind of declaration of belief. We want answers and Clint Eastwood is not interested in giving an answer, just posing the questions and fobbing the conversation off on us as we walk out of the theater.

In the end it's not unfair to feel that Clint Eastwood cops out on the big question: What do you think the afterlife will be like Clint? With him being unwilling to answer the question “Hereafter” the movie feels aimless and adrift. Damon's ability to speak to the dead certainly hints at what the director believes the hereafter is like but the film hedges on just what heaven is like or even if there is a heaven. Where exactly are these souls in the hereafter? Earth? Heaven? Some strange abyss? What religion does this version of the hereafter adhere to?

Since we are talking about Clint Eastwood, an artist of the highest order, I will not assume a commercial motive behind the vagary of “Hereafter” and this version of the hereafter but if it were any other director who offered such a vague notion and failed to address any kind of religious order when talking about the hereafter one would certainly have to consider a commercial motivation. 

So, do I recommend “Hereafter?” It's a good question and one I've been wrestling with since I watched it. The answer is; kind of. Clint Eastwood is a masterful director and even his vague notions about the afterlife are populated by fascinating characters and elegant images. There is an overwhelming feel to “Hereafter;” the film casts a compelling shadow over the audience. At the end however, it's hard to escape the feeling that Eastwood chickened out. He wanted this conversation but is unwilling to commit his own true feelings about life after death to the big screen.

There is a fascinating divide in opinions developing over “Hereafter”. Older film critics are embracing the film while younger critics have been rejecting it. I am 34 years old and fall somewhere in the middle. I'm not so close to the grave that I spend much time thinking about death but I am not the young whippersnapper who believes in his unending invincibility. I am open to the conversation begun in “Hereafter” but I am not interested in vague notions, I want someone to be direct about their feelings on this issue and Eastwood is not being direct in “Hereafter” and that leaves me wanting more from this otherwise highly compelling film.

Movie Review Red

RED (2010)

Directed by Robert Schwentke

Written by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber

Starring Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Morgan Freeman, Karl Urban

Release Date October 15th, 2010

Published October 14th, 2010

The romantic side of Bruce Willis is the side most people tend to ignore. Yet, in movies as diverse as “The Whole Nine Yards,” ``TheFifth Element” and even the “Die Hard” movies, one thing that stands out is Willis's abiding romantic streak. Whether it's love at first sight with Amanda Peet's wannabe assassin in Yards or Milla Jovavich's alien badass in Element or his endless devotion to wife Holly in Die Hard, romance sings within the action hero.

In “Red” Willis finds himself once again seeking romance, this time falling in love with the voice of Mary Louise Parker as his benefits manager at his former gig with the CIA. The voice connection quickly turns into a physical one when their monitored conversations threaten to get them both killed.

Frank Moses (Willis) was once, arguably, the most dangerous man in the world. In his role as a covert CIA Agent, Frank took down dictators and toppled entire governments all the while keeping the Russians at bay long enough for Communism to fall. Today, Frank lives in suburban boredom colored RED, Retired Extremely Dangerous.

Frank's minor pleasures come in his conversations with the woman who handles his retirement pay, Sarah (Parker). They have sparked a flirty chemistry over the phone and now Frank is ready to move things along to an actual physical encounter. These plans are upended when Frank finds and kills trained assassins in his home.

Assuming it is related to his conversations with Sarah he immediately travels to where she is, kidnaps her and the two go on the run. The first stop means recruiting an old friend abandoned and bored in a nursing home, Joe (Morgan Freeman). Then there is a trip to Florida where the terribly paranoid Marvin (John Malkovich) awaits. Finally, there is Victoria (Helen Mirren) , the most dangerous yet well adjusted of this group of RED Agents. 

Why is the CIA, led by Agent Cooper (Karl Urban) out to kill Frank? What does it have to do with Sarah? How big is the conspiracy? Who really cares? You won't care but you really aren't supposed to. The point of Red is not brilliant plotting or complex motivations but rather highly stylized violence and clever line reading, things “Red” has in abundance. 

Malkovich is the scene stealer in “Red” as Marvin Boggs, a former agent who was subjected to more than a decade of daily LSD treatments. His paranoia is matched with terrific intuition and ability for violence and Malkovich plays the wicked good guy with the kind of hammy glee usually reserved for his over the top bad guys. 

Morgan Freeman gets the short shrift as the oldest member of the crew. He has a few good moments, especially when putting the lights out on a guest star that I will leave as a surprise, but sadly his role amounts to little more than a cameo. Better served are Dame Helen Mirren and Bryan Cox who plays a former KGB killer and an important figure in both Frank and Victoria's past. 

Bruce Willis and Mary Louise Parker don't spark the chemistry that Willis had with Amanda Peet or Milla Jovavich but for Willis the romantic action hero there is plenty of fun to be had. Parker seems to be cracking up in every scene and Willis enjoys her cracking up even as he is required to keep a straight face. It's a fun if not quite sexy pairing. Parker brings out the playful side of a character that really is not playful and the laughs this generates are big and satisfying.

Karl Urban rounds out the main cast showing off the same comic panache he brought to his role as Bones McCoy in “Star Trek.” I find Urban to be fascinating in that he can play the ripped up action hero or comic relief with the same energy and surprising wit. Urban is everything modern action heroes like Sam Worthington or Gerard Butler have yet proven to be, constantly interesting. 

”Red” succeeds on the charisma of its stars. The likeability of this group is off the charts and more than enough to distract from the overly familiar and predictable plot. Bruce Willis is so much more interesting than his action hero contemporaries like Stallone or the Governator. The romance of Willis, the way his humanity is reflected by the women he desires, it's a beat that other action heroes can't play. It may be that one element that always sets him apart. It is undoubtedly what sets “Red” apart as some of Willis's best work.

Movie Review Life as We Know It

Life As We Know It (2010) 

Directed by Greg Berlanti

Written by Ian Deitchman

Starring Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas

Release Date October 8th, 2010

Published October 9th, 2010

You always have a choice in life but sometimes circumstance intervenes to complicate those choices. For Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Messer (Josh Duhamel) the circumstance is a stunner. When their respective best friends Allison (Mad Men's Christina Hendricks) and Peter (Hayes MacArthur) leave them a gift they could never have guessed, their infant daughter Sophie.

That is the jumping off point for the sweet romantic comedy “Life As We Know It” and while the tragedy of Allison and Peter’s death is given some horribly perfunctory treatment by director Craig Berlanti, hint; the characters reactions to their friends death nearly does upend the whole film by lacking in believable grief, the rest of “Life As We Know It” works hard to make up for the massive flaws with charm and romance.

Holly first met Messer when they were set up on a blind date by Allison and Peter. To say the date did not go well is an understatement. Messer showed up late, made no reservations for dinner and took a call and made plans with another girl while next to Holly in her car. The date didn't get past the attempt to drive to the restaurant.

Naturally, since Holly wants nothing to do with Messer, fate conspires to keep them around each other. When Allison marries Peter, Holly is Maid of Honor and Messer is the Best Man. When Peter and Allison get pregnant Holly is named godmother and Messer is the godfather. And when Peter and Allison die tragically, Holly and Messer are thrust together in the most unexpected way ever.

As godparents Holly and Messer are given custody of Sophie, Peter and Allison's infant daughter. They will give up their respective homes and move into Peter and Allison's home. They will try to raise Sophie while trying to spend all of their time fighting each other over schedules, sleeping arrangements and their general loathing of one another.

We always talk about this when it comes to romantic comedies but it's important to note. The fact that few like to acknowledge romantic comedies is that there is little new that can be done in this genre. There are few twists that cannot be guessed by the audience well in advance and the ending of 99% of romantic comedies is known going in. 

The best of the genre know this, accept it as fact and work around those issues to craft lovable characters, heartwarming moments and big laughs to keep the audience from focusing on the predictable story. Director Craig Berlanti is best known as a major TV producer whose innovative work on shows like Everwood, Eli Stone and most recently “No Ordinary Family,” actually makes him the ideal director to work the edges of a predictable story. 

Berlanti has dealt with the pained atmosphere of the hour-long drama, known mostly for lawyer and doctor shows, by taking chances and giving each of his characters something unique to play. In “Life As We Know It” the unique beats that Duhamel and  Heigl play are small but savvy and build not to major revelations but moments that reveal these characters and best of all keep the audience distracted from the predictable end that is always coming.

