Movie Review: Big Momma's House Like Father Like Son

Big Momma's House Like Father Like Son (2011) 

Directed by John Whitesell

Written by Matthew Fogel, Don Rhymer

Starring Martin Lawrence, Brandon T. Jackson, Jessica Lewis 

Release Date February 18th, 2011 

Published February 19th, 2011

Aside from innumerable insults to director John Whitesell, star Martin Lawrence, screenwriters Matthew Fogel and Don Rhymer and a sympathetic shake of the head for young comic Brandon T. Jackson, what is their left to offer to the movie “Big Momma's Like Father, Like Son?” This is a movie of ungodly awfulness and yet pointing that out seems unnecessary because everyone, the creators included, knew that would be the case going in.

The futility of reviewing this travesty of good intentions and PG rated oddity is off the charts. Critics have been rendered irrelevant by movies before (I am looking at you Sandler) but rarely have so many of us been left with so little to say about a movie than what we have left to say about “Big Momma's Like Father, Like Son:” Everyone knew this movie was going to stink out loud.

Now, I can already hear the catcalls about 'critical objectivity' and 'not forming an opinion before you see a movie' so let me put that to bed; in the day and age of mass marketing and the internet, it is nearly impossible, even for the most professional of professional critics, not to make certain judgments about a movie before seeing it. To not be exposed to certain aspects of a film before seeing it the critic would have to live under a rock and even then, as Geico pointed out in rather brilliant recent commercial, some information is simply unavoidable.

Do you really want a plot description? Really? Okay; FBI Agent Malcolm Turner is back in his Big Momma get up after his idiot stepson Trent (Brandon T. Jackson) ambushes him while on a stake out and ends up witnessing a murder. Now, not only will Malcolm be hiding out in drag, so will Trent, in the guise of Charmaine.

Malcolm and Trent, as Big Momma and her grand-niece Charmaine, hide out at an All Girls Arts College in Atlanta. There, the recent murder victim has hidden a key piece of evidence against his murderer. Naturally, the setting will invite all sorts of awkward comic situations and for Trent a love interest, a singer named Haley (Jessica Lucas).

What? No love interest for Malcolm? Nope, he remains married according to the storyline began in the first Big Momma movie but in a move that can only be described as a great act of charity to actress Nia Long, Mrs. Turner is conveniently dispatched to some place where she can't even be reached by phone.

No such luck for comedian Faizon Love who gets the unfortunate task of being Big Momma's love interest, a College security guard that Malcolm/Big Momma must keep interested if he is going to get close to that key piece of evidence he needs. Also sacrificed to this awful story; rising star Portia Doubleday (Youth in Revolt) as the school bitch and Michelle Ang as the school basket case.

If the murder plot weren't convoluted and tired enough “Big Momma's Like Father, Like Son” also pauses repeatedly for some seriously awful musical interludes. Trent is a wannabe rapper, calling himself the Prodigee(?), and he offers up some of the lamest PG raps since Will Smith gave up the moniker Fresh Prince. 

Jessica Lucas has a pleasant but unspectacular voice, think Norah Jones minus a soul, which gets far too much screen-time in “Big Momma's Like Father, Like Son.” Why? Because, director John Whitesell has a bizarre notion that this comic, lowbrow murder mystery should also be a PG rated tract defending the arts. No, I'm not making that up. 

”Big Momma's Like Father, Like Son” morphs Martin Lawrence's Big Momma franchise into a quasi-Disney Channel movie where education and the arts are given equal weight against a goofabout murder mystery plot. Good intentions run alongside a surprisingly puritanical vibe interrupted only by Love's disturbing lust for Big Momma and Trent's occasionally lascivious longings for his fellow students. 

The goody goody-ness of “Big Momma's Like Father, Like Son” serves as some sort of attempt at earnestness as a defense against critics like me. I am apparently supposed to reward the film for having moral fiber rather than simply trashing it for being a wholly awful exercise in filmmaking. Well, tough break kids. 

No, mere good intentions cannot justify such a slothful effort. “Big Momma's Like Father, Like Son” is far too slapdash and insignificant to get a pass because it has high ideals. I appreciate that the filmmakers wanted to make a nice point about education and the arts but they needed to do it while making a good movie and they simply did not.

Movie Review: Unknown

Unknown (2011) 

Directed by Jaume Collet Serra 

Written by Oliver Butcher, Mandy Richardson, Stephen Cornwell

Starring Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger, Aidan Quinn, Frank Langella

Release Date February 18th, 2011

Published February 17th, 2011

The transition from respected 'Actor' to action hero has been stunningly seamless for Liam Neeson. All it took in fact was one role, that of a man with a special set of skills and a kidnapped daughter in some Euro slum. “Taken” became an action phenomenon because Neeson the actor gave the over the top action gravitas; his acting as a badass became a whole new iconic identity as an actor.

With his new thriller “Unknown” essentially a pseudo sequel to “Taken” Neeson is set to fully monetize his new icon status.

Dr. Martin Harris and his wife Elizabeth (Mad Men's January Jones) arrive in Berlin looking like any other tourist of means. But when Martin leaves his briefcase behind at the airport and is nearly killed in an accident on his way to retrieve it the happy couple takes a shocking and disturbing turn.

Waking four days later from a coma in a Berlin hospital Martin can't remember how he got there and cannot understand why his wife never came looking for him. Returning to their hotel where he is supposed to be attending a scientific conference Martin makes a horrific discovery, Elizabeth doesn't know who he is and another, very similar looking man (Aiden Quinn) is posing as Dr. Martin Harris.

Is Martin crazy? Did the blow to his head completely scramble his brain? Why can't he get anyone he knows on the phone? All will be answered and while those answers will eventually become unsatisfying and even blindingly ludicrous, the journey toward those answers is a rollicking thriller ride that fans of “Taken” will find impossible to resist.

All I wanted from “Unknown” is for Liam Neeson to punch a bad guy in the throat and on this meager request Mr. Neeson delivers in spectacular fashion; “Unknown” may not be an official “Taken” sequel but Neeson delivers the kind of action badassery audiences crave from his newly minted action hero persona.

Yes, “Unknown” goes completely looney tunes in the last reel as Frank Langella arrives in the role of God of Exposition and ruins everything with explanatory dialogue that may as well have been delivered directly to the audience, but again, it's about the getting there.

Bruno Gans damn near steals “Unknown” right from under Liam Neeson. Playing a former member of the East German secret police who Martin turns to in order to find himself, literally find out who he himself is, Gans delivers a performance of measure and precision that would be Oscar worthy in a movie that academy members would actually watch.

Bottom line, fans of “Taken” will not be able to resist the nasty, violent charm of “Unknown.” Liam Neeson's astonishing talent for elevating B-movie material with his professionalism and imposing physicality is one of the great revelations of this short filmic decade. Neeson has changed the way we look at him as an actor as well as the action genre in general with the quality he brings to lowbrow material.

Movie Review The Eagle

The Eagle (2011) 

Directed by Kevin MacDonald 

Written by Jeremy Brock 

Starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Mark Strong

Release Date February 11th, 2011 

Published February 11th, 2011

Could the wholly un-ironic hero be making a comeback? If the new action movie “The Eagle” is any indication the answer is a solid maybe. The box office is the real deciding factor on such a trend but “The Eagle” is a notable movie for bringing back the story of the unabashed hero, a flawless, stalwart do-gooder who does what he feels is right without pausing for reflection or most importantly without the armor of ironic distance from his quest.

Channing Tatum is the earnest star of “The Eagle” as Marcus Aquila the new commander of a decrepit English outpost of the Roman Empire. Marcus's father was the leader of the legendary 9th Legion, 5000 men who simply vanished in Northern England (Scotland) leading to the establishment of Hadrian's Wall, the edge of the earth for Romans.

Lost in the battle with the 9th Legion was their legendary symbol, a golden eagle that stands for Rome. Marcus aches to recover the Eagle to restore honor to his family name. After suffering an injury in battle Marcus's military career looks to have ended abruptly but after a painful recovery he is ready for a return and he has one quest in particular in mind.

With only the aid of his slave Esca (Jamie Bell), Marcus intends to cross into the unconquered territories and rescue the Eagle of the 9th.

”The Eagle” is a movie that doesn't mess around; director Kevin McDonald jumps into the fray and tells a well paced, well motivated story with an economy of dialogue and free of the kind of sardonic asides that modern action movies use as a buttress against seeming to care about the action around them.

The modern action movie began employing humor as a way of barricading itself from the criticism of the oftentimes goofy action, a way of saying 'we know how goofy this looks.' However, in becoming self aware, the action hero became self conscious and the act of heroism became a burden. “The Eagle” rejects the distance between hero and heroism and in doing so feels kind of fresh in comparison.

