Movie Review: Albert Nobbs

Albert Nobbs (2011) 

Directed by Rodrigo Garcia 

Written by Glenn Close, John Banville, Gabrielle Prekop

Starring Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Janet McTeer, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Release Date September 2nd, 2011

Published November 14th, 2011

"Albert Nobbs" suffers from novelty. The film about a woman pretending to be a man in 19th century England cannot escape the novelty of star Glenn Close dressed as a man. Close's soft features and fragile demeanor betray her at every turn even as her Albert is a very sympathetic creation.

Albert Nobbs has lived for many years at the Morrison Inn where he's worked diligently as a butler. Scrimping every shilling Albert has saved up quite a nest egg; possibly enough to buy his own tobaccos shop and possibly even enough to live the life of his choice.

Albert is a woman pretending to be a man in order to find work and acceptance. As a child Albert was often abused and was to be left out on the streets after her foster mother passed away. Albert found a way out from under her abuse and poverty by dressing as a man and taking a job as a butler.

That was many years ago. Now, Albert is a respected; if somewhat odd, middle aged man living quietly at the Morrison in silent longing. Albert's secret is nearly revealed when he/she is forced to share his bed with a day laborer named Hubert (Janet McTeer).

In another of "Albert Nobbs" less than convincing visual portrayals, Janet McTeer plays Hubert and, like Ms. Close, Ms. McTeer's features betray her. Add that to the contrivance of two women pretending to be men stumbling upon each other in this way and "Albert Nobbs" begin to seem silly.

What keeps "Albert Nobbs" from becoming ridiculous is the complete commitment of both Glenn Close and Janet McTeer to their characters. While the movie seems to almost attempt to embarrass them, these tremendous actresses maintain their dignity and are never less than sympathetic.

Unfortunately, "Albert Nobbs" suffers for the novelty of Close and McTeer's less than convincing looking drag act as well as a lack of discernible purpose. For the life of me I cannot understand what "Albert Nobbs" was about.

Often times a director will excuse a lack of purpose by calling a film a 'character study;' "Albert Nobbs" is unquestionably that. However, the cop out of a character study is that it allows the filmmakers to not have to craft a compelling story but merely turn out characters who are strong enough to hold the audience's attention.

The characters of "Albert Nobbs" are unquestionably interesting, including the lovely Mia Wasikowska as the object of Albert's affections, Aaron Johnson ("Kick Ass") as Wasikowska's lover and Brendon Gleeson as a friendly, drunken doctor.

I mentioned Wasikowska as the object of Albert's affections. Here the film is unnecessarily coy about Albert's sexuality. Is Albert a lesbian? Does Albert know what it means to be a lesbian? McTeer's Hubert is married to a woman but her sexuality is vague as well; she was married to an abusive husband before stealing his clothes and becoming a man.

I understand wanting the audience to draw their own conclusions about these issues. I also understand that sexuality wasn't as well defined by sub-culture as it is in America in 2011. That said, the film is so vague and so coy that our ability to draw conclusions is nearly comically derailed. Glenn Close delivers a well-considered performance in "Albert Nobbs" but there are simply too many issues surrounding the performance for me to recommend "Albert Nobbs."

Movie Review: Drag Me to Hell

Drag Me to Hell (2009) 

Directed by Sam Raimi 

Written by Sam Raimi 

Starring Allison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, David Paymer 

Release Date May 29th, 2009 

Published May 29th, 2009

There is so much cool stuff in Drag Me To Hell that I really wish I could recommend it. As a fan of Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 and of the classic Drive In, Z movies that inspired them, Drag Me To Hell evoked awesome memories of horror films past while standing alone as a hip, knowing and very modern horror movie.

So why didn't I like the movie? Drag Me To Hell is like a really great looking house with a crack in the foundation so bad it has to be condemned.

Drag Me To Hell stars Alison Lohman as Christine Brown an ambitious bank loan officer who dreams of becoming assistant manager. She is competing with a brown nosing co-worker who is admired by the boss (David Paymer) for his willingness to say no. Christine is seen as too lenient. When an old gypsy woman (Lorna Raver) comes in begging for an extension on her mortage, after not paying the last two extensions, Christine says no.

Needless to say, the old gypsy happens to be a nutball and a witch who soon after places a curse on Christine, the lamia. In three days a horned demon will rise to drag Christine to hell. Until that time she will be plagued by visions so horrifying that she may go insane before she can be dragged to despair.

Witnessing her decline is Christine's boyfriend Clay (Justin Long). He's the resident skeptic who exists to mock the psychic Rham Jas (Dileep Rao) who claims he can help with the curse. It is advice from the psychic that leads to the scene that ruined the movie for me.