Josh Duhamel is an actor I have liked just about every time out. Though I loathe the “Transformers” films it's hard to blame Duhamel for taking a paycheck that merely calls for a lot of screaming and running. He sparked great chemistry with Kristen Bell earlier this year in another, far less appealing, romantic comedy “When in Rome” and then really delivered some unexpected terrific work in a supporting role in the family flick “Ramona and Beezus.” 

In “Life As We Know It” Josh Duhamel works the charm again, along with that megawatt smile, mussed hair and easy going, McConaughey-esque attitude to such great effect he manages to wear down even the sharpest edges of his often shrill and cold co-star Katherine Heigl. 

Though Ms. Heigl would like us to chalk the recent rise of her negative perceptions to a media creation, the fact is her choices have been bad. Whether it was her indelicate exit from TV's Grey's Anatomy, her harsh comments about her star-making comedy “Knocked Up” or her screechy, tone deaf performances in “The Ugly Truth” and “Killers,” Ms. Heigl has earned the downturn of her public persona and the effect it may or may not have on the perception of her film characters. 

In “Life As We Know It” whether by design or not, Craig Berlanti plays to Heigl's shrill side and then uses the softer, more charming Mr. Duhamel to take the edge off. The two are exceptionally well matched whether they are bickering opposites or two people on the verge of falling in love. 

See “Life as We Know It” for Duhamel and Heigl's chemistry. See it for the strong laughs to groan ratio, a solid 3 laughs for every one groan, and see it if you are just a fan of the few good romantic comedies that get made every year. “Life as We Know It” will not reinvent the genre, it may not fix Ms. Heigl's career, but it's a solid, romantic laffer that succeeds in a genre that people really enjoy.

Movie Review: The Social Network

The Social Network (2010)

Directed by David Fincher

Written by Aaron Sorkin

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara

Releease Date October 1st, 2010 

Published September 30t, 2010

For the past five years Facebook has been rising through our culture and becoming a phenomenon. It's a phenomenon that does not merely exist on its own but captures the rise to predominance of online culture vs. all other forms of discourse. Lives are lived online as much as they are in real life in many cases and much of those lives date back to one night when one 20-year-old college kid had a few beers and banged out the computer code that would cause a social networking revolution.

David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's "The Social Network" is the mostly true story of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), the purported founder of Facebook. There is some question as to whether Mark, now the world's youngest billionaire at 26 years old, actually came up with the idea or if he stole it, adapted it and reaped the rewards. The film takes its shape from depositions in two different lawsuits filed against Zuckerberg by friends and attempted colleagues.

Writer Ben Mezrich used the depositions as well as numerous interviews and investigative reporting as the basis for his sensational book "The Accidental Billionaires" which comes to thrilling and enthralling life onscreen as "The Social Network." Under the expert direction of David Fincher and the whip crack, witty dialogue of writer Aaron Sorkin, the founding of one website and the personalities behind it becomes a dialogue about the modern internet culture and a commentary on the direction of society.

Flashbacks begin and end in "The Social Network" with crash cuts to Mark Zuckerberg sitting in an entirely irritated state in a lawyer's office. Eduardo Severin (Andrew Garfield), Zuckerberg's former best friend and the man who put up the money to start Facebook and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Armie Hammer, in a remarkably non-showy, dual role) are suing Zuckerberg over Facebook but for very different reasons.

Forget the merits of either suit, it's clear Severin had a real beef while the Winklevoss's and their partner Divya Narenda were grasping at straws having simply a generic idea that they asked Zuckerberg to code for them and failed to administer on their own, the lawsuits are merely the ordering device. The meat of "The Social Network" is in the extraordinary casting, acting and writing as well as David Fincher's remarkable talent for setting a scene. 

Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg as a social illiterate who sees other people as a means to an end. We see at the start of the film a fictional account of Mark on a date with a girl played by Rooney Mara. It's evident to us, if not immediately to her, that Mark has no real interest in her beyond the physical need to be a normal 20 something male being seen in public with an attractive woman. Mara's character is a device but a terrific one; the date establishes who Mark is, his motivations and desires and the scene is filled with smart, fast paced, witty dialogue that gets the movie off to a running start.

Eisenberg owns the screen in this opening scene; his words fly like Edward Norton's fists in "Fight Club" and are occasionally as devastating. David Fincher's "Fight Club" was an indictment of consumer and pop culture disposability and "The Social Network" picks up where "Fight Club" left off by cutting the computer chord that binds the audience to Facebook and showing us the true face of social media, the good the bad and the ugly.

Opposite Eisenberg is Andrew Garfield as the much maligned and abused Facebook co-founder and CFO Eduardo Saverin. Eduardo is the genius and sap who made several hundred thousand dollars as a very young man, pledged some of that money to Mark Zuckerberg and watched his supposed friend attempt to jettison him from the company they founded together. Through Garfield's fierce yet sensitive performance we see how Saverin was seduced, betrayed and bewildered by Zuckerberg and the fast paced, wired world of Facebook.

Justin Timberlake is a lightning bolt of humor and charisma as Sean Parker, the former Napster founder who dazzled Zuckerberg by being the social butterfly Zuckerberg could never be but envied deeply. Parker is the high side of Internet culture, the freewheeling good times, the connections that work out and the potential for trouble that can arise from making connections with people you don't know. He is the polar opposite to Andrew Garfield's Saverin, whose story is another more truthful metaphor for the online experience of attempting to connect with friends and strangers in an online wasteland of forgettable status updates.

Facebook and the culture of social networking are by nature, not important. It brings little to nothing of value to the world. It is the intangible equivalent to candy. It's sweet and tasty or it can be souring, even disgusting. It can brighten your day or make you sick but in the end, Facebook, MySpace and the rest have no value beyond the metaphorical sugar high of faux connectedness.

The strength of "The Social Network" as crafted by David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin lies in recognizing the emptiness of the Facebook world and using the real life creators and their stories as a means of exposing the emptiness. Vapid status updates, perfunctory friend requests and questionable relationship statuses are the heart of Facebook and through the characters of "The Social Network" the stark reality of social networking becomes resonant, jarring messages for audiences merely expecting the sex, drugs and computer coding behind the pop phenomena of Facebook.

In "Fight Club" Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter watched the world fall apart around them as they held hands and connected truly for the first time. Facebook and the world of social networking comes crashing down in "The Social Network" and the witnesses are us, the audience, many of whom have spent far too much time taking Facebook far too seriously.

Movie Review Legend of the Guardian The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Legend of the Guardians The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)

Directed by Zack Snyder

Written by John Orloff, Emil Stern

Starring Jim Sturgess, Helen Mirren, Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving, Abbie Cornish

Release Date September 24th, 2010

Published September 23rd, 2010

Why a movie about warrior owls? Where did this idea come from? Who saw this and thought 'Warrior Owls? Brilliant!" As baffling as the idea may be, “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole” is for real and arrives in theaters with the help of some extraordinary animation and the marketing hook of 3D.

Soren (Voice of Jim Sturgess, 21) is a dreamer who lives for his father's stories about the Warriors of Ga'Hoole, Owl defenders who protect the meek from the tyranny of evil owls. Though the Warriors have not been heard of in years, Soren and little sister Eglantine (Adrienne DeFaria) are fervent believers in the legend while Soren's brother Kludd (Ryan Kwanten) has tired of the stories.

Soren and Kludd will soon have the chance to verify the reality of the Warriors of Ga'Hoole when they find themselves kidnapped by the evil Metalbeak (Joel Edgerton) and forced to become warriors for the Pure Owls or lowly workers deep inside of mines where Owl's, zombified by Moon Blindness, sift endlessly for pieces of a new and deadly weapon.

Soren being brave and defiant quickly takes to the aid of an Elf Owl named Gylfie (Emily Barclay) and the two seek freedom with the help of a former kidnappee, Grimble (Hugo Weaving), who teaches them to fly and points them in the direction of the Warriors of Ga'Hoole.

Soren and Gylfie are charged with flying halfway round the world to the great tree to find and warn the warriors. Along the way they are joined by a misfit pair of Owls who pitch in to help, Digger (David Wenham) and Twilight (Anthony LaPaglia). Indeed, the Warriors are real as is Soren's hero Ezylrib (Geoffrey Rush) who literally and figuratively takes young Soren under his wing.

The stakes are set quickly and easily by director Zack Snyder (“300”, “The Watchmen”) and though the storytelling is elementary, the animation is as epic and complex as anything you've ever seen before. Snyder, for all his bombast, is a visionary who sees a massive epic where people like me see merely warrior owls.