Channing Tatum is really the perfect star for this kind of movie. Tatum's stony visage seems incapable of winking at the audience, or of really knowing why he would be winking. Instead, Tatum bowls forward head first into the action with earnest relish and while you can make fun of his lack of depth his sturdy toughness fits the role and gives “The Eagle” some real juice.

While Tatum brings the toughness, Jamie Bell brings the acting chops. Bell steals scene after scene in “The Eagle” with his angry, determined performance. Bell gives life to Esca's back story, a slave captured from the North who may just as soon slit Marcus's throat as save his life, with his forceful words and a deathly stare.

The action in “The Eagle” is a little too much of the quick cut style that has plagued far too many modern action epics but director Kevin McDonald saves it with solid pacing and well motivated characters. His heroes have purpose and desire and while honor in battle is something that the modern action hero turns his nose up at, it's refreshing to see that type of hero make a comeback here.

”The Eagle” is a rugged, earnest action movie for audiences that have tired of the modern action hero and his ironic aside. I'm not saying that ironic self awareness is dead but occasionally it's nice to see a hero who says what he means and does what he says he's going to do without the armor of the one liner to keep anyone from taking him too seriously. There is something at stake in “The Eagle” and the hero doesn't hide from it behind a jokey insistence that nothing really matters.

Documentary Review Justin Bieber Never Say Never

Justin Bieber Never Say Never (2011) 

Directed by Jon M. Chu 

Written by Documentary 

Starring Justin Bieber, Scooter Braun, Usher 

Release Date February 11th, 2011

Published February 12th, 2011

One must maintain an armor of pure cynicism in order to resist the charm of young Justin Bieber. I will admit my armor was not as strong as I thought. No, I do not have what the kids call 'Bieber Fever' nor would I truly consider myself a 'Bieber-liever' or 'Bieb-liever' or whatever the proper fan slang is. But, I must admit that while experiencing “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” I couldn't help but appreciate the showmanship and pure raw talent of this young phenom.

”Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” has been billed as a bio-documentary and while that is something of a fair description it also incorrectly casts a egotistical light on what is really just a movie that captures a phenomenon that happens to be settled around one singular, 16 year old kid. Bieber may have an ego but “Never Say Never” is not a tribute to his ego but a demonstration of how much he has earned a little ego stroke.

Justin Bieber in an astonishing 4 years has grown from Youtube sensation to worldwide superstar and “Never Say Never” captures this period with clever allusions to--in a clever opening montage--and actual footage of young Bieber interspersed between performances from the 'My World' tour culminating in the crowning achievement for any superstar, a sold out show at Madison Square Garden.

Throughout “Never Say Never” we meet Justin's family, mom Pattie is a sweet, shy woman who appears early on and recedes to the background though always a quiet presence. Dad, Jeremy Bieber is a minor presence, joining the tour for a show in Toronto and raising questions, mostly unanswered, about how often he had seen his little boy before he became a star. Justin's beloved grandparents provide a good deal of emotion with their big wide grins, bear hugs and pride bursting from every pore.

The most prominent people in Justin's life are a crew of friendly, dedicated professionals who make up Team Justin. Lead by Manager Scooter Braun, Team Justin, as portrayed in “Never Say Never,” are warm and vigilant crew who go out of their way to make sure Justin is both superstar and teenage boy. The lesson of Michael Jackson looms large over Justin Bieber and Braun shares in interviews a direct allusion to Jackson's lament about losing his childhood. 

What mostly can be taken away from “Never Say Never” is the sense of a kid with a great deal of natural talent. Justin Bieber picked up the drums at age 2. Justin was soon playing guitar and then singing; which he did on street corners and then on Youtube. He then made the big time without Disney or Nickelodeon to push him to the top. 

Usher certainly helped but mostly it was Bieber who is an astonishing natural mimic who soaks up what he hears and regurgitates it with astonishing new life and vitality. Bieber's songs are definitely those of a 16 year old boy with all the lyrical complexity that implies but he is an extraordinarily self possessed young man with a great big heart that may be the key to his appeal. Justin Bieber wears his heart on his sleeve and his fans love him for it. 

So, for the cynics out there, I urge you to see “Never Say Never” and remain so cynical. You likely won't come down with 'Bieber Fever' but you will come to understand why the kid is a phenomenon and one that is really not so bad. For all the joy the kid inspires in little girls can the growing Bieber cult really be all that bad?

Movie Review Just Go With It

Just Go With It (2011) 

Directed by Dennis Dugan 

Written by Alan Loeb, Timothy Dowling 

Starring Adam Sandler, Brooklyn Decker, Jennifer Aniston, Nick Swardson 

Release Date February 11th, 2011 

Published February 11th, 2011 

Adam Sandler has given up. The star of “Just Go With It” simply isn't trying anymore. Having sussed out that his fans will attend any trip he slaps his name on, Sandler is now giving his fans the effort they deserve. If they are not going to ask for anything more than a few moments of him barking like a dog or a friend of his humping something, why should he offer anything more than a minimum effort?

In “Just Go With It” Sandler plays Danny, a plastic surgeon who got dumped on his wedding night some 20 years ago and found out that night that his now useless wedding ring was somehow an aphrodisiac. Thus, he has spent the past two decades wearing the ring, telling stories of being abused by his wife and bedding bimbo after foolish bimbo.

And then Danny met Palmer (Sports Illustrated model Brooklyn Decker), a fourth grade teacher who happens to meet him when he's not wearing his fake ring. The two hit it off but when she accidentally happens upon the ring she wants nothing to do with him. What's Danny to do but lie about getting a divorce in order to win her back? Unfortunately, Palmer insists on meeting the soon to be ex-Mrs. Danny.

With nowhere to turn, Danny calls on his assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) to be the fake wife who will give her blessing to his new relationship. How these three along with Katherine's two kids and Danny's idiot cousin Eddy end up in Hawaii I will leave you to discover should you willingly waste the price of a ticket and nearly two hours of your precious life on “Just Go With It.”

My theory is that when “Grown Ups” became Sandler's highest grossing domestic feature it finally hit him that he no longer had to try. Heck, “Grown Ups” was just him goofing off with his pals and people paid millions to watch, clearly he doesn't have to work hard ever again. To test the theory Sandler along with his pal and favored director Dennis Dugan decided to take a Hawaiian vacation on a studio dime and film it just to see if people would watch him on a vacation.

Are there jokes in “Just Go With It?” Yes, I think they are intended as jokes but just to demonstrate the effort on display twice in the film Sandler simply barks like a dog as a punch line to a scene. TWICE! The old standbys are there as well including vague, shrugged shouldered homophobia and slight bestiality because what would a Sandler movie be without someone humping something.

Jennifer Aniston didn't merely get a vacation out of “Just Go With It,” in one pointless scene she gets a brand new wardrobe, one I wouldn't be surprised went home with her for real and why not the whole production was an excuse for a free trip to Hawaii why shouldn't she get a wardrobe in the deal.

Here's hoping Nicole Kidman, who has an awful cameo as an ex college rival of Aniston's Katherine, got something more out of “Just Go With It” than damage to her Oscar chances a la Eddie Murphy in “Norbit.” Kidman and poor Dave Matthews are saddled with such moronic characters that it’s fair to wonder if Sandler and Dugan really didn’t like them very much.  

Someone once said 'You only get what you give.' You gave Sandler millions just to watch him and his friends pee in a pool in “Grown Ups” so you can't be surprised that all he gives you in “Just Go With It” is a glimpse of his fabulous multimillion dollar Hawaiian vacation with Brooklyn Decker and Jennifer Aniston. Keep it up and his next movie will just be him in his living room watching old episodes of SNL with Scarlett Johansson as the girl who delivers his pizza.

Movie Review: Crossing Over

Crossing Over (2009) 

Directed by Wayne Kramer 

Written by Wayne Kramer 

Starring Harrison Ford. Cliff Curtis, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd

Release Date February 27th, 2009 

Published February 28th, 2009 

I'll give director Wayne Kramer this, he doesn't do things half way. His The Cooler thrived on heavy duty sexuality and grit. His follow-up, Running Scared was an adrenalized, hyper-caffeinated action movie that traded soully on style, zero substance. He's back at another extreme with his third feature; an immigration drama called Crossing Over.

With a great deal more substance than Running Scared, Crossing Over goes to another extreme as Kramer attempts to tell more stories than any one movie can stand.

Harrison Ford leads a wide ranging cast as immigration officer Max Brogan. With his partner Hamid (Cliff Curtis), Max leads raids on sweat shops and other underground locations where a large number of immigrants are centrally located. In one of these raids Max busts a young woman named Maria. She has a small child being cared for by a friend and she begs Max to find him and make sure he is cared for.

Meanwhile, running parallel to this story, all of which emanate in Los Angeles, for the most part, is the story of Gavin (Jim Sturgess) an Israeli immigrant on a visa soon to expire. Though an atheist, Gavin has managed to stay in the country posing as a religious scholar. He is in love with an Australian actress and immigrant named Claire. While his scam is vaguely plausible, she is going the fake documents route.