I won't go into detail as I am sure some of you will still want to see this movie despite my warning. I will only say that the scene is unnecessary but more importantly, it severs our emotional tie to Christine. The scene places the movie's heroine at a distance from the audience, most  members of the audience anyway, and ruins the thrills of the rest of the movie which rely on our connection to Christine.

As for that ending. If you pay attention the whole way through you won't be the least bit surprised. Of course, if your like me, you will have checked out already after the scene I eluded to a paragraph ago.

It's such a shame that Sam Raimi and his brother Ivan who co-wrote the script, decided to put that scene in the movie because without it I think Drag Me To Hell is potentially a horror classic. Raimi crafts classic horror movie gore in ways that will twist you in your seat and make you laugh in the space of moments.

Lorna Raver's ancient gypsy is just the kind of horror film villain that escaped from the Necronomicon in Evil Dead. She looks half dead, she spews everywhere, even before she turns evil, and she can appear seemingly out of nowhere. The numerous allusions to Evil Dead will have horror fans cheering even as they cover their eyes and mouth in terror.

With so much cool stuff happening in Drag Me To Hell, I really want to like it. But I don't. That one scene. One scene. It is enough for me to put aside all that is endlessly cool about Drag Me To Hell and say skip it. Unless you are a hardcore horror fan, with a loose affiliation to the animal world, you are going to dislike Drag Me To Hell as much as I did.

Movie Review: Final Destination 3D

Final Destination 3D (2009) 

Directed by David R. Ellis 

Written by Eric Bress

Starring Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Mykelti Williamson 

Release Date August 28th, 2009 

Published August 28th, 2009 

It was George Carlin who pointed out, in reference to a ludicrous airport announcement and not the movie series, that Final Destination is redundant. All destinations are final. Yet, here we are on the third sequel in the Final Destination film series. This time, we are told, this is The FINAL Destination and to celebrate the filmmakers have dressed up the manufactured gore in 3D technology.

A group of non-descript models turned actors and Forrest Gump's pal Bubba star in this latest sequel that sets up a series of rube goldberg-ian death scenarios and runs people through them with an allegedly escalating amount of suspense. Unfortunately for director David R. Ellis, the 3D tech can't shake the 'been there, done that' factor.

Someone named David Campo picks up the mantle as the latest idiot psychic who, gifted with precience is able to rescue people. The first film it was a plane crash. Number a two a massive car wreck. The third film got inventive with a rollercoaster accident. This fourth outing a NASCAR event blows up. Coincidence or commentary on the sport, you decide.

Bobby Campo as Nick saves his friends and a couple of other people and sets up a grizzly series of events as death comes back around to pick up the crumbs of his destruction. The first happens just after the event as a flaming tire takes a young woman's head off. And thus begins a series of what the audience I was with felt were some of the funniest scenes of the year.

Death after death the audience howled as if at a Chris Rock show. I don't exactly know what it is about a guy on fire being dragged down the street or another man being hit by high speed ambulance or a woman crushed in machinery gears, but the audience I was with thought it was all brilliant fun. Nevertheless, they were rolling in the aisles.

I was thinking that I have lost my taste for such things, for the mechanics of modern horror. But, that can't be it. There is no bigger fan of the Saw series than I. I also loved the 3D good time of My Bloody Valentine. True, I dislike most modern horror offerings but it has nothing to do with hating the genre.

The problem with the modern horror movie is the gore smeared on the screen is used to hide the poverty of ideas. Horror filmmakers have become so consumed by presenting human suffering and what modern tech can help them to do in terms of the presentation of viscera that they have stopped worrying about creating compelling stories and characters.

David R. Ellis, like his weekend co-hort Rob Zombie whose Halloween 2 also opens this weekend, is part of a generation of horror filmmakers who think blood and guts are the end all be all of horror. Who needs a story when technology allows you to follow a projectile right through a woman's eye-socket or get a unique perspective of a man being impaled.

It's as if all of modern horror were based on a misreading of the Saw movies. People assumed that the Saw series was successful because of the elaborate death scenarios. In fact however, Saw succeeds on the stone cold logic and endlessly compelling character of Jigsaw who never merely kills anyone. Jigsaw has an aim and his victims a way out. The logic and the lesson are horrifying but fascinating in the way they expose human nature.

Final Destination 3D could not care less about logic, ideas and especially about human nature. The only insight into humanity come in the various ways they can find to take a human's insides and spread them on the outside. Gore is part of the genre. You accept that going in. For me, however, I need more than just gore. Final Destination 3D is noting but. If that is enough for you, so be it.