Snyder's visionary approach brings massive scope and scale to what otherwise seems a minor kids story. Author Kathryn Lasky's book series is pitched with simple stories; simple meanings intended to offer valuable lessons for kids in the 5 to 12 age group. Under the direction of Mr. Snyder, the story remains childish and simple but the vision and the design are aimed at any audience seeking a dynamic visual experience.

Indeed, “Legend of the Guardians” is an exceptional visual feast filled with pitched battles, and stunning scenes of flight. Even when the owls are grounded one cannot help but be dazzled by the detailed animation that is rivaled only by the artists at Pixar. See Legend of the Guardians in its Digital presentation and you will be awed by the color and contours of the animation.

Sadly, in 3D Digital, “Legend of the Guardians” is robbed of a true dimension. Sure, things leap off of the screen but because the science of 3D Glasses has yet to catch up with the new generation of on screen 3D technology, the glasses strangle the color and rather than adding to the experience it hampers it. Having seen a Digital 2D presentation and the 3D Presentation there is simply no competition, 2D Digital blows the 3D away.

The complex colors are not merely a visual extravagance. During the massive battle sequence at the crescendo of Legend of the Guardians, color becomes important in determining who is fighting who and where our rooting interest lies. Digital 3D dulls the colors and strains the eye while Digital 2D presents bright, vivid color and the effect is breathtaking.

A visual spectacular, “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole” is not likely to win any awards for great storytelling. This is a very simple story with a solid, worthy message about protecting those in need and fighting evil. It's told with the kind of simplicity that will bore adults but will be easy for small children to follow. The key appeal of “Legend of the Guardians” is the visual feast and on that account, it's worth the price of a 2D Digital ticket, if not a 3D ticket.

Movie Review: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) 

Directed by Woody Allen

Written by Woody Allen 

Starring Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, Lucy Punch

Release date September 22nd, 2010

Published September 22nd, 2010

Woody Allen has long been a cynic and often a downer, especially in recent years. However, that cynicism as in the underappreciated comedy “Anything Else” or last year's weaker but not bad “Whatever Works” was at least leavened with biting humor. For his latest effort "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger" Allen has given in to an arrogant cynicism that desperately could use some better jokes.

Gemma Jones is ostensibly the star of "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger," if only for the fact that she plays the character who is most subject of Allen's contempt, as Helena a woman whose husband of 45 years, Alfie (Anthony Hopkins), has left her. Having become a severe burden to her daughter Sally (Naomi Watts) and her husband Roy (Josh Brolin), they have fobbed Helena off on a fortune teller named Cristal (Pauline Collins) who has become a friend and guru.

Sally meanwhile, has a budding flirtation with her boss played by Antonio Banderas and Roy, struggling as a novelist who can't finish his second book, begins an affair with a neighbor played by Frieda Pinto. And then there is poor, pathetic Alfie who after leaving Helena has taken up with a prostitute named Charmaine (Lucy Punch) who is spending him into the poorhouse and cheating on him even as he professes love for her and wears out his Viagra prescriptions to keep up with her.

In the universe of Woody Allen, Sally, Roy and Alfie are burdened with the knowledge of their longings and sorrows while Helena takes idiot comfort in plans for her afterlife, living again as she has lived in the past, possibly as Cleopatra or some sort of English royalty; what point would there be to a dull past life?

In this universe there is no comfort for the intellectual while the dullard finds peace in her foolishness and is the only character to emerge unscathed. Now, as a fellow non-believer who finds such things as past lives, after-life, fortune tellers and mediums to be mere hokum, I can identify with Mr. Allen's loathing of such things. However, Mr. Allen becomes boorish when he protests the fools without humor as he does in "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger."

As Mr. Allen wields his bitterness by mocking Helena he seems to lose track or simply pay no mind to the travails of Sally and Roy. Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin play at having had romantic chemistry, a good trait for a couple portraying marital decay, but as the marriage ends and once it is over we are merely taught a lesson in chance that has little humor or interest.

Roy brings about his own moral undoing but it has little to do with his cheating on his wife or falling in love with Ms. Pinto. As for Sally, she has no real moral undoing; she's merely unlucky in love. Neither plot is delivered with much humor or insight; it's likely the mundane nature of Sally's plight is the point of her story but I think if we want mundane we can find plenty of it in our own lives.

Alfie's plot is the only one to generate much of any comic steam and all of that comes from the wonderful performance of Lucy Punch as Charmaine. Ms. Punch is a walking punch line of snapping gum and streetwalker cliché. Her overwrought idiot line reads are almost all jokes and Ms. Punch delivers them with effortless humor. Mr. Hopkins is good as the dazed old timer pretending he's still young and yet realizing that all he really wants is a comfortable chair but his realizations are nothing new.

If you enjoy Woody Allen's brand of cynicism, minus his usual wit then "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger" is the movie for you. While I am as much a cynic when it comes to religion, the afterlife, mediums, fortune tellers and the like, I try not to bore people with my rationality. Mr. Allen bores away in "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger" and like meeting the know-it-all at a party you cannot run away to the other side of the room fast enough.

Documentary Review: Catfish

Catfish (2010) 

Directed by Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Written by Documentary

Starring Ariel Schulman

Release Date September 17th, 2010

Published September 23rd, 2010

Why can't I get interested in writing about “Catfish?” As I watched this potentially faux documentary about a guy in a relationship with what may be a fake woman from Michigan I was at first compelled then after the big reveal of the big twist I completely lost interest. Is it the filmmaker's fault or a case of temporary A.D.D? I’m not sure but I know I can't recommend a movie that I barely finished out of disinterest.

”Catfish” is a supposedly real documentary about New York Photographer Nev Schulman who begins an online relationship with 19 year old Megan Facci after being approached online by her little sister Abby, a surprisingly talented artist at just 8 years old. Abby painted a gorgeous watercolor of one of Nev's photos that appeared in a New York Newspaper as well as online.

Abby's mom Angela sent Nev a print of the painting and from there Nev through Facebook befriended Abby's family, including her older half sister Megan. The relationship with Megan grows as intense as any long distance relationship can get with sexy text messages, emails and late night phone calls. While Angela urges caution and other family members, like Abby's rocker brother get involved and cause drama, Nev begins pondering a real relationship with Megan. 

While on a business trip to Colorado Nev, his brother and the documentary director Rel Schulman and co-director Henry Joost, decide that a trip to Ishpeming Michigan to meet the family and Megan is the logical next step in what has been till now a sweet chronicle of long distance love, art and Facebook. However, the trip to Colorado also reveals a key lie Megan and Angela have been telling and leads Nev to worry that the whole thing is a sham. 

Before we get to the full critique of “Catfish;” the marketing of “Catfish” bears mentioning. Producer Andrew Jarecki, the filmmakers and the studios Rogue and Universal Pictures made a strange choice to market “Catfish” as some sort of thriller with a 'shocking twist' at its center. There is a twist but it's a sad slow reveal of something that will not surprise anyone who has spent time on Facebook getting to know strangers some of whom bring their sadness and desperation to social networking. 

Pretending “Catfish” is some kind of juicy thriller is likely the reason so many people think “Catfish” is a big fake out. Indeed, according to Wikipedia, fellow documentarian Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) is alleged to have confronted director Rel Schulman after a showing of “Catfish” and complimented him on the best fake documentary he had ever seen. Why pretend a documentary is some kind of Blair Witch-esque, found footage thriller when the reality is so much different? 

Maybe the filmmakers realized, as I did about half way through “Catfish,” that what they had was half of an interesting story based on a good looking and interesting lead character who goes all limp and boring in the second half when confronted with the unfortunate reality of his long distance love affair. I really liked Nev Schulman and was compelled by his relationship with 'Megan.' However, when they make the trip to Michigan the film loses steam and bogs down when Nev drops his New York superiority in favor of faux Midwestern compassion. 

Do I believe what I have seen in “Catfish?” Maybe, mostly, I didn't care if it was real. “Catfish” fails to stay compelling once it reveals its twist and how unsurprising and merely sad it all really is. Documentary or not “Catfish” just isn't all that engaging after the twist and certainly not as compelling as the bizarre marketing campaign that pretends “Catfish” is “The Blair Witch” or “The Last Exorcism,” films that brilliantly use the form of fake documentary to tell riveting faux real life stories with real scares. 

One could go on for a while about the dangers of online life about how “Catfish” details our alienation from reality through the looking glass of social networking but there is a better and far more compelling example of that alienation that is competing for Oscars right now in “The Social Network.” Director David Fincher's fabulized tale of the founding Facebook is far more on point about our alienation through the online world than anything possibly evoked by accident or intention in “Catfish.”