That path leads her to man named Cole Frankel (Ray Liotta) a bureaucrat at the immigration office who can help her. Help her he does after she agrees to have sex with him regularly for two months while he pushes her paperwork through. Cole is married to Denise (Ashley Judd) an immigration lawyer who defends people trying to stay in the country.

She is involved in the case of an Iranian family in which the teenage daughter incited a terror threat with a speech in her high school class saying she understood the 9/11 hijackers. Several more characters bounce in and out of frame but fail to register as well as the recognizable stars.

There is a worthy and moving drama somewhere in the morass of Crossing Over. Unfortunately, it's buried between too many subplots that crash (HA, Crash get it, multi-plotted Oscar winning drama crash) into one another but don't really connect beyond a very basic characteristic, all of them involve immigrants. For instance, one plot strand involves a Korean family who happen to be Max Brogan's regular dry cleaner.

Ashley Judd is a wonderful actress but her plot and that of the young Iranian girl are extraneous beyond belief. Kramer uses the girl basically to make a point about freedom of speech and thought and about post 9/11 paranoia. That's a powerful topic but it has little to do with the rest of the movie. Each of the character connections are tenuous at best, but Judd is beyond tenuous, she's in the movie for marquee value and little more.

Now, though I find fault with much of Crossing Over, especially Director Kramer's indulgent point making and lack of narrative focus, there are some powerful moments in Crossing Over. A standout is Ford's confrontation with his partner over a murder investigation. Ford's charisma and powerful emotional connections create and convey this scene beyond what it might be in the hands of a lesser actor.

Curtis himself has a powerful moment involving a convenience story robbery that gives him and the movie a moment of real depth and heart. Ray Liotta shines ever so briefly opposite Alice Eve's Claire in a scene where he drops the con man bit and reveals his true pain and hope for salvation. Her response is brave and shocking and if there were more to the plot behind it, it would have had some serious emotional repercussions.

Sadly, as happens throughout Crossing Over, good work gets lost amid the jumble of too many characters and too much plot.

Crossing Over is a valiant attempt to shine a light on the heartbreaking bureaucracy that is at the center of our immigration debate. It's a drama of great depth and emotion. Unfortunately, it's also indulgent bit of Oscar baiting aimed at capitalizing on the wave of big ensembles with big ideas. First it was Soderbergh's Traffic, all about drugs. Then it was Crash with racism. Now comes Crossing Over about immigration. The formula still has some juice but without the skill of a Soderbergh or a Haggis, the results are muted, reflecting the glory of those movies without earning any of its own.

Movie Review Super 8

Super 8 (2011) 

Directed by J.J Abrams

Written by J.J Abrams

Starring Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Noah Emmerich 

Release Date June 10th, 2011

Published June 9th, 2011 

The combined imaginations of Steven Speilberg and J.J Abrams come together to create "Super 8" and it's a glorious combination. With Speilberg's childlike wonder and Abrams's taste in movie monsters, Super 8 is a nostalgic feast for those whose inner child carries fond memories of E.T, The Goonies, Stand by Me or any of the best of the cheesy, late night sci-fi movies of the 1950's.

Let's Make a Movie

In a Walt Disney-esque opening we see 12 year old Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) just after his mother has been killed. Joe is left in the care of his distant but protective father Jack (Kyle Chandler) while turning to his young friends for what modest comfort he can find. Part of his comfort is the distraction of making a movie.

Joe along with his visionary director pal Charles (Riley Griffiths), Martin (Gabriel Basso), Preston (Zach Mills) and Cary (Ryan Lee), are making a zombie on Charles's parent Super 8 camera. Charles has also recruited 14 year old Alice (Elle Fanning) to be his lead actress. Alice's father Louis (Ron Eldard) happens to have an unfortunate connection to Joe's mother.

On a late night on train station platform just outside of town the kids are filming a scene when a train rumbles through. As eager Charles sets up to get a shot of the train for the movie, Joe spots something unusual coming from the opposite direction, a truck has jumped onto the tracks and is driving right at the train.

Part Speilberg, Part Abrams

I will leave the rest of "Super 8" for you to discover, my plot description gets you through the first 10 minutes or so, right up until the spectacular train crash that will leave your jaw on the floor. Director J.J Abrams really loves the crashing of metal on metal and once the kids race to safety amidst the flying debris you will need a moment to catch your breath.

You won't have much time for breath catching however as director J.J Abrams delivers thrilling excitement at a brisk pace throughout. Super 8 is a fascinating mix of J.J Abrams taste for action and Steven Speilberg's childlike wonder. The film is equal parts "Cloverfield," which Abrams produced, and "E.T" and part "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" with a dash of the TV mystery "Lost."

Edge of Your Seat Excitement

Therein lies the only problem I foresee for Super 8 in finding audience; it's difficult to say what audience it's aimed at. Little kids, those under 12 will too frightened by Abrams's taste in alien movie scares while teenagers won't want to go to any movie that appeals to the nostalgia of mom and dad as Super 8 very much does.

Pushing aside the box office and marketing stuff, "Super 8" is quite simply a terrific movie. It has humor, suspense, action and scares in classically Speilberg fashion crafted with the modern imagination of J.J Abrams. "Super 8" is very much in the spirit of classic 50's sci fi movies which reminds me of my favorite line about classic sci fi, one that really applies to "Super 8," buy a ticket for a whole seat but you will only need 'THE EDGE!

Movie Review: Up

Up (2009) 

Directed by Pete Docter 

Written by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter

Starring Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai 

Release Date May 29th, 2009 

Published May 28th, 2009 

The motion picture academy doesn't want to admit it. Most of Hollywood for some reason doesn't want to admit it. The hidden fact is that the vanguard of art and commerce in Hollywood has nothing to do with a big star or a well known director. No, the true vanguard of cinema in fact centers on the computer generated images crafted by the collective geniuses at Pixar.

For more than a decade now Pixar, originally of spin off of Lucas Films, has crafted one hit movie after another. Oh, but these are not merely hit movies. Each Pixar feature, from Toy Story 1 & 2 to The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc and Wall E, has brought new life to the animated form as well as heart and a brain.

Pixar has created the greatest, most envied resume of films in the last 50 years, since the grand studio dynasties broke apart. Ten consecutive hit movies. Ten consecutive critical favorites. Ten movies that each can make the case to have been among the best movies, not merely animated movies, released in that particular year.

The latest Pixar effort adds to the wondrous pantheon of Pixar genius. Up stars the voice of Ed Asner as Carl Fredrickson. Carl lost his beloved Ellie a few years back and has been awaiting his turn with the undertaker ever since. Content to putter about in the home he and Ellie built more than 5 decades ago, Carl finds his life upended by progress.

Around him has sprung up office buildings and cafes and he stands against that progress. With the prospect of losing his home looming, Carl hatches a wild plan. Having been a balloon seller at the zoo for years, Carl uses his vast knowledge of balloons and helium to fashion his home into an uncanny flying machine.

His escape made, Carl turns toward South America content and alone until a knock on the door. It seems a young scout named Russell (Jordan Nagai) has accidentally become a stowaway. Like it or not, Russell is along for the ride to South America and a place called Paradise Falls where Ellie had hoped she and Carl would one day go.

That's the set up. The execution of Up is ten times more enthralling than my description. From the animation to the voice work, Up is a remarkable achievement. The animation is full of life and color. The characters are thoughtful, sweet and unforcingly funny. The humor of Up comes from such a natural and heartfelt place that you laugh from the sheer joy of the experience.

While far too many adults will ludicrously write Up off as kiddie fare, those who do will miss out on what will be one of the best movies of 2009. Few movies before it or those on the way will be able to compete with the warm, hearty characters and glorious imagination that went into the creation of Up.

The Hollywood elite need to get their heads together and finally do the right thing. They have for too long ignored the best work in the entertainment business. Pixar is the top of Hollywood's class and  yet year after year Pixar films are kept out of competition for Best Picture by a jealous actor's branch unwilling to recognize anything that doesn't feature famous faces, only voices.

The Best Animated Feature category was created to mollify those who pushed for Pixar in the Best Picture category. Now is the time to ignore such ludicrous category distinctions and Up offers the opportunity to do what should have been done years ago, honor the Pixar team in the Best Picture category where they belonged with movies like Wall E last year, Ratatouille or Toy Story. Yes, Up is that good.