Movie Review: The Weight of Water

The Weight of Water (2002) 

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Written by Alice Arlen, Christopher Kyle 

Starring Sean Penn, Sarah Polley, Elizabeth Hurley, Catherine McCormack,

Release Date November 1st, 2002 

Published February 23rd, 2002 

On the Isles of Shoals, off the coast of New Hampshire, a murder was committed. Two women are killed and a man stands accused of a crime he did not commit. It was 1873 and though nowadays double murders barely make people blink, in New Hampshire in 1873 this was the OJ trial. The so-called Smuttynose murders became the background to a best-selling novel, "The Weight Of Water," which has now been adapted for the screen starring Sean Penn and Catherine McCormack. Like most books to film, it's a safe bet the book was better.

McCormack is the film's lead, Jean, a photographer who is using a weekend visit to the Isles of Shoals to do a work assignment, but also using the romantic surroundings to reconnect with her Pulitzer Prize-winning poet husband, Thomas. Accompanying them on the boat trip is Thomas's brother Rich (Josh Lucas) and his new girlfriend Addeline (Elizabeth Hurley). Jean is on the Isle to get photographs of the place where the area's most famous murders took place.

As the story goes, a Norwegian immigrant named Maren Hontvet (Sarah Polley) and her husband John (Ulrich Thompson) are a fishing family living on the Isle with Maren's sister Karen (Katrin Cartlidge), their brother Evan (Anders W. Berthelsen), and his wife Anethe (Vinessa Shaw). Also living with them is a boarder named Louis Wagner (Ciaran Hinds). According to the official story, Wagner, in a jealous rage, murdered Karen and Anethe while Maren escaped and hid on the shore to await the return of her brother and husband who had gone for a night of fishing. Wagner was convicted of the crime though, to the day he was hanged, he denied his guilt.

For some reason, the official story doesn't sit well with Jean who, though she is just supposed to take pictures, begins investigating the murders. The story she uncovers vaguely resembles the story unfolding on the boat between her husband, his brother and Addeline. Jealousy, suspicion, and questionable behavior all begin to mirror the story of the murder. You can see where this is leading.

It's not the most original setup, but to the credit of director Kathryn Bigelow the film doesn't go in exactly the direction you think it's heading. We saw a similar setup earlier this year in the dramatic romance Possession, where a pair of historians begin a relationship that mirrors the one they are researching. In The Weight of Water, as Jean investigates what really happened in the Smuttynose murder case, she senses a similar pattern evolving amongst her group leading to a moral situation foreshadowed by the true story of the murders. There is a seemingly supernatural element to the film, in what I believed were Jean's visions of what happened in the past. However this hint of the supernatural never truly plays out, it is merely used to connect the two stories.

Here is the problem with this film, the film switches between the past and present so randomly that we lose the connection between them. The links between the two stories are tenuous at best.

The real story of the murders, as uncovered by Jean, is far more lurid and interesting than the rather dull melodrama unfolding on the boat. Yet, the screenwriter and director seem to want to play up the parallels between the two. The only real parallel is jealousy, and by the time that becomes clear, you're left saying, is that it? Jealousy is a common thread in a lot of murders or potential murders; one would hope after sitting through two hours of this film, one would get something a little more interesting than the green eyed monster.

Sarah Polley gives yet another beautifully layered performance, using her big round eyes to communicate her character's conflicted nature. Looking at her sparse surroundings and her extremely dull husband, it's no wonder she would entertain psychotic thoughts, anything to distract from her life must have been welcome.

The Smuttynose Murders are a true story of lust, incest, and ax murders; of lies and deceit; and a cover up that may have sent an innocent man to the gallows. The story would be sensational if it weren't true and should have been an easy fit on the big screen. However, when combined with the dramatized modern story, it doesn't get the treatment it deserved.

Movie Review: Duane Hopwood

Duane Hopwood (2005) 

Directed by Matt Mulhern

Written by Matt Mulhern 

Starring David Schwimmer, Janeane Garofalo, Judah Friedlander, John Krasinski 

Release Date November 11th, 2005

Published May 22nd, 2006 

My friends know quite well that I don't drink. That in my lifetime I have had exactly one gulp of alcohol and never touched the stuff again. I may not have drinking experience but even I can recognize the problem drinker. The sad, misguided soul whose everyday is a quest to quiet his inner demons with drink. I have seen it in real life, in real time and it's very sad. No film I have ever seen has ever really captured the true drunk experience. Movies like Barfly and Clean and Sober featured powerhouse, emotional performances from Mickey Rourke and Michael Keaton respectively but both were to extreme to be the true drunk experience.