Movie Review: Devil

Devil (2010)

Directed by John Erick Dowdle

Written by Brian Nelson

Starring Jacob Vargas, Matt Craven, Bokeem Woodbine Geoffrey Arend

Release Date September 17th, 2010 

Published September 17th, 2010

 A month ago as I sat patiently awaiting the start of a movie that I barely remember and the trailer for “Devil” popped up. Near the end of the trailer a line showed up on the screen 'from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan' and the previously indifferent audience suddenly burst out in laughter, boos and insulting catcalls.

This was in the wake of Shyamalan's box office success with “The Last Airbender” which made plenty of cash but was mostly despised by audiences, as evidenced by the laughter, boos and catcalls at his name. “Devil” has now arrived in theaters and while it may have sprung from same mind that thought “The Last Airbender” was a good idea, “Devil” is a far better and more satisfying thrill ride than that kid flick debacle.

”Devil” stars Chris Messina as a cop fresh from 60 days sobriety and a meeting with his sponsor. Called to the site of a suicide; the handsome Detective Bowden has actually stumbled on a case that will change his life. While Bowman and his partner Markowitz (Joshua Peace, Cube Zero) are investigating the suicide a situation is unfolding inside the building from which the suicide, literally, sprang.

Five strangers have entered elevator number 6 and find themselves trapped. While security guards Ramirez (Jacob Vargas) and Lustig (Matt Craven) look on these five strangers face blackouts that lead to violence and eventually death. With detectives and security foiled in trying to get the elevator moving, Ramirez begins pitching an idea that there is nothing that can be done; the Devil has chosen these five and only accepting their fate can bring an end to the torture.

”Devil” is said to be part of a trilogy thought up by Producer M. Night Shyamalan in concert with directors Drew and Erick Dowdle, the minds behind “Quarantine” and the cult hit “The Poughkeepsie Tapes” and writer Bryan Nelson, best known for the terrific script for the not so great vampire flick “30 Days of Night.” Indeed, “Devil” does set some stakes for a small scale biblical battle to come yet, on its own manages to be entertaining without cheating ahead for sequels.

The Dowdle Brothers are the ideal directors for “Devil.” Both “Quarantine” and “The Poughkeepsie Tapes” are clever, small scale thrillers that make use of clever camera tricks and low watt effects to sell their scares. With a slightly bigger budget, the Dowdle's have the best cast they've had so far in their careers and make terrific use of their horrified glares, terror filled eyes and abundant sweat glands.

The Dowdle's often keep the camera uncomfortably in the face of their subjects and the move aids the audience in feeling the heated, claustrophobia and paranoia that slowly consumes the five strangers that include actors Geoffrey Arends, Bokeem Woodbine and Logan Marshall-Green and actresses Jenny O'Hara and Bojana Novakovic.

As strong as the strangers are, Chris Messina is twice as good as Detective Bowman. In a number of tiny supporting roles, in movies like the wonderful “Away We Go” and the likable “Julie and Julia” -as Amy Adams put upon husband- Messina has made a good impression in underserved roles. In “Devil” Messina gets to show what he's really got and one can only hope he gets more big roles, the guy has got It.

Messina's performance in “Devil” stands right next to another breakout character actor's performance in a low budget, low watt horror/thriller, Patrick Fabian in “The Last Exorcism.” Both performances underplay their genre, draw the audience to them through charm and competence and both are actors of unexpected force and charisma.

”Devil” isn't quite as ingenious as “The Last Exorcism” but it's along the same line, a horror/thriller that smartly tweaks the horror formula to deliver something that seems fresh amid the flotsam of the genre.

Well cast and cleverly directed, “Devil” is a welcome surprise in a month when Hollywood tends to be taking it easy. Sure, the name M. Night Shyamalan isn't likely to earn cheers again anytime soon, especially if he's still planning another ‘Airbender’ movie, but he's on to something with the so called “Night Chronicles.” Here's hoping he and his collaborators can capitalize on the promise of “Devil.”

Movie Review Takers

Takers (2010) 

Directed by John Luessenhop 

Written by Gabriel Casseus, John Luessenhop, Avery Duff

Starring Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, Michael Ealy, Zoe Saldana

Release Date August 27th, 2010 

Published August 27th, 2010

Expectations for the action/heist flick “Takers” were so low they had to be scraped off of a sticky theater floor. There really was not much to be expected from a movie featuring the wooden talents of Idris Elba, Paul Walker and Hayden Christensen or the first time performance of troubled R & B star Chris Brown. Add to that a first time director and a screenplay credited to four different writers and really all the film has to be is in frame to surpass expectations.

So what a great surprise that “Takers” is more than merely in frame. Indeed this fast paced, quick witted caper flick is wildly entertaining in its mindless quick cut manner.

Gordon (Idris Elba), John (Paul Walker), A.J (Hayden Christensen), Jake (Michael Ealy) and Jesse (Chris Brown) are first glimpsed entering a high end Los Angeles bank. They will soon rob this bank with an efficient, violent flourish.

The celebration of this very successful, multi-million dollar heist is short lived as a former member of their crew, Ghost (T.I), arrives with a new opportunity. Ghost has a plan for robbing an armored car that could quadruple the amount of money they took from the bank. The plan involves complex timing and well placed violence, all right up this crew’s alley.

The biggest question is Ghost. Freshly released from prison after five years, no one can be certain whether he is motivated by greed or revenge. His plan is solid but after he finds his ex Rachel (Zoe Saldana) engaged to Jake it becomes relatively clear that he cannot be entirely trusted.

As the crew is making plans, the cops are closing in. Lead investigator Jack Welles (Matt Dillon) and his partner Eddie (Jay Hernandez) have stumbled onto a lead involving Russian gangsters linked to Ghost. The lead goes from Ghost to Gordon and from Gordon to the rest of the crew. Will the cops catch on to the plan before they can execute it? Will Ghost betray his former friends?

These questions don't really matter all that much but they lend enough context to “Takers” to give the action enough juice to be compelling. First time director John Luessenhoepp shrewdly limits the time spent with these actors talking and gets right into these actors doing the things that most other movies would spend time explaining.

”Takers” is keenly aware of the derivative nature of the heist picture and spends little time on the explanation in favor of action that rarely pauses. These actors are at their best when they are physically involved and “Takers” plays to that strength with scene after scene of action. When the movie needs any minor explanations they turn to the one actor in the cast with the chops to deliver, Matt Dillon. The veteran Dillon cleverly plays chief explainer and is only rarely bogged down with heavy exposition.

That's not to say that Dillon doesn't get physical himself. In fact, in easily the best scene in “Takers,” Dillon and Jay Hernandez give chase to a fleeing Chris Brown in an extra long chase that involves Parkour leaps and bounds, heavy hitting traffic and one well placed, unexpected bullet.

”Takers” is terrific genre entertainment, an action movie almost without pause. Clever, well employed violence combines with a super fast pace and juices “Takers” beyond its acting and story limitations. It also helps to have a guy like Matt Dillon around to do the minor heavy lifting.

Movie Review: The Switch

The Switch (2010) 

Directed by Will Speck, Josh Gordon

Written by Allan Loeb

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum 

Release Date August 20th, 2010

Published August 19th, 2010

There is chemistry between Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman despite what you see in the new movie The Switch. In a rare few scenes of this disposable formula comedy from the Hollywood factory floor Aniston radiates warmth and Bateman shows wit and the personalities that I'm sure they thought these characters had shines through.

These scenes are all too brief and surrounded by so much tripe that I cannot recommend you bother searching for the good moments, I can merely assure you those moments really are there. The Switch buries what good there is between the two leads beneath so much banal, humorless chatter that sifting the remains becomes a dumpster dive.

The Switch stars Bateman as sadsack stock trader Wally who is in love with his best friend Kassie (Aniston) though he doesn't yet know it. Kassie doesn't know it either but only through a massive level of cluelessness. Both are in their early 40's when Kassie announces she wants a baby and will be getting an artificial insemination.

Wally is opposed to this plan, not because his best friend is aiming to become a 40 something single mom but because he's in love with her but incapable of admitting it. Thus we arrive at the title plot; at a party where Kassie will be inseminated (is this really something people do?) Wally get wasted and stumbles on the sperm, plays with the sample cup and accidentally spills it. His solution? Give a new sample. These scenes are handled with the implied level of dignity, i.e none whatsoever for poor Jason Bateman, or poorer still, Diane Sawyer. Don't ask.