Movie Review Late Night

Late Night (2019) 

Directed by Nisha Ganatra 

Written by Mindy Kaling

Starring Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, John Lithgow, Max Casella, Amy Ryan 

Release Date June 7th, 2019 

Published June 6th, 2019 

Emma Thompson delivers the most nuanced, engaging and charismatic performance of 2019 thus far in the new comedy Late Night. Written by and co-starring Mindy Kaling, Late Night stars Emma Thompson as Kate Newburn, a staple of American late night television, despite her British roots. Now in her late 50’s Kate has grown complacent and while she remains sharp, her show has grown stale and a network busybody, played by Amy Ryan, wants to replace her with a young, foul-mouthed comic, played by Ike Barinholz. 

The simple notion of Late Night, sold by the film’s trailer, is that Kate fires her male staff and hires Molly, played by Kaling, and their opposing personalities lead the show to renewed greatness. Thankfully, Late Night is far more unique and demanding than such easy to swallow fluff. Sure, Molly does shake things up among the roomful of Harvard educated, male comedy writers, including Hugh Dancy. Reid Scott and Max Casella, but only a couple of the unnamed writers actually get fired. 

What actually happens in Late Night is not so simple to describe. As much as Late Night is a genuinely funny and very engaging movie, its story is about the search for an authentic voice, a nuanced and not easily captured idea. Emma Thompson may have elements of Meryl Streep’s nasty 'The Devil Wears Prada' persona but there is a great deal more depth here. Thompson plumbs the depths of Kate Newburn and seeks a truth that applies both to the male dominated landscape of late night television and into something human and true about relationships, business, aging and love. 

John Lithgow plays Walter Newbury, Kate’s exceedingly educated house husband. Walter doesn’t go out much since the diagnosis of his disease. This however, is by design for both he and Kate as they are exceptionally private and insular people. Part of the journey of Late Night is forcing Kate out of that insular comfort zone and out into a world that changed around her while she stood still in the midst of depression and a few bad decisions. 

Mental and physical health, gender, and bad decisions are each a big part of Late Night. Emma Thompson combats each of these but not in a way that is simple. She may be the main protagonist of Late Night but that doesn’t stop her from being exceedingly prickly or narcissistic. It’s a journey for her to become a better person but part of who Kate is remains a narcissistic, attention seeking know-it-all. She gets better at being kind but she’s not becoming a saint and that makes the journey of Late Night so very authentic. 

I have barely made mention of Mindy Kaling, the other side of this double headed movie. Kaling’s Molly is rather underwritten. We know she doesn’t come from a comedy background, that she’s young and unafraid to say what is on her mind but in terms of actual incidents in Late Night, she’s mostly sidelined. Editing appears to have cut much of her romantic subplot opposite Dancy and Scott while her scenes with Kaling and Thompson are heavily charged, filled with back and forth, they are exclusively about Thompson’s character and not Molly. 

Kaling does provide a solid foil for Kate, a wide-eyed innocent in a cutthroat comedy industry but don't expect to learn much about her struggles, it's not her movie in the end. Molly's earnestness is the counterpoint to Kate’s stultifying cynicism and while we know Molly will win her over eventually, I enjoyed the ways in which the movie subverts expectations in Molly and Kate’s relationship by focusing on Kate. The script, written by Kaling, has a contempt for earnestness that I really appreciated and Thompson is at her best puncturing Molly’s enthusiasm. 

Late Night is funny because Emma Thompson makes Kate funny. She’s harsh and depressed and yet, razor sharp when she wants to be. Watching Molly see just how sharp she is off camera versus on camera is part of the plot of Late Night but, again, just making Kate speak her mind is too simple for this super-smart movie. Kate has to psychologically get out of her own way first before she can be authentic on her show and the pitfalls of that self-examination are at the heart of this brilliant little movie.

Movie Review Life Partners

Life Partners (2014) 

Directed by Susanna Fogel 

Written Joni Lefkowitz, Susanna Fogel 

Starring Gillian Jacobs, Adam Brody, Leighton Meester, Greer Grammer, Gabourey Sidibe 

Release Date December 5th, 2014

Published December 25th, 2014

Making room in life for our people's people is not an easy thing. No man has lived without the experience of the girlfriend or even wife of the long time friend who's intrusion into their life is among the most significant disruptions in their life. When my best friend got married he was already moved away and living apart from me which actually made the transition in our lives easier. His wife and I are Facebook friends and get along splendidly on holidays. 

Other friends have married and the transition has been bumpy, awkward and on more than one occasion the friendship simply vanished. The thoughtful, funny new movie "Life Partners" is about a significant life-interruptus moment for a pair of female friends whose co-dependency was a defining trait. 

Sasha (Leighton Meester) and Paige (Gillian Jacobs) are the kind of friends who are announced as one person upon their arrival, as if Sasha's last name were And-Paige. They have jokes so deeply inside that to introduce them to others is to mystify them further. Take their obsession with the pop institution known as "Top Model." I doubt 'Model' host Tyra Banks could keep up with the stream of giggling asides Sasha and Paige cram into just a couple of scenes. 

So, when Paige meets and hits it off with Tim (Adam Brody) we know Sasha is about to take a serious loss. Tim is affable and has a good map for Paige's weirdness in the same way Sasha does; turning them, naturally, into competitors for Paige's attention. Of course, Tim is going to win; the plot has kicked in before the end of the first act and we know that the subject of the film is how we deal with our friend's new friends. How Sasha comes to cope with Tim while forging her own new bonds and longing for her bond with Paige is how the story will play out. 

That Sasha also happens to be a lesbian is surprisingly unimportant. Just ten years ago a filmmaker would be forced by convention to play on a secret longing Sasha has for her best friend to also become her lover. Here however, we have not a boundary breaking movie but rather a movie that is knowledgeable enough and modern enough not to bother with such old school thinking. Sure, it comes up, but only in a bitter, thoughtless tirade from an angry supporting player. 

No, director and co-writer Susanna Fogel is forward thinking enough not to waste time with the sexual politics and focus on two friends growing up, growing apart and growing together again. Maturity comes from learning that you aren't the center of everyone's world and that your people's people are also the star of their own story and not a supporting player for your wants and needs. It's only when Sasha stops seeing Tim as the villain in her story that she can mature and move on and make her way forward with Paige as two adult friends. 

I've been waiting for a movie like this for a long time. I've often wondered when someone might tell a story about friends and friends of friends that isn't some vacuous series of dinner party conversations or some trifling mumblecore B.S masquerading hipster ideas of friendship as deep insights. "Life Partners" is a movie for people struggling to grow up and then finally, actually growing the fuck up. What a refreshing notion. 

Movie Review Limitless

Limitless (2011) 

Directed by Neil Burger

Written by Leslie Dixon 

Starring Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Anna Friel 

Release Date March 8th, 2011

Published March 7th, 2011

"Limitless" might have been more aptly titled 'Plot Device: The Movie.' The little clear pill that drives the film's star Bradley Cooper infuses him with whatever ability is needed at any given moment in the movie. At one point, when Cooper is assaulted by thugs in the subway, the pill lends him the ability to tap his memory for some Kung Fu he saw on TV years ago and the agility to employ it with force.

Now, as fun as it would be to be able to recall a little Bruce Lee and employ it viciously and at will this bit of wish fulfillment is all there is to "Limitless," a threadbare pseudo-thriller that relies on this limitless device for all of it's narrative force.

Wish Fulfillment

Eddie Morra (Cooper) is a loser, plain and simple. He lives in a dump of an apartment and while he has a contract to write a novel, he hasn't written a word. His girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) sees him for what he is and as we meet her she is dumping him. Things are looking very bleak when Eddie bumps into an old friend with a secret.

Vernon (Johnny Whitworth) is a drug dealer who Eddie knows through his very brief marriage years earlier. Vernon's secret is a new drug he is pushing that he claims is legitimate, even FDA approved. The clear pill with no marketable name allows the user to access portions of his brain not usually accessed.

God in the Machine

After a brief bout of worry, Eddie indeed takes the pill and the effect turns him into a superman of intuition, charm and motivation. Naturally, he will need more of this but to maintain his fix will take him into Eddie's dangerous world of drug dealers, loan sharks and into another, even more untamed frontier, Wall Street; where traders rob each other in ways somehow deemed legal.

I want this pill, I really do, and that identification with Eddie is enticing but it doesn't change the fact that director Brad Furman and screenwriter Leslie Dixon are working with the ultimate 'God in the Machine,' better known in Latin as 'Deus Ex Machina.' The pill allows Eddie and eventually Lindy, an easy escape from any danger and that removes a great deal of the story tension.

A Distinct Lack of Tension

Why worry about characters that can just take a pill and have all of their problems become easy to solve. There is a distinct lack of tension that plagues "Limitless" right to the very end. To be fair, there is one scene; one in which Cooper loses his magic pill, which has significant tension as Eddie is forced to do something unthinkable and entirely unpredictable.

One scene however does not excuse an entire film so blatantly based on a cheap device. Limitless is simply too easy going about it all. Star Bradley Cooper is too comfortable in the confines of this plot cheat, wielding it all with a confidence that only magnifies how shabby it all is.