The new to DVD film Duane Hopwood starring David Schwimmer comes closer than ever to capturing the sad, desperate drunk at his lowest point. A point that many may not recognize as low, he has a job, friends, is from time to time still a quite caring father, but a severe low it is.

Written and directed by Matt Mulhern, whose acting history is surprisingly colorful, he was Teddy Beckersted in One Crazy Summer, Duane Hopwood is a glum but desperately affecting drama about alcoholism at it's most mundane and realistic.

David Schwimmer plays Duane a lower middle class schlub who works as a pit boss in an Atlantic City Casino. He is divorced from his wife Linda (Janeane Garofalo) and a DUI arrest threatens to keep him from ever seeing his two daughters again.

The arrest is a first offense and we learn that though Duane clearly has a problem, bad enough that it ended his marriage, this is the first time he has ever been considered dangerous. Duane's life aside from this has gone on sadly but relatively quiet. He makes it to work on time every night, he has loyal friends and neighbors willing to help him and take care of him and even his ex-wife hasn't given up on him as a father though she has moved on with a new boyfriend.

The extraordinary thing about the movie Duane Hopwood is how real it all feels. Unlike other movies about the alcoholic experience there are no grand dramatic revelations, there is little or no catharisis and the ending is even somewhat vague about Duane's possibility for redemption. The film captures the realistic day to day activities of the functioning alcoholic, a person many of us have known and begrudgingly accepted for many years.

Many people watching David Schwimmer will feel they cannot seperate him from Ross on Friends but give Duane Hopwood a few minutes and Ross disappears and this character becomes Schwimmer's new reality. This is some terrific acting from the actor most often underrated amongst the flashy cast of Friends.

Janeane Garofalo too has often been underrated. Her comedy chops have always been respected and her work on television's The West Wing is Emmy worthy. However it's a performance like this that shows truly what Janeane is capable of. Brushing aside her usually brusque sarcastic nature, Garofalo shows a strength and sensitivity that is new to her acting.

And in what is the films most entertaining role comic Judah Friedlander steals scenes as  Anthony a forty year old security guard with dreams of being a stand-up comic and making it out of his mom's basement. He pushes Duane to let him be his roommate and though both seem aware of the sad state of two heterosexual forty year old men living together they form a strong bond that survives even Duane's lowest moments of self destruction. Friedlander is pitch perfect as comic relief from the films admittedly dour main story but he's also part of the films core tenderness that is necessary to making the film watchable. Like Garofalo's Linda, Anthony is not in Duane's life to save him  but just to be his friend and help him out when he can.

The film never made it much past the press rows at Sundance in 2005 but now it's on DVD and waiting to be seen, Duane Hopwood is an exceptional film.

Movie Review: The Young Victoria

The Young Victoria (2009) 

Directed by Jean Marc Vallee 

Written by Julian Fellowes 

Starring Emily Blunt, Paul Bettany, Rupert Friend, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent

Release Date December 18th, 2009

Published January 6th, 2010 

"Queen Victoria, one of our more frumpy Queens. They're all frumpy aren't they? Because it's a bad idea when cousins marry." Eddie Izzard "Dressed to Kill"

That quote was all I could think when I sat to watch The Young Victoria. Eddie Izzard's pointedly funny takedown of royal lineage threatened, early on, to affect my ability to enjoy this take on Queen Victoria's rise to power. What a welcome surprise it was then that star Emily Blunt made me forget all about Mr. Izzard, at least till the film was over, and with the great aid of an exceptional script by Oscar winner Julian Fellowes, made me love this movie.

The Young Victoria tells the story of Queen Victoria from the time just before she became Queen through her struggle with parliament and marriage to Prince Albert (Rupert Friend). We learn that as a young woman Victoria was kept from the world at large by her dour mother, the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson) and her mother's consort Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong).

Both pressured the teenage heir to King William's (Jim Broadbent) throne to make them her Royal Regent, essentially ceding them the power over the monarchy. She refused, meanwhile the King himself conspired to win her favor with the help of the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany), and the King's brother in law, and the ruler of Belgium, King Leopold (Thomas Kretschmann) maneuvered to move his bloodline into power through his nephew Albert.

For his part, Albert proved to be more than just another pawn in another power play. Over the course of Victoria's rise to power he is a trusted friend, confidante and eventually a husband and lover. It is in this relationship between Emily Blunt’s precocious yet savvy Victoria and Friend's stolid yet loving Albert that The Young Victoria gets it's romantic drive.