Cut to 7 years later, Kassie moved to Minnesota with her new baby but is now ready to return to New York. Wally is waiting and because he doesn't remember making the switch, he doesn't know the kid, Sebastian (Thomas Robinson), is his. Oh but he will find out and then tell Kassie and well you can figure out where all of this is going.

There is a talented ensemble rounding out the cast of The Switch including veterans Juliette Lewis and the wonderful Jeff Goldblum, but sadly all are stranded in a go nowhere script by Allen Loeb and the atonal direction of Josh Gordon and Will Speck. As the actors ache to bring something more to these characters they are shredded down to essences, Wally is morose and bumbling, Kassie is shrill and clueless and everyone else is rendered unimportant, more walking exposition than characters.

Scenes arrive and thud as the characters sketch the plot points and the scene ends without anything funny happening. The dialogue is witless and the direction strips out nuance in favor of hitting imaginary points along the lines of a map toward banal, middle of the road Hollywood romance.

The Switch is more concept than movie. Jeffrey Eugenides conceived the idea for his short story The Baster which is a thoughtful if slightly depressing short story published by the New Yorker in 1996. That story involved characters who were aware of their feelings, abortion and a deep history between the characters that Eugenides manages to communicate with an economy of words that would barely add up to 3 or 4 scenes in The Switch. 

Gone is any hint of honest back-story replaced with cluelessness that becomes not a running gag as maybe it should have been but is instead one of the artificial roadblocks used to pad this story out to feature film length. The other device is Patrick Wilson as Roland the cuckold in waiting who exists only to sustain the unlikely notion that Wally and Kassie won't end up together. 

I will leave you to discover what happened in Mr. Eugenides' far superior short story; you don't need a map or a spoiler alert to intuit where things are headed in The Switch. As with any romantic comedy it's not about the destination, we know what's expected and what we all want to happen in a rom-com. The key is crafting a journey for the audience that is smart, funny and diverting enough to make the inevitable payoff worth your time. The Switch fails miserably on this front by crafting a tedious, unfunny journey. 

It's a real shame because there is a moment when Jason Bateman is watching the kid, now 6 years old, and Jennifer Aniston walks in just watches Bateman and the kid. In this moment you can see the potential and when they finally look at one another you can sense the better movie that these two talented people could have made were they not saddled with the conventions of such an insipid and typical Hollywood formula.

Movie Review Machete

Machete (2010) 

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

Written by Robert Rodriguez

Starring Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan

Release Date September 3rd, 2010 

Published September 4th, 2010

“Machete” is a film that is impervious to criticism. One cannot critique the filmmaking; it's supposed to be grungy and low budget to evoke its 70's influences. One cannot critique the acting, everyone in the film is supposed to be over the top and utterly ludicrous to match the unfortunate amateurs who played these roles back in the original Grindhouse days. You cannot criticize the storyline because really, what story is there? And since you are not supposed to treat any of this with seriousness as that would undermine the audacious, humorous homage to trash, one really can’t then take seriously anything in the film's take on the immigration issue?

“Machete” is basically Robert Rodriguez masturbating on screen. Yes, masturbation seems to be the foremost concern of “Machete” or rather director Robert Rodriguez who puts his deepest carnal desires on screen, revealing himself in both brave and disturbing fashion. Like his cohorts Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino, Rodriguez gets off on guns and blood but unlike Roth and with slightly less awe than Tarantino, Rodriguez throws a few near naked girls in the mix.

Is it strange to watch a grown man put his teenage boy sex fantasies on screen? Oh yeah, a big part of me has absolutely no want to know what it is that gets Robert Rodriguez off. But, there is also a part of me that is sickly entertained because some of his fantasies, Ms. Alba in particular, are my fantasies as well. I, however, do not get off on violence the way Rodriguez does. I don't mind the skillful demonstration of violence on screen but the ways in which Rodriguez and his man/boy directing brethren enjoy the violence is disturbing and makes me worry a little for their collective mental health.

In a review of “Hostel” for another website years ago I wondered; if Eli Roth were not a filmmaker capable of demonstrating his sickest fantasies on screen would he have become a serial murderer? I have the same concerns with Mr. Rodriguez after watching “Machete” but to a slightly lesser extent.

The difference between the two is Rodriguez has an interest in women, even if only a puerile one, Mr. Roth only seems to enjoy torture, maiming and death. Dragging their mentor Mr. Tarantino into this conversation is unnecessary, his interest seems to be purely cinema and what his camera's eye is capable of, what the camera captures serves a very particular and highly cinematic vision. Rodriguez and Roth are teenage boys using the camera as a masturbatory device for their incurable twisted fantasies.

“Machete” boils down to a demonstration of what 13 year old Robert Rodriguez found on a VHS tape years ago and got off to. Whether it was Gordon Parks or Melvin Van Peebles, William Girdler (look him up, I did) or Arthur Marx, Rodriguez found tapes of Foxy Brown or Sweet Sweetback or Shaft and it got him off. Now he’s making the movies that get him off.

I’m not a prude, I have the same male urge for self gratification that every other red blooded American male has. I merely prefer to confine my fantasies to my bedroom. Mr. Rodriguez places his fantasies in giant multiplex theaters and I find that awkward and disturbing.

I mean, if this were a true homage to Grindhouse, one would have to stumble upon it in some woebegone, out of the way second hand shop. Not in the gleaming, popcorn scented world in which the theater next door is showing Toy Story 3. “Machete” belongs on a store shelf next to Faster Pussycat Kill Kill or anything by Herschel Gordon Lewis. There it could be discovered and passed around from friend to friend.

That’s my issue, that’s what has been nagging at me about “Machete.” Treating this like any other major movie release just feels wrong. It’s supposed to be underground where some teenager can dust it off, slip into his jacket pocket and steal it out of the store while the manager is helping a customer buy porn.

The kid should sneak “Machete” home, wait for his parents to go to bed and slip it in and enjoy it as it should be enjoyed. The next day he takes it to school and passes it from friend to friend until one of them gets caught with it and it spends the next decade in a school filing cabinet waiting to be rediscovered or sold at some teacher’s garage sale.

Placing “Machete” in theater taints the true experience. The bloody, gory, twisted violence, the childish over the top sex, simply does not belong in the same building where Jennifer Aniston is starring in The Switch. The milieu degrades and depraves the experience and makes “Machete” impossible to enjoy without feeling more than a little creepy and weird.

Movie Review The Duchess

The Duchess (2008) 

Directed by Saul Dibb

Written by Jeffrey Hatcher, Saul Dibb, Anders Thomas Jensen 

Starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell

Release Date September 5th, 2008 

Published October 25th, 2008

Georgiana Spencer is a long time relative of Lady Diana Spencer who went on to become Princess Diana. They were destined to be related. The Duchess of Devonshire was the Diana of her time, a celebrity diva with the eyes of a nation following her every move and copying her every dress and hairstyle. They had even more in common in private where the Duchess and the Princess lived with cold hearted husbands whose dalliances were humiliating blows especially as any challenge to that behavior were so hypocritically decried.

Keira Knightley stars in The Duchess as the legendary Georgiana. At 16 she was married off to the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes). They had only met twice but when assured by her mother that she would produce a make heir, the Duke snapped her up. The wedding was elaborate and celebrated across London. Georgiana was blown away by the opulence suddenly thrust upon her but her wonderment didn't last. Soon she finds her husband taking the help to his bed. When he finally takes Georgiana the moment is awkward and workmanlike.

Her role in his life is nothing more than broodmare and when she doesn't immediately offer a male heir, the duke becomes cruel and reviled. With a maid he fathered a daughter, Charlotte who then becomes Georgiana's responsibility. Her first two children are girls and the tension in the house is ever worsening. Then Georgiana is blessed with a friend named Bess. She has just been abandoned by her husband who has taken her two sons. Georgiana offers to let Bess stay with her while she fights for her boys, in the meantime Bess is convinced to sleep with William in exchange for his help, the humiliation drives a wedge between the women that is nearly irresolvable.

Soon the Duchess herself has found someone else. His name is Charles Gray and he happens to be a candidate for Prime Minister and a childhood friend of Georgiana. She offers to help his political career, with her awesome ability to draw a crowd but his interest goes far beyond her useful celebrity. He has loved her since before she was married and hopes that he can run away with her one day. The love story is a little rushed and forced but it's not bad. 