If you're someone who doesn't like to think when you are at the movies, "Limitless" might just be the movie for you. The pill doesn't just help Eddie do anything; it helps the audience as well taking away all of that pesky sifting of plot details or deciphering of mysteries and especially all of that scary anxiety that comes when a movie challenges an audience.

Movie Review Lion

Lion (2016) 

Directed by Garth Davis 

Written by Luke Davies

Starring Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, David Wenham 

Release Date November 25th, 2016

Published November 24th, 2016 

Themes of identity, race, time and family are raised in the new drama “Lion” starring Dev Patel and Sunny Pawar as two versions of the same character, a boy and a man named Saroo. Based on a true story and a bestselling novel, “Lion” warmly and intelligently tackles large themes in a satisfyingly dramatic fashion that is at times too conventional but with enough emotional weight to make it work.

“Lion” tells the story of Saroo, who, at 5 years old, was separated from his older brother Guddu at a train station, ends up on a train, falls asleep and wakes up hundreds of miles away from his village. Now in Bengal, Saroo does not know the name of his village or his mother’s real name and has no way to get home. After a series of near misses with some very scary people, and a couple of lovely moments with some generous souls, Saroo finds himself in an English run orphanage where he is soon to be adopted by a couple from Australia.

The couple, John and Sue Brierly, (David Wenham and Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman) adopt Saroo and take him back to their home in Tasmania where he will grow up and eventually seem to forget his time in India. Soon Saroo has an adopted brother, another Indian boy named Mantosh, for whom the transition from India to Tasmania is much, much more difficult. The brothers never really connect with each other and their boiling resentment provides yet another metaphor for Saroo’s relationship to his past.

Some 20 years after Saroo’s adoption he is a college graduate and is beginning to pursue a career in Hotel management. It is here when Saroo meets Lucy (Rooney Mara) who will become his wife but not before a chance encounter with fellow Indian students convinces Saroo to try to find his family back in India.  Using some amateur detective skills, research, and math, Saroo hopes to find the train station where he was first lost and use that information to find his family.

“Lion” is based on a true story so I am not sure if discussing the ending of the film would be considered a “spoiler.” I am choosing to leave the ending for you to discover but even for those who know the story it does contain quite an emotional wallop. Dev Patel plays the grownup Saroo and the final scenes of “Lion” are some of the best work of his relatively young career.

 “Lion” was directed by Garth Davis who is best known in America for his work on the excellent mini-series “Top of the Lake.” Here Davis does a fine job of contrasting the grit and grime and danger of India with the crisp, clean, even sterile, setting of Tasmania and using this juxtaposition to underline the film’s themes of disconnection, longing, family and identity. Saroo feels resentment toward his family for maybe not looking hard enough for him but he also feels guilt about having enjoyed life in Tasmania while having left behind his family in poverty.

Saroo’s task in locating his family is incredibly daunting and the strain it puts on his relationship with his mother and his girlfriend is a strong driver of the second and third act of the film. I was very moved by Saroo’s scenes with his adoptive mother who attempts to hide her jealousy and hurt feelings over Saroo’s search but soon comes to terms with it out of love for her son. Lucy and Saroo meanwhile almost completely lose touch as his obsession with train speeds and stations grows and it is a strong testament to the performances of Patel and Mara that the strain feels real and threatening.

“Lion” is a tad too conventional but the performances and the emotional weight of the story make the simplicity of the plot easier to accept. Dev Patel has never been better and it is great to see good work from Nicole Kidman again as it feels like ages since she was turning in Oscar caliber work. Director Garth Davis needs to work more before we can begin passing judgment on his style and where he fits in the directorial landscape but from his work here, he has me excited to see what he does next.

Movie Review: Tommy's Honour

Tommy's Honour 

Directed by Jason Connery

Written by Pamela Martin, Kevin Cook

Starring Jack Lowden, Peter Mullan, Therese Bradley

Release Date April April 14th, 2017

Published April 15th, 2017

If your lead character is an unchallenged champion from the beginning to the end of your story there isn’t much of an arc for an audience to grab onto. I wish someone might have explained this concept to the makers of the movie “Tommy’s Honour” which stars Jack Lowden as Scottish golfing legend Tommy Morris Jr. In “Tommy’s Honour” Morris is portrayed as such an incredible champion and all around angelic hero that the stories of his many triumphs and tragedies are rendered dull and listless.

Tommy Morris Jr’s life was planned before he was born. By the strict societal codes of the time, the early 1800’s, Morris Jr was expected follow in the footsteps of his father (Peter Mullan) and become a caddy but Tommy wanted more. When fully grown, Tommy Jr. begins competing in the Caddy Open and then the Open Championship and before we’ve even come to know him as a character, we watch him triumph as champion, off screen, at the famed St. Andrew golf course three times.

Soon Tommy is challenging societal norms by demanding that he and a fellow golfer and friend be properly compensated by the clubhouse elite who profit off their play through gambling and exhibitions. For a moment, you begin to think this will bring conflict to the story but no, the elite, led by a snobbish Sam Neill, roll over immediately and pay Tommy fairly.

Then Tommy meets a lovely scullery maid named Meg with a dark past played by Ophelia Lovibond. With the Scottish class system, as it is, Meg’s past should provide conflict and indeed, Tommy’s mother objects to the relationship. However, in less than 15 minutes’ screen time, I was bored enough to keep count, Mom rolls over and another potential source of drama is dismissed with mom even leaving the church to stand up for her son and new daughter in-law, after one brief conversation with her husband and a single entreaty about how their son loves this woman despite what society says.

It isn’t until the final act that anything happens to Tommy. Tommy suffers a serious tragedy and his life falls to pieces but somehow “Tommy’s Honour” never communicates that tragedy, preferring the dull safety of the golf course where Tommy once again tops an opponent we never meet and thus have zero investment in. If the movie doesn’t care about these opponents, then why should we care? They are there to lose to Tommy, to further the legend building that is the film’s true aim. The final match should feel big and important but as portrayed, it’s a contest of egos that leads to an ending that feels more like stubborn inflexibility than the tragedy the true story was.

“Tommy’s Honour” is yet another in a long line of bad biopics. The film has no life, no courage. The aim of the filmmakers is to deify a Scottish legend and that might work for someone who is desperately invested in the story of Tommy Morris Jr. but as drama it fails completely. Drama needs tension, it needs stakes, it needs something for the audience to connect to, some relatable experience. If your story revolves around a character who is perfect and whose life constantly works out well for most of the story there is no drama. Sure, Tommy’s life ended tragically but even that tragedy is pushed aside in favor of showing what a golf legend he was and that renders an interesting life rather incredibly boring.

Movie Review Little

Little (2019) 

Directed by Tina Gordon 

Written by Tracy Oliver, Tina Gordon

Starring Issa Rae, Regina Hall, Marsai Martin, Tone Bell, Mikey Day 

Release Date April 12th, 2019 

Published April 12th, 2019 

Little is a complete mess! This comedic reversal of the dynamic from the seminal 80’s comedy Big, is so undercooked I became more than a little nauseous while watching it. Little is a remarkably sloppy movie that repeatedly muddies what should be a simple notion of a plot. Take the protagonist and put them in a strange, fish out of water scenario, in order to learn an important lesson about being a better person through being kinder and more open hearted, realize the error of their ways and all is well in the world. This isn’t rocket science, so why did the makers of Little screw it up so bad?

Little stars Regina Hall as Jordan, a tech mogul… I think. Jordan’s business doesn’t make sense. She develops apps but then she has a client for whom she develops apps or games or… this is a good example of the sloppiness I mentioned earlier. Jordan is the boss from hell to her assistant April (Issa Rae) as we learn when April wakes up in the morning to Jordan screaming on the phone about how her slippers are more than 53 inches from her bed forcing her to stretch to reach them. Solid establishment of Jordan’s crazy and part of the lesson the character should learn or would learn if Little were a good movie.

The film goes hard after girl power-girlboss puffery and then badly subverts it. Jordan is all about how she did everything on her own and is an independent mogul. And then the script assigns her a client character, an overgrown man-child, who bosses Jordan around and controls her company with his whims. When he decides he may leave for another firm… again this company makes apps, they’re not a marketing firm(?), she is forced to grovel to keep him. The movie spends time establishing Jordan’s independent cred and then immediately upends that persona because the plot needs a pseudo-villain. Why wasn’t Jordan a villain enough on her own?

Quick question? How is Jordan a great businesswoman and developer if her entire company rides on the whim of one dopey white guy? Where is the empowerment and girlbossery in that? Worse yet, and to really underline the point, the movie doesn’t even need this plot. When we reach the end of the movie, this plot does not matter in any way. This adds nothing to the movie as the whole plot could easily exist without the d-bag white guy character.