Emily Blunt is a powerhouse in The Young Victoria. Sure, she looks nothing like what is known of Victoria, ('one of our more frumpy Queens') but as she has told reviewers, you want realistic, watch the history channel. This is a Victoria for pop culture consumption and as such it works. Blunt's Victoria is sexy and smart, winsome and powerful. 

Ms. Blunt has remarkable chemistry not just with Mr. Friend, who is only just her equal, but also with the exceptionally cunning Paul Bettany and the always welcome Jim Broadbent, in a terrific cameo. The rest of the cast, minus the Snidely Whiplash-esque Mark Strong as the villain of the piece, is uniformly excellent. 

Adding to the power of Ms. Blunt's performance is an exceptionally smart, witty and concise script by Oscar winner Julian Fellowes. Mr. Fellowes takes a sprawling story of high court conspirators boils them down to their essences and keeps the audience in firm grasp of the various plots, machinations and maneuvers going on around our Victoria all while creating a hot house atmosphere of Victorian Era intrigue. 

So often period pieces like The Young Victoria can seem like inaccessible museum pieces all stuffy and puffed up. Fellowes and director Jean Marc Vallee deftly introduce a little soapy daytime drama into the mix without losing their air of cinematic importance. This is high minded drama but with a sense of the modern culture, hence the choice of a sexy Queen and lithesome, Edward Cullen-esque, leading man. 

The Young Victoria is tart and smart and features a star-making performance from Emily Blunt who may be more of a contender for Best Actress than many think. This is just the kind of glorious underdog of a performance that arrives on Oscar night to upset the apple cart of Oscar expectations. Here's hoping that Mr. Fellowes' scripting doesn't go unnoticed on Oscar night as well.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) 

Directed by Gavin Hood 

Written by David Benioff, Skip Woods

Starring Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds, Dominic Monaghan

Release Date May 1st, 2009 

Published May 4th, 2009 

Arguably the most revered of all superheroes, among the hardcore comic book fans, Wolverine has long deserved his own place in the comic book movie world. Nothing against the X-Men movies which were of varying but often superior quality but Hugh Jackman's Wolverine always seemed to strain against the convention of the superhero team. Granted, some of that was by design, the character has always been a lone wolf, so to speak.

But more than the design of the character, Wolverine and Hugh Jackman were simply bigger than the X-Men, as the character really has always been. Thus, there is a great deal of pressure on this Wolvie movie X-Men Origins Wolverine. The pressure to live up to an outsized reputation and the pressure to live up to beyond outsized fan expectatons.

Origins traces the life of young James Logan from the day he found out he was a mutant who could grow claws of bone through years of work as a mercenary alongside his mutant brother Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) in the US Army, to the day he tried to leave mercenary work behind and live a life of peace and normalcy.

For a time Logan worked with a team of mercenaries assembled by General Stryker (Danny Huston). Along with his brother, Logas fought alongside shooting expert Agent Zero (Daniel Henney), Swordsman Wade 'Deadpool' Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), Chris 'Bolt' Bradley (Dominic Monaghan), John Wraith (Will I Am) and Frederick The Blob Dukes. Together this team committed what Wolverine comes to believe are atrocities, hence why he walked away.

Of course, if they had just let Logan retire we wouldn't have much of a movie. Living in Canada, Logan has met a woman, Kyla Silverfox (Lynn Collins) and is living an idyllic life when General Stryker arrives with a warning, someone has begun killing the team. It's Sabretooth and he wants to make his brother pay for walking away.

With Stryker's help, Logan undergoes a procedure intended to give him the ability to not merely fight his brother but do something no conventional weapon could do, kill him. With the use of out of this world technology that bond unbreakable metal with all of Logan's bones, he becomes the indestructible Weapon X, Wolverine.

Directed by Gavin Hood, X-Men Origins: Wolverine has some terrific action and some seriously goofball stuff. The good stuff is watching Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber go claw to claw. The good stuff is Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool taking out room full of armed men with just two swinging swords.

The goofball stuff is the stuff from the trailers and commercials for Wolverine. The flying from an exploding car to a helicopter to walking away in slow motion as the copter explodes. We've seen goofball stuff like this before and have become immune to the point of kitschy laughter at how cheesy they seem and how self satisfied filmmakers seem with these scenes.