The Duchess was directed by Saul Dibb an heretofore unknown director who also co-wrote the script based on Amanda Foreman's novel. Dibb has a strong sense of the period, the hot house melodrama of the Duke and Duchess's home and an ear for the way these characters may have talked. I thoroughly  enjoyed the presence of Mr. Fox and his obvious lover Mr. Doyle. Together they are the perfect gay best friends for the Duchess though she longs for a real girlfriend. She had found it with Bess but the relationship ended badly, as did most of Georgiana's relationship.

So what of the Oscar buzz for Keira Knightley? Much deserved. Ms. Knightley is feisty and pouty and sexy and glamorous, everything we need in a grand, mid-centuries celebrity. Even as she indulges, the Duchess has a deeper intellect than the men in her life give her credit for. She earns the respect of her friend Mr. Fox by questioning his take on freedom, a line that will become ironic in her own life, "Freedom is an absolute, you either are or you are not".The publicity for The Duchess plays up a reputation for her being a great conversationalist. That example is not in The Duchess. Aside from her thoughts on freedom, the Duchess is not demonstrated as a great thinker.

Quick on her feet? Street smart? Yes, but no Nobel Prize winner.

A strong performance from Keira Knightley is the life blood of The Duchess but beyond her the film relies on the conventions of the period piece. There is nothing in Georgiana Spencer's life that is as compelling as Eliza Bennett of Pride and Prejudice, a demonstrably witty and intelligent character. A better correlative of The Duchess would be Marie Antoinette from Sophia Coppola's biography. The Duchess has a lot more juice than that overwrought melange of pop music and pop history. The juice comes from Knightly and the immaculate period setting. Set your expectations for the movie as a whole low and you will find yourself satisfied with The Duchess.

Movie Review: 21

21 (2008) 

Directed by Robert Luketic

Written by Peter Steinfeld 

Starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence FIshburne

Release Date March 28th, 2008 

Published March 27th, 2008 

Ben Mezrich’s book Bringing Down The House is a hectic, heady mix of glitz and brilliance. A group of MIT students developed their skill for counting cards and took their act to Vegas where they broke the bank for more than 7 figures. The movie 21 dramatizes the story of the brainiac card sharps and as directed by Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) the glitz and glamour are in place, unfortunately, minus the brains.

Jim Sturgess stars in 21 as Ben Campbell a shy, nervous, soon to be MIT grad who will need a good deal of financial help to get him to his goal of attending Harvard Medical School. Opportunity then falls in his lap when he impresses a professor named Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) with his math skills. Rosa happens to be the brains behind the underground MIT Blackjack team.

Using a unique and complicated card counting system, this smarty-pants team takes on Vegas and walk away loaded down with cash. Soon Ben is a high roller with more than enough to pay for his med school trip but the lure of greed and the lifestyle of Vegas keep him coming back for more.

His high roller status captures the attention of a longtime Las Vegas security facing extinction in the age of biometrics. His name is Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) and his maintains his tenuous position in the high stakes world of Vegas by doing the one thing computers can’t, dishing out vicious beatings to card counters before chasing them out of the city.

As soon as he is on to Ben’s game the movie gains a little bit of energy. Sadly the battle of wits and wills between Sturgess and the ever so intense Fishburne is a no contest. Young Jim Sturgess is an attractive young actor with a hip floppy hair cut of the Maroon 5 variety but a presence he is not, especially compared to Fishburne who’s basso profundo voice is more than enough to blow Sturgess off the screen.

Paired in romance with the waifish Kate Bosworth, Sturgess co-creates one of the wussiest romances of any movie since Eric Bana sulked his way through another Vegas based wet blanker Lucky You opposite Drew Barrymore. Ms. Bosworth, who showed so much spunky potential in the 2003 beach movie Blue Crush has since squandered her shot at stardom in a series of downbeat roles.

Meanwhile her multi-time co-star Kevin Spacey, whose literally made some of the same mistakes as Ms. Bosworth (Beyond The Sea, Superman Returns), actually returns to form a little in 21. Of this underwhelming cast in this underwhelming story, Mr. Spacey is the lone standout. Showing the kind of intelligence, wit and guile necessary to pull off this scam, Spacey’s Mickey is the only character you can buy as a card counter taking Vegas for a ride.

The script from writer Jim Steinfeld waters down and mainstreams the grittier, more ethnic origins of Ben Mezrich’s book. For one thing, the leaders of this group of Blackjack con men were Asian, not the model pretty anglos of 21. The change of ethnicity is so nakedly commercial, the inherent racism and ignorance so offensive that author Mezrich would have been commended for taking his name off the project, as was rumored during production.

Director Robert Luketic has a real knack for flashy, colorful visuals and is quite at home with the glitz and glamour of modern Vegas. Unfortunately, the pretty colors and flashing lights can’t distract from the puddle deep characters and predictable innocence corrupted, innocence regained storyline.

That kind of soft headed approach works for fluffy fair like Luketic’s terrifically chirpy Legally Blonde and underrated teen romancer Win A Date With Tad Hamilton but with the more crafty, suspenseful story like that of 21, Luketic’s style fails on every level and becomes tedious without the likes of Reese Witherspoon in a bunny costume to lighten the mood.

Visually dazzling and shot glass deep, 21 overstays it’s welcome at over 2 hours of stops and starts, weak attempts at romance and weaker attempts at suspense. Wasting a comeback performance by Kevin Spacey in favor of the floppy haired good looks of Jim Sturgess, 21 hits when it should stay and busts big time.

Movie Review Stop Loss

Stop Loss (2008)

Directed by Kimberly Pierce 

Written by Kimberly Pierce 

Starring Ryan Phillipe, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish, Joseph Gordon Levitt

Release Date March 28th, 2008

Published March 28th, 2008 

I know that all of you hate it when I review a movie and discuss the film's marketing as part of the review. The fact of the matter is however that whether you like it or not movie marketing changes your perception of a movie, shapes it and creates an expectation that the movie must deliver on or suffer your opinion. Thus how the marketing of the Iraq war drama Stop Loss prevented me from finding something redeeming about this well acted but boring drama.

With the backing of MTV Films this well meaning Iraq war drama becomes a movie about buffed up supermodels playing soldiers against a heavy pop rock soundtrack. A shame because Ryan Phillippe is far too good for something this slicked up and prepackaged.

Stop Loss is directed by the brilliant Kimberly Pierce who has not worked since her Boys Don't Cry was the victim of indie politics and red state fear. Returning to work with her first relatively big budget, Pierce wants to criticize a failing US military policy in a thoughtful and dramatic way. Unfortunately, with the backing of MTV Films what we get is a soundtrack and pretty scenery.

Ryan Phillippe is the star of Stop Loss as Sgt. Brandon King. Sgt. King thinks he is done with the war in Iraq but when he goes for his exit interview he is told to report back to duty and ship out for Iraq once again. Sgt. King has stopped a policy that allows a President to extend a soldiers tour for an unspecified amount of time during a time of war.

Brandon is none too happy with this situation and vows to fight it, eventually going AWOL with his buddy Steve's (Channing Tatum) wife (Abbie Cornish) and traveling to Washington where he hopes a friendly Congressman can get him out. Steve on the other hand is happy to be going back. His post traumatic stress has caused him nothing but pain since returning home and he hopes that returning to the battlefield will center him again. 

Michele, Steve's wife, at first just offers to drive Brandon out of state but once on the road she becomes wrapped up in the cause and eventually wrapped up in Brandon, she rationalizes "Steve's married to the army". 

Is it fair to criticize Phillippe, Tatum, Cornish and supporting players Joseph Gordon Levitt and Rob Brown for being good looking? No. But, when MTV Films marketing department makes the movie about these guys with their shirts off and Ms. Cornish in just a half t-shirt, no bra, it becomes about their looks and less about their characters and the story being told.

Director Kimberly Pierce gets caught up in the slick, beautiful-people-only world of MTV movie making and loses sight of her story. Stop Loss then quickly devolves from thoughtful drama to exactly what the movie marketers promised, America's Next Top Model, men's edition, set to a high octane, highly salable pop soundtrack.

Worse than the marketing hooks however is the fact that Stop Loss is  boring. After a few rousing battle scenes in Iraq we return to Texas and wait for something to happen. Nothing much does. The actors go through the motions of being haunted, tormented and depressed but few get below the surface. Joseph Gordon Levitt, so brilliant recently in a string of exceptional performances, here seems especially going through the motions.

It seems every war drama has a character exactly like the one played by Mr. Levitt and the character's fate is drawn out to the same conclusion each time. Levitt plays it all with a serious brood on but he is not central to the plot and by the end his fate is utterly meaningless.