So, with the company on the line in a dreadful plot twist, we watch Jordan emotionally and physically abuse her staff in a meeting. After the meeting, as the shell-shocked subordinates slink away, Jordan is confronted by someone who doesn’t work for her, a little girl with a magic wand. The little girl points her wand at Jordan and wishes for her to be little so the girl could stand up to her on behalf of her put upon staff.

The following morning, Jordan once again cannot reach her slippers. She’s been shrunk back to her 12 year old self, an afro-puff wearing, bespectacled, waif, played by Blackish star Marsei Martin. She’s still Jordan, she’s still bullying and arrogant but now in the body of a 12 year old girl. She manages to convince April of what is going on and the convoluted plot then magically introduces Rachel Dratch in a cameo as a DCFS worker who orders that Jordan go to school.

The plot is just sort of forced around into Jordan going to her old Junior High School where she was once bullied terribly. The journey is supposedly now about Jordan overcoming the trauma that turned her into an unfeeling monster but the comic driving force of the movie is Martin as mini-Jordan being as bitchy and extreme as adult Jordan, but as a child so where does the lesson come in?

It gets worse when Jordan befriends a group of unpopular kids and turns them into status obsessed, Instagram addicts and urges them not to be themselves. Now the plot for a time becomes a slobs versus snobs comedy with Jordan eager to turn her ragtag nerd friends into a hot new clique and showing up the school bully, a fellow status obsessed pre-teen, cheerleader. The lesson of this plot is the way to beat a bully is to be a better looking, more popular form of bully.

Eventually, we are to assume that Jordan has learned a lesson because she allows herself to have fun with her new friends. She’s still bratty and status obsessed but because the plot wills it, she now cares for and respects April. Issa Rae meanwhile, has all the comic charm in the world and is relegated to the sidelines while the kids plot plays out from a seemingly separate movie. April’s self confidence arc, wanting to move from assistant to exec by creating her own app, is more throwaway nonsense that further muddles whatever business Jordan is running.

There is a thoughtlessness that reigns throughout Little. There is no care for any detail. There is no interest in making simple changes to the plot to make it make sense. Instead, the film barrels forward, detouring into simpleminded aspects of overly familiar plots before tumbling back somewhere near the original point of the movie. Little is irksome in how ridiculously clumsy every turn of plot is.

Regina Hall and Issa Rae deserve better than this mess of a rehash of Big. These are two exceptionally talented people who could be making incredible things and instead dedicated their time to a movie that completely let them down. It’s not their fault, they did what they could with this nonsense. I blame the filmmakers whose lack of care with the details of plot and their simpleminded dedication to familiar tropes that led them to make an absolute ugly mess of something should have worked.

Movie Review Lord of War

Lord of War (2005) 

Directed by Andrew Niccol

Written by Andrew Niccol

Starring Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto, Ian Holm, Bridget Moynahan

Release Date September 16th, 2005

Published September 15th, 2005 

Writer-Director Andrew Niccol is a filmmaker of great ambition. His resume as a director is short but both Gattaca and Simone are projects of great imagination and aspiration. Gattaca succeeds far better in its story of genetic engineering than Simone did in its examination of fame and technology but both are films of big ideas and grand ambition.

For his latest effort, the dark gun running drama Lord Of War, Andrew Niccol may have his most ambitious subject yet. An in depth examination of the worldwide trade in weapons that takes a microscope to the life of real life gun runners while turning a large spotlight on an issue most Americans refuse to examine.

Nicolas Cage stars as Yuri Orlav, a Russian born immigrant living in the Little Odessa section of New York City. His life track looks laid out in advance: manage his father's restaurant 'til the old man passes then run it until he himself passes. That all changes when Yuri witnesses a mob hit in his neighborhood. The Russian made hardware used in the hit is inspiring and, using some of his father's connections through a Jewish synagogue, Yuri gets into the gun trade.

Soon he is the top distributor in his neighborhood and is ready to go global. With the help of his little brother, Vitaly (Jared Leto), Yuri attempts to break into the international gun trade. In one of the film's most memorable scenes Yuri and Vitali confront Simeon Wiese (Ian Holm), an old school distributor with ties to the CIA, at one of the strangest conventions you will ever see. Women in bikinis selling tanks and armored personnel carriers and worldwide enemies rubbing shoulders as they purchase the weapons they will soon use to kill each other.

Yuri and Vitaly fail to make it in with Wiese but world events soon occur to level the playing field. With the fall of communism in Russia and the end of the cold war, Wiese and his old guard, with their concern for geo-politics and scruples about only selling to countries with top secret ties to the US, are finished and apolitical types like Yuri, who has no qualms about selling to any and everyone regardless of doctrine, are in.

The rise of Yuri is transposed by the fall of Vitaly. Unable to cope with the violence that results from his brother's projects (he witnessed a teenager executed with one of Yuri's guns), Vitaly begins taking drugs and disappearing for long periods. The far more unscrupulous Yuri on the other hand is as casual about his own drug use as he is about his product and soon lands the life of his dreams with the girl of his dreams played by Bridget Moynahan.

In a story such as this, the audience is trained to wait for Yuri to get his comeuppance. Evil is almost always punished in movies and, while Yuri may be charming, he is clearly evil. Andrew Niccol however keeps you guessing all the way to the end as to whether Yuri will pay the price for his evil deeds. Niccol's scripting is as efficient and cold blooded as his lead character and his direction almost as cool.

Be sure to arrive on time so as not to miss the films opening credits which follow a bullet from production to distribution to execution, literally. It's an extraordinary sequence shot from the bullet's point of view and set appropriately to Buffalo Springfield's classic "For What It's Worth". The credits combined with Nick Cage's extra chilled voiceover narration perfectly set the tone for this brilliantly dark satire.

The odd thing about Lord of War is that while I recommend it as a movie people should definitely see, I don't find the film entertaining by typical Hollywood standards. The film is far more disturbing than entertaining and yet that worked for me. If you don't walk out of Lord of War with a lot of heavy issues on your mind then clearly you were not paying attention. This is one of the smartest  and disquieting political satires since 1999's Wag The Dog or 1962's original Manchurian Candidate.

I know sometimes people go to the movies just looking for simple or even mindless entertainment and if that is the case for you right now then Lord of War is not the movie for you today. If, however, you're out to enjoy a smart movie that deals in big issues and big ideas then Lord of War is a must see. In the intellectual sense Lord of War is highly entertaining.

The one thing you can take away from Lord of War that you could call entertaining by any standard is the performance of Nicolas Cage whose strange career track takes yet another fascinating turn. His last film, the brainless PG adventure National Treasure, showed Cage at his laziest and least thought provoking. In Lord of War it's back to that weird kind of charisma that brought him to fame in his Oscar winning performance in Leaving Las Vegas.

Andrew Niccol has directed sparingly in his career in Hollywood, preferring to write for others. His exceptional script for The Truman Show was everything his own directing effort in Simone wasn't in terms of its satire of celebrity. But one thing that all of Niccol's writing and directing work shows is an aim toward grandiose ideas, incomparable ambition, and a social conscience. Niccol is the rare director in the era of the blockbuster who is interested in telling large, involved stories about American culture, politics and even science.

This consciousness separates him from most other Hollywood directors who seem to prefer telling small stories with smaller characters with nowhere near the ambition of Niccol. It is this quality that will lead Andrew Niccol to create a true masterpiece someday. Lord of War is not that masterpiece but it shows he is on the right track.

Movie Review The Damned United

The Damned United (2009) 

Directed by Tom Hooper

Written by Peter Morgan

Starring Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, Jim Broadbent

Release Date March 27th, 2009 

Published November 14th, 2009

Michael Sheen has a knack for playing modern historic Englishmen. He rose to stardom playing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair three times. He gained massive acclaim playing flashy TV presenter David Frost in the Oscar nominee Frost/Nixon. For his latest English icon Sheen tackles an English football legend.

Brian Clough's career as the manager of a soccer club almost went down in infamy. He was the manager of England's number 1 soccer club Leeds United for only 44 days. The story of how he got there and what he did to blow the gig is one of the most bizarre and humiliating stories in the history of soccer.

In 1968 Brian Clough was the manager of a small, 3rd Division soccer club in Derby. His team has just gotten a huge break, they will host a game against the number one club in all of England, Leeds United and Brian plans to host their legendary manager Don Revie. Things do not go as planned. Leeds humiliates Derby, with a little cheating and a lot of talent, and Don Revie blows off Clough completely.

Find my full length review at Cleats.Media

Movie Review Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself

Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) 

Directed by Tyler Perry

Written by Tyler Perry

Starring Taraji P. Henson, Brian White, Adam Rodriguez, Tyler Perry, Gladys Knight, Mary J. Blige

Release Date September 11th, 2009

Published September 12th, 2009

There are two Tyler Perry's. One is an amateurish boor of a director who interrupts his storytelling so he can cavort about in drag. Tyler Perry is a socially conscious filmmaker who uses this milieu to make valuable points about love, family and community that no other director has dealt with so openly, earnestly and sincerely.