The mythology stuff, all of the back story, the Origins of the title, will appeal only to the hardcore fans who will search for their other X-Men favorites among a group of child mutants rescued by Wolverine late in the film. Hardcore fans who can name the real name of Agent Zero without having to look it up. Those fans will no doubt be stoked by the high level of efficacy or terribly disappointed by whatever inaccuracy they can seize upon. Even in the nitpicking they will find pleasure. Those not in the cult however may be a little put off by the thickness of the plotting, especially since so much of the action doesn't deliver enough distraction from the plot.

Still, what works for Wolverine is Hugh Jackman whose cut physique and cigar chomping charisma perfectly capture the elemental badass nature of Wolverine. He was the perfect choice for this role in the X-Men movies and he has only grown more comfortable and capable as the character has progressed. Wolverine gets us past alot of the troubled, overly dense plotting of X-Men Origins.

Mostly for the hardcore fan, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is sub-par by the standard set by The Dark Knight, Spiderman and Iron Man. On it's own, away from the lofty comparison, it succeeds with Hugh Jackman's performance, as a summertime filler that should please the faithful.

Movie Review: Whatever Works

Whatever Works (2009) 

Directed Woody Allen 

Written by Woody Allen 

Starring Larry David, Ed Begley Jr, Patricia Clarkson, Michael McKean, Evan Rachel Wood, Henry Cavill

Release Date June 19th, 2009 

Published October 30th, 2009 

It seems Woody Allen has grown sensitive to the attacks on his ego over the years. As Allen has progressed in years he has taken himself off the screen moving to only direct his features. It comes from the criticism of the late nineties and early in this decade that Allen had outgrown his persona.

Despite removing himself from the screen Allan continues to write for himself and hire other actors to play different versions of himself. The latest example is Larry David in Whatever Works. Never once do you not hear Woody kvetching through David's performance as a cantankerous genius.

As Boris Yelnikoff a genius in decline Larry David stars in Whatever Works. He's a real piece of work Boris. With his hatred of all human beings and inability to contain his disdain, Boris finds himself alone and happy in his Brooklyn solitude. That changes one night when a homeless girl named Melodie begs him for some food and a place to stay for a night. He insults her incessantly but enjoys how she takes it all in stride.

Eventually, Boris and Melodie have lived together for over a month and he can't help but admit to having taken a shine to her and she is in love with him. The relationship is clearly doomed from the start but for a year they find a little happy routine. The natural complication arrives when Melodie's mother (Patricia Clarkson) tracks her down.

Mortified that her daughter has taken up with Boris, of all people, she sets about finding a more suitable man for her daughter. Along the way, mom gives up her southern, right wing bible thumping for some lower Manhattan bohemianism with one of Boris's few friends.

Whether mom finds a man for Melodie and what complications Melodie's dad (Ed Begley Jr.) brings to the story I will leave you to discover. These plot maneuvers are not mysterious really, they just are as indeed the movie just is. The title "Whatever Works" is the working thesis of the whole picture.

David as Boris states it directly to the camera in one of Allen's odder choices. Boris, being a genius, see's more than everyone else and thus can see us, the audience, watching the story unfold. Thus, he takes occasion to speak directly to us and explain that life is meaningless aside from the little pleasures you can find to give you momentary pleasure.

As Jason Biggs was a younger Woody in Anything Else and Kenneth Branagh was Woody in Celebrity and even Will Ferrell was a version of Woody in Melinda and Melinda, Larry David plays not Boris Yelnikoff in Whatever Works but Woody Allen. It's not merely the talking to the audience, ala Woody in Annie Hall, it is in his every mannerism and line of dialogue.

Sensitive to claims of vanity Woody cast Larry David as Boris instead of himself. This is merely an observation and not a criticism as David is quite effective as a Woody surrogate. It is easy to buy David as a nihilistic, world hating intellectual. His own Curb Your Enthusiasm is little more than Woody unscripted with a little more West Coast than East Coast sensibility.

The truly interesting thing about David's performance is how it is the only really effective thing in the movie. When David isn't onscreen Whatever Works becomes rather boring. Evan Rachel Wood is a nice young actress but her role in Whatever Works only really works when bouncing off of David's cantankerous insults.

In scenes where she is courted by younger men or dealing with her mother, we can't help wonder what Boris is up to and what interesting, offensive, observation he could offer to give the scene some life. It's to Larry David's credit that he isn't completely swallowed by being Woody 2.0 and offers a very effective surrogate performance.

Whatever Works doesn't quite work because the world away from Boris is so ludicrous. When Boris is offscreen Allen gets busy with lame potshots at red state America that are beneath him. He's smarter than the obvious jabs he loads onto the caricatured southerners played by Clarkson and Begley.