Ryan Phillippe is effective, more so than anyone else in the movie, but his over pronounced Texas drawl is distracting and his buffed up, shirtless physique gets just as much attention as the plight of his character. Channing Tatum, star of Step Up, is surprisingly effective as a meat headed guy who sees himself as a blunt instrument of war and acts as such. With a little more care there could have been something really extraordinary about Mr. Tatum's performance but beyond his desperation he is an emotional sieve. 

As Iraq war movies go Stop Loss sidesteps the pro-war/anti-war minefield by sticking close to these characters. By making this movie about these specific characters and not about a grandstanding, overarching point of view, Ms.Pierce opens her movie to a wider audience and comes off as something of a coward for not taking a stand one way or the other.

Stop Loss seems to oppose a policy which subjects our troops to treatment we wouldn't wish upon our enemies but has little of interest to say in opposition of this treatment. The abuse of our soldier's bravery and commitment is an idea that needs exploration. Stop Loss exploits it as a way of presenting pretty boy soldiers without their shirts partying to a soundtrack that will sell big on MTV.com.

Movie Review: The Forbidden Kingdom

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) 

Directed by Rob Minkoff 

Written by John Fusco 

Starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano

Release Date April 18th, 2008 

Published April 19th, 2008

The first teaming of Jackie Chan and Jet Li delivers one solid fight scene. In a monastery the two masters face each other down and neither can capture a full advantage. It's an alright scene, a good fight but with both Chan and Li playing good guys in The Forbidden Kingdom it is a brief fight and the better man is never close to decided.

In The Forbidden Kingdom Michael Angarano stars as  Jason, a Boston teenager with a love of kung fu movies. One day, when visiting his favorite Chinatown pawn shop, run by his friend, the kindly old Hop (Jackie Chan), he comes across a beautiful golden staff. Hop tells Jason that the staff must be returned to it's rightful owner and keeps Jason away from it.

Later, when Jason is attacked by local bullies they take him back to Hop's shop where they plan on his help robbing the old shop keep. In the ensuing chaos, Jason is given the staff by Hop and told to take it to it's rightful owner. Soon, Jason is unconscious and when he awakens his somewhere in China and somewhere in the past.

Taken in by martial arts master Lu Yang (Jackie Chan, again), Jason explains his extraordinary journey and Lu Yang tells Jason the story of the staff. It belonged to the Monkey King who was an immortal master, beloved by the gods but envied by the Jade Emporer (Colin Chou). Seeing the Monkey King as a threat to his power he tricks him and encases him in Jade, not before the Monkey King delivered his staff into the future.

Jason and Lu Yang must return the staff to the five elements mountain where the statue of the Monkey King resides and release him if Jason is to be returned home. Along the way they are joined by Golden Sparrow who is seeking revenge on the Jade Emporer and the Silent Monk (Jet Li) whose connection to the Monkey King is will be recognizable to the most observant viewers.

The Forbidden Kingdom succeeds when keeping things light and high off the ground. When Jackie Chan, Jet Li and the rest are flying around as if gravity were merely a choice, Forbidden Kingdom is alot of fun. However, when grounded and spouting about Monkey King's, the gods, the elements and what not, it grows tired quickly.

Director Rob Minkoff (Haunted Mansion) has a good eye for the kung fu and high wire acts but a tin ear for character and dialogue. The thudding plot doesn't too often get in the way of Chan and Li flying with the greatest of ease, but it does get in the way enough for the plot to trip along the way. Things are not helped by young Michael Angarano who looks like Ralph Macchio minus the appealing personality.

The Forbidden Kingdom doesn't exactly hit a home run for the first teaming of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. However, with these two kung fu masters getting up there in age we really cannot expect much more. We get one good face off and a number of good fights where they are on the same side. Would I liked to have seen them head to head a little more? Sure, who wouldn't but that is a different movie.

The Forbidden Kingdom is a family movie with some kung fu not a kung fu movie. Judging the intent, it's not a bad family movie. A little clunky and disposable. But not bad.

Movie Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008 

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Written by Jason Segal

Starring Jason Segal, Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Jack McBrayer

Release Date April 18th, 2008

Published April 17th, 2008

The golden touch of writer/director/producer Judd Apatow had become King Midas in reverse on his last two efforts. the brutal spoof Walk Hard and the forgettable Drillbit Taylor. Thankfully, the golden touch is back in the new romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Starring Apatow's long time friend, part of the apatow repertory players from TV and the movies, Jason Segal, Forgetting Sarah Marshall returns to the Apatow gang's comfort zone of awkward, R-Rated romance and mines it for humor of great discomfort, humanity, truth and penis jokes.

Peter Bretter (Segal) has been in love with Sarah Marshall for five years since they met on the set of her hit show Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime. Peter performs all of the music on the show. All seemed warm and cozy until Sarah decided to break up with him. Devastated, Peter drifts into a series of random sexual encounters before his brother Dave (Bill Hader) convinces him to get away for awhile.

Deciding on a Hawaiian getaway, Peter is stunned to find Sarah Marshall already on the island when he arrives and she's attached at the lips to her new rock star boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). On the bright side, a beautiful young hotel worker named Rachel (Mila Kunis) takes pity on him and decides to help him get his mind off his ex.

Jason Segal not only stars here, he wrote the smart, offbeat screenplay for Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the care he takes to avoid typical romantic comedy moments bring depth and brains to a film that could have been just another collection of broad gags. Segal crafts terrific characters, creates believable conflicts and wrings big laughs from moments that most anyone will be able to relate to.

Among the many things I loved about this terrific comedy romance is how director Nicholas Stoller and  Jason Segal balance Peter's flaws with Sarah's and avoids making her into a villain. The same can be said of Brand's airhead rocker who, though his quite shallow, proves to be something slightly more than just a walking gag.

Mila Kunis shines in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Bringing a dash of crazy, foul mouthed hussy to an idealized version of a dreamgirl, Kunis shows bravery and chops hanging with the Apatow crew's brand of sweet offensiveness. From her girl's gone wild moment to her foul mouthed tirades, she surprises at every turn, and proves to be more than the equal of her male counterparts.

On top of the strong central story Segal, director Nicolas Stoller and producer Apatow also find room for terrific supporting players like Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and Jack McBrayer. Best of all however, in the briefest of roles, in William Baldwin. In a pitch perfect send up of David Caruso's CSI Miami cop, Baldwin is a hilarious scene stealer. Really, just about everything works in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. If you can get past multiple scenes of male nudity, you will have a great time with this terrific little movie.

Documentary Review: Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (2008) 

Directed by Morgan Spurlock 

Written by Documentary 

Starring Morgan Spurlock 

Release Date April 18th, 2008

Published April 25th, 2008 

Morgan Spurlock is funny, thoughtful and charming. You have to appreciate the career he has crafted for himself off of one rather thin idea. Super Size Me was an ingenious bit of zeitgeist grabbing and self promotion. You can argue the films overall value as a documentary but it was undeniably clever. His latest effort is entirely different in topic but not tone. Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? is a jokey exploration of the post 9/11 mind in both the middle east and in the mind of a Brooklyn filmmaker with a baby on the way.

With his wife Alexandria about to give birth to their first child, Morgan Spurlock is seized with the idea of the world he is bringing his baby into. With so much turmoil in the middle east what can one documentary filmmaker do to make the world safe for his wife and child. Morgan Spurlock's idea? Find the world's most well known terrorist.

Traveling to the middle east, Spurlock first travels to Egypt to gauge the mindset of alleged American allies. He finds a thoughtful cast of people on the streets who have nice things to say about the American people but hate American policy. The trip to Egypt is revealing in how though Egypt is our ally and is seen as a progressive state their President Mubarek doesn't have trouble being reelected year after year, mostly because like many leaders in the area he uses the state to quiet dissent.

From Egypt he travels to Israel and Palestine and spends a few harrowing moments visiting the Gaza strip and coming close to actual bombs falling followed by a trip to where the bombs actually landed, an empty schoolhouse. From there it's off to Afghanistan and Pakistan and ever more enlightening and dangerous journey.

The true subject of Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden is not the world's only celebrity terrorist, but rather the interviews with real middle east residents and scholars and religious leaders which reveal people with the same concerns, hopes and feelings as the average American. People who Morgan Spurlock spoke to didn't support Osama. Even the ones who are no fans of America were not necessarily fans of Bin Laden.