The battle between these two sides of Mr. Perry has delivered mixed results with his poor direction and bad choices as a writer undercut the important social issues he wishes to shine a light upon. Perry's latest film, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, is a perfect example of the two Tyler Perry's.

Taraji P. Henson stars in I Can Do Bad All By Myself as April, a self absorbed wannabe chanteuse singing for indifferent bar patrons. Nights spent on stage are followed by drunken later nights with her married, emotionally abusive boyfriend (Brian White). Alone in her home, just down the street from her church, April seems sadly content.

April's life is upended one morning when she finds Madea (Tyler Perry) angry on her doorstep with April's niece Jennifer (Hope Olaide Wilson) and her two young nephews. The kids had broken into Madea's home the night before and because their mother, a crackhead, has died and their grandmother has gone missing, Madea has brought them to April.

Immediately after taking in the kids, April 's life is interrupted again as her pastor (Marvin Winans) shows up asking her to take in a missionary from South America, Sandino (Adam Rodriguez). In exchange for room and board he will repair her decrepit townhouse. All of this further inflames her boyfriend who will become the villain of the piece when needed.

Part of Tyler Perry's many issues are characters like that played by Brian White. The character is all malevolence with zero nuance. He is a contrivance of a plot that will need a villain to give focus and context to a movie that meanders through one explanatory piece of dialogue after another.

Then there is Madea who continues to exist in this uncanny valley of oddity and humor. Is the character funny? Yes. However, funny doesn't justify the continued shoehorning of this bizarre drag character into what are ostensibly serious social dramas. I understand Perry's wanting to lighten the mood, he's dealing with heavy issues. Unfortunately, he undermines those issues by whirling about in a dress.

It's difficult to take Perry seriously when he keeps interrupting his drama so he can run around in drag. It's a real shame because the issues he deals with are so very important and deeply meaningful. Even with his lack of directorial skill. Even with his limitations as a filmic storyteller, Perry's care in dealing with deep issues comes through and is communicated well enough to touch the audience.

I was moved by the things that the children and April dealt with. Physical, sexual and emotional abuse are the norm for these characters. The healing they find in each other and in their church is moving and unexpectedly powerful, even for an agnostic such as myself.

Sadly, Perry cannot get out of his own way. Even as his characters are going through stunning emotional crises Perry can't help but interrupt with Madea or maybe some unrelated musical moment. Don't get me wrong Gladys Knight and Mary J. Blige are national treasures who I would pay good money to see under any circumstance however the songs they perform in the movie hobble the pace and being that they are sort of Greek chorus songs, they contribute to Perry's tendency for overstating a point.

What the good Tyler Perry does is so valuable. He addresses major issues with care, sensitivity and sincerity that few other filmmakers can muster. The bad Tyler Perry just keeps getting in the way. Whether it's Madea or his tendency for obvious dialogue, Perry lacks polish and self control and his films, his important issues, are hamstrung as a result.

Movie Review The Curse of La Llarona

The Curse of La Llarona (2019) 

Directed by Michael Chaves

Written by Mikki Daughtry, Tobias Iaconis

Starring Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Patricia Velasquez, Marisol Ramirez

Release Date April 19th, 2019

Published April 19th, 2019 

The Curse of La Llorona is another movie under the banner of The Conjuring movie universe. The film was produced by James Wan but not directed by the man who has made this the most underestimated movie franchise going today. I may not be a fan of any of these movies, not even The Conjuring, but there is no denying that The Conjuring Movie Universe is a legit phenomenon. The Nun, The Annabelle movies and now The Curse of La Llorona, go to show the enduring power of ghost stories.

The Curse of La Llorona stars Linda Cardellini of Freaks & Geeks fame as Anna, a DCFS worker and recent widow, living in the early 1970’s Los Angeles with her two kids. Anna has been struggling at work and having cases taken from her but when a long term case comes back up for a review, she insists on being the investigator assigned. This will be a fateful decision as she will attempt to save two boys from a manic mother only to have tragedy prove to be unavoidable due to circumstances beyond her control.

The mother in question was attempting to save her two sons from the Curse of La Llorona, aka The Curse of the Weeping Woman. In a prologue set in 16th Century Mexico we see a woman in a wedding gown caring for her two sons until something mysterious and strange happens. Soon, one of the boys is alone and wanders until he finds his mother crying while murdering his brother by drowning him in a lake. How this curse lingers from Mexico in the 1600’s to 1970’s Los Angeles is not something the movie cares to explain.

After failing to save the two boys from the supposed curse, Anna finds her and her two kids, Chris (Roman Christou) and Samantha (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen), the subject of the curse and in desperate need of help. In a cameo, Tony Amendolo portrays Father Perez who was first introduced in Annabelle. Father Perez is the first to step in and offer help but when church protocol slows things down, he offers up a former clergyman, Rafael Olvera (Raymond Cruz), a man who battles demons in a fashion that even the church finds extreme.

That’s the set up for the rest of the plot, such as that plot is. If you aren’t a fan of movies that are merely a series of loud noises leading to creepy people in makeup popping into frame at random moments, The Curse of La Llorona is not the movie for you. There is nothing more to The Curse of La Llorona than a series of jump scares. You could get the same thrills watching a cat run into a room and back out again without warning.

The Curse of La Llorona is yet another silly ghost movie where the ghost in question has unlimited powers and yet never bothers to actually complete its goal of killing the people it came to kill. Weirder still is how powerless anyone is to stop La Llorona and how ineffective she is. Her targets are children whom she is easily able to corner, one of them she even has twice, trapped under water, and she is still foiled. How is she foiled? Good question, I was watching the movie and I don’t have that answer.

La Llorona throws over chairs and slams doors and throws children into swimming pools and down flights of stairs and yet she never appears able to actually finish what she starts and we have no idea why. The makers of The Curse of La Llorona have so little respect for our wits as audience members that they don’t bother to create a rational set of rules for the character to follow. Sometimes she can be foiled by Anna yelling at her, other times she’s foiled by dirt from sacred ground or holy water. It’s whatever arbitrary device the movie needs to sustain more than 100 minutes of run time.

This lack of logic, this lack of care for character motivation sinks pretty much every movie in The Conjuring Movie Universe for me. Never once are we introduced to a demon or ghost character with any motivation for their malevolence. The ghost/demon is evil and that is all the motivation the filmmakers feel is necessary. But from a structural, plot standpoint that is simply wrong. It sets up a scenario where you know that the main characters A, B and C will be fine at least until the end because the runtime dictates it and the supposedly terrifying scenes of the first two acts of the movie are just creepy for the sake of creepy because the payoff can’t come until the end

I will never understand why so many people enjoy a jump scare machine movie like The Curse of La Llorona. It’s almost the same movie every time. The same jump scares, the same lingering camera on windblown curtains, the slamming doors and overturned chairs and the same creeptastic makeup design for the creatures who pop into frame to pop goes the weasel you into dumping your popcorn.

Why does this continue to be fun for you?

Movie Review The Core

The Core (2003) 

Directed by Jon Amiel

Written by Cooper Layne, John Rogers

Starring Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Delroy Lindo, Bruce Greenwood, Richard Jenkins

Release Date March 28th, 2003

Published March 29th, 2003

It's not often when screenwriters make the news. When John Rogers, the co-writer of The Core, wrote in to Ain't It Cool News to dispute a review that questioned the film’s science, more than a few of us took notice and had a little laugh at his expense.

Granted, no one wants their work made fun of, but when you make a movie as unabashedly out there as The Core, you can't expect it to be welcomed as if it were written by Carl Sagan. Sci-fi films have a horrible track record of including actual science in them and the aspiration to put real science in a movie like The Core is like asking Beverly Hills Cop to include real police procedures. No one goes to disaster movies for a science lesson, they go to watch landmarks explode. The Core blows up Rome and San Francisco, mission accomplished.

Aaron Eckhart heads up an ensemble cast as Dr. Josh Keyes, a physics professor at some anonymous college. In the midst of a lecture on the layers of the Earth, Dr. Keyes is called out of class by a pair of humorless G-men. Taken on a jet to Washington D.C, he reunites with a fellow scientist and friend Sergei Levesque (Tcheky Karyo, in a rare non-villain role). The two are asked by an army General (Six Feet Under dead guy, Richard Jenkins) to theorize what environmental factors could cause a group of people with pacemakers to simply drop dead without warning.

The answer, after much lucky guessing by Dr. Keyes, is that the Earth's core has stopped spinning causing it's electromagnetic field to go haywire. Not only has it caused pacemakers to stop, but also birds have lost navigating ability and are falling from the sky. Also falling is the space shuttle which has flown off course and nearly crashes in L.A, saved only by the wits of its plucky navigator Major Rebecca Childs.