The jabs work when they come from the caustic voice of Boris but when Allen gets these characters alone nothing works and the movie collapses waiting for David to get back on screen. Surprisingly, Boris is gone for much of the late second and early third act. The movie flounders without him and Whatever Works doesn't work.

Documentary Review: This Movie is Not Yet Rated

This Movie is Not Yet Rated (2006) 

Directed by Kirby Dick 

Written by Documentary 

Starring Kirby Dick, Becky Altringer 

Release Date September 1st, 2006

Published December 22nd, 2006

Documentarian Kirby Dick's snarky, sarcastic, irreverent approach can be a little off-putting, especially when he has a real point to make. In his latest documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dick has some real strong points to make about the machinations of the Motion Picture Association of America, the group that basically decides what movies Americans can see in movie theaters.

The doc is highly entertaining and very smart. However, when Kirby Dick wants to, he can be a real arrogant, pedantic prick. It's all part of this wonderfully amusing and highly important little movie that I highly recommend, despite it's creators foibles.

I have long felt that the M.P.A.A played a valuable role in the film industry. As long time President Jack Valenti so often pointed out, the motion picture ratings board was what stood between the film industry and government censorship of film. What Kirby Dick demonstrates with sharp, expert interviews is that the M.P.A.A incorporates censorship rather than prevents it.

The argument is thus, remove the MPAA from the equation and force the government to attempt to rate movies. The government being subject to the law would be forced to abide the first amendment. The MPAA being an industry institution is not subject to the law. Filmmakers can work around the MPAA if they like, but theater owners refuse to run films that don't have the MPAA seal which leaves that film basically in limbo.

There are other important points made about the MPAA in This Film Is Not Yet Rated. Among them is the very obvious homophobia of the ratings board members. An interview with director Kimberly Pierce reveals her struggle to avoid an NC-17 rating for her film Boys Don't Cry. Though films featuring graphic sex between men and women sailed to R-ratings, Pierce's love scenes featuring Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny had an impossible time getting past the ratings board.

Atom Egoyan struggled with similar issues on his film Where The Truth Lies and when he challenged the ratings board and demanded to speak face to face with raters he was denied. He appealed to the ratings and asked to speak directly with the appeals board and was also denied. His case however, revealed something about the board that is one those great gotcha moments of This Film Is Not Yet Rated.

An interview with Trey Parker of South Park fame revealed two more strange things about the board's taste in movies. The first is the different treatment of violence vs sexuality. On South Park Bigger Longer Uncut, the creators of South Park were able to get away with any and all forms of violence and yet when it came to the sexual content of another Parker-Stone creation, Orgazmo, the cuts requested by the board were deep and seemingly arbitrary.

The other side of that debate was the ease with which the studio that produced Bigger Longer Uncut made it through the ratings process, despite it's highly offensive content, versus the uphill battle that faced the far more innocuous, independently produced Orgazmo. Remember the MPAA is a studio creation, thus it is fair and well argued in This Film Is Not Yet Rated that their is a bias against independent movies.

The most controversial aspect of This Film Is Not Yet Rated and it's most inventively snarky inclusion, is Kirby Dick's choice to hire a private investigator to identify MPAA raters. What he finds is even more hypocricy than that demonstrated just by the ratings the board has given out. Though the MPAA claims that the ratings board is made up of parents of young children, Dick and private investigator Becky Altringer find that few of the raters have children in their teens or younger. A few raters are even single childless men, not a shocking revelation but something MPAA doesn't want us to know about.

And that is the key. What the MPAA does not want us to know about. Why isn't this process more open to scrutiny. Why can't filmmakers speak with raters and plead their case instead of having to simply bend to the will of these non-artists. Why is appeals process even more secretive? And, in another of the films gotcha moments, why is the opinion of church officials so important to the ratings appeal process?

As Dick reveals, a pair of priests reside on the appeals board and one of them even submits to an on camera interview. The priests have no vote in the final process but are allowed to voice concerns over a films content.

Kirby Dick is an arrogant, pushy, jerk. It's what makes him a great editorialist. He has a point to make and will do whatever he can to make that point stick in your head. His work is as off putting as it is persuasive and while you may walk out of This Film Is Not Yet Rated not liking Kirby Dick you will likely still end up agreeing with many of the valuable points he makes about censorship and the MPAA.

Like Michael Moore however, Dick's editorial approach  effects the perception of his film as documentary. Most documentary films are meant to observe a story and come to conclusions only after the facts have been explored. For guys like Michael Moore and Kirby Dick, a documentarian begins with a point of view and seeks only information that conforms to that point of view. That, of course, leads to fair accusations of bias and indeed calls into question some things you may see in This Film Is Not Yet Rated.