Some of the most fascinating conversations in WITWIOBL comes from an Egyptian professor who says Osama Bin Laden did the American right wing a favor, he gave them a reason to be in the middle east. Without the attack on 9/11, American foreign policy could not justify a large American presence in the middle east. After the attacks, even some in the middle east were forced to accept America in their backyard.

It sounds like conspiracy theory but the professor does not claim that the Bush administration or anyone planned 9/11 or let it happen to give America a reason to go to war. Her point was only that America would not be in the middle east in the way they are today without the actions of Osama Bin Laden. It's a fair point. 

All throughout Where In The World is Osama Bin Laden I could not shake the thought, why isn't Spurlock at home with his wife? She's pregnant. When he leaves he has six weeks till she is expected to give birth. As bombs go off and bullets fly, you can't help but think go home! Yes, the documentary is entertaining and has some insight but would it have been worth it if he was killed weeks before the birth of his first child?

Spurlock confronts this question near the end and the scene is a cathartic close to the film. Of course you know already he survived but the journey is nevertheless compelling and especially in his final scenes arguably within miles of Osama, if you believe the most recent rumors.

For all his self promotion and reckless personal decision making, Spurlock knows well how to engage an audience. Intelligent, funny and compelling, I was often irritated by Spurlock and his persistent need to risk his life while his wife waited, scared at home with their child on the way, but the result is somehow worth it. This is a terrific bit of filmmaking and conversation starting.

Movie Review Life Before Your Eyes

The Life Before Your Eyes (2008) 

Directed by Vadim Perelman 

Written by Emil Stern 

Starring Uma Thurman, Ava Murri, Evan Rachel Wood, Brett Cullen

Release Date April 18th, 2008

Published May 10th, 2008 

Director Vadim Perelman loves a good tragic novel. In 2002 he adapted Andre Dubus' small scale tragedy House of Sand and Fog. Though a first time feature director, Perelman exhibited the sure hand and classical eye of a veteran director. His latest feature, The Life Before Her Eyes is another adaptation of a tragedy on an even grander scale. Set against the backdrop of a bloody school shooting, The Life Before Her Eyes is an examination of the guilt of survivors. And while it is an often moving and reflective drama, there is a device employed throughout that negates some of what is very good about the rest of the film.

Two girls are chatting away in a high school ladies room. In the distance we hear screams and what sounds like gunfire. Dianna (Evan Rachel Wood) believes it's just a prank, Maureen (Ava Murri) doesn't think so. As it gets closer, the sound of screams and gunfire is unmistakable and soon the door opens. In walks the killer, a fellow student, offering a horrifying choice. The girls are to choose which of them will die.

15 years later, we know who lived. Dianna (Uma Thurman) is now in her early 30's. She has married a college philosophy professor (Brett Cullen) and has a beautiful 8 year old daughter named Emma (Gabrielle Brennan) who has the same rebellious streak her mom always had. Dianna herself is now a teacher, she teaches art and has a particular affinity for Gaugin.

Of course, not all is as it appears. As the 15th anniversary of the school shooting approaches, Dianna's survivor guilt is causing her to have visions. She sees what she thinks is her favorite teacher who was killed that day. She sees her friend Maureen. She even see's the killer. The visions don't necessarily lead anywhere.

Throughout The Life Before Her Eyes we cut back to 15 years ago and the days leading up to the killings. Dianna was not a great student. A free spirit, she preferred smoking pot and experimenting sexually with older men to school. Maureen on the other hand is a devout christian and a good student with a bright future.

The table is set for the tragedy but director Vadim Perelman dawdles ever so slightly. Watch as he obsesses about details like the rain, thunder, philosophy, the conscience, the imagination, the paintings of Gaugin. Worthy topics but why are we being distracted from the central story. The dialogue about weather and the mind and paintings is not bad but you can sense a pattern developing and you shouldn't if the movie were working.

Evan Rachel Wood is a wonderfully expressive young actress who can tell a whole story with her face. Her soulful eyes carry sadness beyond her years while her lips are far too inviting for someone so young. Her work in The Life Before Your Eyes goes a long way toward overcoming the problems of the script and the plot devices.

Uma Thurman is an ethereal beauty with talent to spare. It's a shame she isn't given more to work with. We want to connect with her guilt, her sadness. Her conflict is compelling. She has the life of her dreams and it came at the expense of a best friend who was killed instead of her. It is a compelling drama. Unfortunately, in the few moments we seem to connect with Thurman we are sent back in time for another flashback. At a mere 88 minutes, there isn't enough time for both of these terrific actresses.

Then there is that annoying plot device that in the end takes away the pay off and catharsis we long for. It's not a devastating device, the performances of these two amazing actresses are far too good for me not to partially recommend The Life Before Her Eyes, but this could have been a far more emotionally satisfying film.

Documentary Review: Young @ Heart

Young @ Heart (2008) 

Directed by Stephen Walker 

Written by Documentary 

Starring The Young @Heart Chorus

Release Date April 4th, 2008 

Published May 10th, 2008

As I sat down to watch Young @ Heart I expected good things given the positive buzz from other critics. My hesitations came from just how I would enjoy a documentary about seniors singing rock music. I can do camp, I don't mind camp but I didn't want to laugh at old people singing James Brown or Sonic Youth just for the sake of laughing. To my joyous surprise Young @ Heart overcame all of my reservations, surmounted my detachment and touched me as deeply as any movie of the last decade.

Several years ago filmmaker Stephen Walker took in a performance of a senior citizen choir in Northhampton Massachusetts. What he found was a plucky group of oldsters not just singing rock n roll songs but breathing life and magic into these well known tunes. Walker was so inspired he had to tell their story.

Young @ Heart was born 25 years ago as a vaudeville act. It was a way for active seniors to stay active. Then  Bob Cilman, the choir director, was struck with an idea. He found that the most rousing, entertaining moments of the old vaudeville show were the songs. Introducing new songs, introducing rock n roll tunes, Cilman transformed the show into Young @ Heart and audiences ate it up.

Now Stephen Walker has brought the Young @ Heart choir to the world and we are better for it. We join the story as the choir is readying their newest show. Bob Cilman is ready to take some risks. With just a few weeks to prepare he is introducing 5 new songs and not just any songs but five truly challenging tunes.

Sonic Youth's Schizophrenia is loud, noisy and incomprehensible to most of the choir. James Brown's I Feel Good is just a bit quick and tongue twisty for the group, especially for the man chosen for the lead, Stan Goldman who, try as he might cannot keep up with the lyrics. If you think I Feel Good is a tongue twister, how about Allen Toussaint's Yes We Can which uses the word can 71 times, mostly in close repetition near the end of the tune. The song comes close to being cut.

The Talking Heads Life During Wartime does not make the show for reasons that have nothing to do with the song or the performance of the choir. But the most moving and heart rending new tune is Coldplay's Fix You sung by a pair of returning vets of the choir. Fred Knittle and Bob Salvini both were forced to give up singing to deal with health problems. Each is convinced they have atleast one show left in them, Bob despite having survived repeated chemo treatments and the administration of last rites.

Fred Knittle for my money, is the star of Young @ Heart. A former regular member of the choir, Fred had to stop singing because of lung trouble. Now on an oxygen machine, Fred feels he has a show left in him. Does he ever. In him we find the roots of the old vaudeville show that was Young @ Heart. Quick with a one liner, Fred threatens to tip into parody until he sings.

Fred Knittle for my money, is the star of Young @ Heart. A former regular member of the choir, Fred had to stop singing because of lung trouble. Now on an oxygen machine, Fred feels he has a show left in him. Does he ever. In him we find the roots of the old vaudeville show that was Young @ Heart. Quick with a one liner, Fred threatens to tip into parody until he sings.

His lovely deep bass is given the assignment to sing Coldplay's Fix You. It was to be a duet but when we reach the night of the show Fred is on his own to sing the lead with the choir backing him up. It's a scene that could not be script. Poignant, heartbreaking and healing all at once, Fred Knittle delivers to us in the audience a performance of a lifetime. Fight back the tears, if you can.

One of the most wonderful moviegoing experiences of my life, Young @ Heart moved me like few movies I have witnessed. Such heart, such hope, such life. It's pure magic that will move, inspire and rock like few movies you've ever seen. Young @ Heart arrives on DVD September 16 and must be seen. This is one of the best movies of the year.

Life, death, joy and sadness, Young @ Heart runs the gamut of emotions in the same way a great song does. It lifts your heart, breaks and heals it all in the space of 108 lovely minutes.