So now that we know what's wrong, there are two questions remaining. Number one, how did this happen? And number two, how do we stop it? Thankfully, the film’s trailer has already told us both of those things. A weapon that causes earthquakes has gone too far thanks to the miscalculations of its inventor Dr. Zimsky (Stanley Tucci). Conversely, crazy scientist Dr. "Braz" Brazzleton has a vehicle with the ability to tunnel all the way to the core. Once there, nuclear weapons can be dropped to kickstart the core. Apparently, no one had jumper cables.

To the science issue, I have no idea and really don't care if the science is real. What matters is if the film is any good. Some geologist writing somewhere said that the film has as many accuracies as inaccuracies and that the inaccuracies are those that are necessary for dramatic purposes. WHATEVER!

Let's get to the important stuff, how cool are the explosions. Well let me tell you in the words of the late John Candy in an old SCTV sketch, stuff blow'd up, blow'd up real good. The special effects aren't spectacular but they are entertaining in a modern day Ed Wood sort of way. The Golden Gate Bridge explosion is a cheesy treat and when Rome blows up, watching the reactions of the extras running from the Coliseum is priceless.

The Core is a bad movie but in the camp sense it's genius. Whether intentional or not The Core is full of laughs from the effects to the characters. I especially liked Stanley Tucci who seemed to be channeling Dr. Smith from Lost In Space with his whiny smugness. And kudos to Delroy Lindo for assuaging his usual calm cool persona for a geekier frazzled genius demeanor that you don't expect from him.

The Core is just plain goofy and in that sense it's a lot of fun. Though it needs to be greatly pared down from its two-hour plus runtime, it nevertheless delivers a fun little distraction.

Movie Review The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener (2005) 

Directed by Fernando Meirelles

Written by Jeffrey Caine

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy

Release Date August 31st, 2005

Published September 15th, 2005 

Fernando Meirelles's City Of God was an astonishing announcement of a talent truly coming into his own. Meirelles had made movies in his home country of Brazil before but nothing with the visceral visual punch of City Of God. With such success a move to feature directing closer to the heart of the business in Hollywood was inevitable. With The Constant Gardener, a British independent production distributed by Focus Features, Meirelles has gone about as Hollywood as he is capable of. A political thriller from the great John Le Carre that aspires beyond mere thrills to something far more important.

Don't be misled into thinking that Gardener is a ponderous thumping of liberal guilt towards Africa; it's also a love story about an emotionally walled-off man and a beautiful, idealistic free spirit thrust into the political whirlwind of Africa.

Ralph Fiennes stars in Constant Gardener as Justin Quayle, an assistant British diplomat who has likely reached the peak of his employability. Quayle seems to have little interest in his bureaucratic position in Kenya where he spends most of his time tending his garden while his superiors handle the heavy diplomatic lifting.

Even after meeting the beautiful idealist Tessa (Rachel Weisz) while on assignment in Britain and falling quickly in love, Quayle remains detached from his African surroundings. Upon moving to Africa with Justin, Tessa jumps immediately into the streets and slums of Africa taking on the cause of healthcare with the help of a local doctor, Arnold (Hubert Kounde).

With AIDS ravaging the country, pharmaceuticals are a hot button. When Tessa discovers that the goodwill of British pharmaceutical companies who donate much of the AIDS medication in the country comes with the danger of product testing for drugs that are not safe and in fact are quite deadly to some, she and Albert set out to expose the danger. All the while Justin remains respectful of his wife's passion but continues to tend his garden oblivious to the rising intrigue of his wife's activities.

When Tessa is found murdered Justin finally begins to see beyond the walls of his bureaucratic office. Setting out to discover why his wife was killed, Justin places himself in harm's way to expose the corruption his wife died to bring to light. Thus begins a world leaping journey from Africa to England and across Europe and a love story that even he had forgotten about.

The plot is as simple as my description, however Director Fernando Meirelles is not content to direct The Constant Gardener as a typical thriller. Interrupting the timeline, the film begins with Tessa's death and flashes back and forth from Justin and Tessa's first meeting to the beginning of Justin's search for meaning in her death and back to what exactly Tessa was attempting to expose.

The timeline shifts work, they give the film more intrigue than a straight telling might have. When combined with the handheld photography and hot hazy visuals of Africa, the film was actually shot in the streets of Kenya, it gives the film a real dramatic jolt. Like City of God, The Constant Gardener has Meirelles signature documentary look and feel.

The acting in The Constant Gardener is first rate. Ralph Fiennes is likely the most consistently fascinating actor working today. His reputation is that of the mercurial ACTOR in every sense of the word and yet the talent on display in The Constant Gardener is astonishingly subtle and affecting. It is Fiennes who really sells the romantic aspects of the plot and makes you believe that even as disconnected as Justin was from his wife's passions he loved and respected everything about her. 

I cannot praise Mr. Fiennes' work any more.  It's likely that awards season will heap all of the necessary praise on this extraordinary performance. This is Mr. Fiennes best work since his Oscar nominated role as a German guard in Schindler's List, his breakout performance. Since that role Fiennes has done fine work in obscurity. Aside from that other Oscar nominated piece The English Patient, his work in movies like Oscar and Lucinda, Spider and Onegin has been beloved by critics and ignored by audiences. His profile is likely to grow this fall with an appearance in the next Harry Potter film.

After wasting her talent in popcorn flicks like The Mummy, The Mummy Returns and Constantine, Rachel Weisz shows the breadth of her talents in The Constant Gardener.  A career best for Weisz as an actress, Tessa is naive and idealistic but with a steely side that comes out when she needs it. Her passion can be seen as foolish by some, as in the way she so gleefully engages in her worst behavior, but the cause is a worthy one. Wearing a pregnancy belly while walking through 100 plus degree heat amongst the impoverished throngs of Kenya is the kind of method acting few actresses could pull off.

Weisz, Fiennes and the supporting performance of the great character actor Danny Huston are all likely to be remembered at the Oscars in March. For Mr. Huston however I would recommend finding a good guy role soon, the ultra-creepy heavies that Huston plays in nearly every film are becoming cliche. Still his work here, while extra creepy at times, is memorable and necessary.

If there is one issue I have with The Constant Gardener it is with the international intrigue and murder for hire subplots. Maybe I'm just burned out on the conventions of the thriller genre but I wasn't interested in seeing every extra painted as a potential threat. There is a scene in the London airport that is typical of the good guy on the run style thriller where everyone in the airport is shown to be a potential spy ready to report Justin's whereabouts to the bad guys. The scene feels out of place in such a serious minded movie.

It is a fact that many corporations do many awful things, but corporations in movies always seem to want to kill anyone who threatens the stock price. In The Constant Gardener Justin is chased all over Africa, Britain and Europe by the shady thugs of a drug company trying to keep him from disclosing their nefariousness. The type of issues raised in The Constant Gardener about the shocking treatment of Africans treated as guinea pigs deserves a more serious look, the thriller plot cheapens the issue.

African poverty and healthcare is a black mark on the conscience of every American. In a country as rich as ours, for us to be so negligent of the issues in Africa is shameful. We rationalize that our government is dealing with it, and indeed our economic aid to Africa is substantial, but industries like the pharmaceutical industry in America and England are doing the kinds of things dramatized in The Constant Gardener and there is no public outcry. Shamefully there are 100 times the number of news stories about Brangelina as there are about the issue those two stars have given so much of their own time to in Africa.

The thriller aspects of The Constant Gardener are remnants of John Le Carre's book and while they likely work in print the conventions are exhausted in film. Besides that, it is the romantic plot that is the real audience hook in The Constant Gardener. Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz have amazing chemistry even as the plot requires them to be pulled apart most of the time. The romantic longing that leads Justin to investigate Tessa's death is very compellingly played by Fiennes.

The film probably would have worked just as well, and even better, without the thriller plot. There was plenty of drama mined from Tessa's secrets and the non-violent machinations of the drug companies to make a compelling story. The minor gunplay and spy vs spy shenanigans feel out of place and unnecessary. Still though, they are a minor detraction.

For Fernando Meirelles working for the first time in a relatively big budget movie, the first film of his career he did not write and develop on his own, The Constant Gardener is a great accomplishment. Even through material not of his own creation his vision wins out over everything. The Constant Gardener is not quite the triumph that City Of God was, but topping that remarkable film may take a lifetime. As it is, The Constant Gardener is yet another example of his rising talent and profile. Mr. Meirelles' work will now likely be as anticipated by film fans as that of Pedro Almodovar or Martin Scorsese.

The film serves another more important purpose as well. It is a reminder of the horrors taking place in Africa and the desperate need for more worldwide attention and involvement. The film is not preachy about these problems but merely throws an important light upon them and in that sense it is more important than a mere movie.