If Kirby Dick is only seeking information that backs up his opinion that the MPAA incorporates censorship into the film business then what is the other side? What are we not hearing. Kirby Dick would likely not care. I guess if the MPAA has a problem with This Film Is Not Yet Rated, they should make their own documentary or at the very least respond to the various charges that Dick makes that have thus far gone unchallenged by the MPAA.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated is muckraking, editorial journalism with a whole lot of snark and circumstance. Kirby Dick has an axe to grind with the MPAA and grind away he does invading the homes of the MPAA and taking the fight against film censorship right to the people he feels are incorporating it. Is his style arrogant, overbearing and peevish? Oh yeah. But, is it effective? Definitely.

Essay: Amanda Knox is Innocent and Lifetime is Irresponsible - 2011

The Amanda Knox Story (2011) 

Directed by Robert Dornhelm

Written by Wendy Battles 

Starring Hayden Panattiere, Marcia Gay Harden, Vincent Riotta 

Release Date February 21st, 2011 

Published February 21st, 2011

Lifetime debuts their Movie of the Week "The Amanda Knox Story" an allegedly fact based drama on the case of an American student charged with the murder of her British born roommate while they lived in Perugia, Italy. While this type of ripped from the headlines melodrama is par for the Lifetime, movie of the week course, the network is irresponsibly cashing in on this story at a crucial moment in the real life of Amanda Knox.

In November of 2007 the body of Meredith Kercher was found, throat slit and stabbed multiple times on the floor of her bedroom in a student apartment in Perugia, Italy. The natural suspects in this case would be her roommate and the various people who made their way into the apartment, friends, boyfriends, aquaintances.

The suspect that emerged immediately for Italian prosecutors was Meredith's roommate Amanda Knox, a 20 year old from Seattle living it up in Italy. With her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, Knox did herself no favors in the wake of Meredith's death allowing little quirky behavior and an inconsistent alibi to cast a suspicious pall over her.

While Amanda's actions fairly brought some suspicion upon her the physical evidence of the case and especially the forensic evidence demonstrate Knox's innocence. Knox's fingerprints nor footprints were found in Kercher's bedroom. DNA, blood, footprints, and fingerprints, of a third suspect, Rudy Guede were found at the scene while peripheral evidence, such as a kitchen knife from Knox's apartment was found at Sollecito's apartment; leading prosecutors believe the knife was being hidden.

Regardless of the physical evidence Amanda Knox was found guilty by a corrupt Italian justice system which used the media to sell their case. Prosecutors tainted the jury pool by framing Knox as a loose party girl who, with her glamorous Italian boyfriend, murdered Kercher in sex games gone wrong. They released videos showing Knox's admittedly callous seeming reaction to Kercher's death while a conspiratorial media latched on to the sordid elements of the story with the intent of selling papers. 

Now the Lifetime cable network is weighing in with "The Amanda Knox Story." Starring Heroes star Hayden Panattiere, "The Amanda Knox Story" is an allegedly fact based recounting of Knox's murder trial that until recently featured a graphic recreation of Kercher's murder as prosecutors claimed it happened. 

This malicious and irresponsible film, which I have not seen, comes at a time when Knox's appeal is about to be heard in an Italian court. The timing could not be worse as the media was used in the original trial to manipulate jurors, potential retrial jurors will be exposed to "The Amanda Knox Story" which is based on court records from a case that sketchy throughout and media accounts which were malicious, salacious and prejudicial. 

Meanwhile, the makers and stars of "The Amanda Knox Story" continue to make claims of objectivity and fairness. For her part, star Hayden Panattiere refused to meet Amanda Knox and tells interviewers that she goes back and forth about whether she believes Knox was guilty of the murder, ignoring the exculpatory forensic evidence. 

How exactly can a movie of the week based on the court records of a botched murder trial and prejudicial media reports claim objectivity and pretend to be unbiased. The facts are that merely bringing to life the murder of Meredith Kercher, as this movie did until it was edited out just prior to air, makes the film biased. It sets the scene and creates the false memory of Knox as a murderer and physically dramatizes what was until now merely a story crafted by prosecutors. 

The level of irresponsibility on the part of Lifetime is off the charts. The network could have, at the very least, waited a few months until the completion of the appeal to try to cash in on the death of Meredith Kercher and the destruction of the young life of the wrongly accused Amanda Knox. Sadly, restraint in the face of profits is not the strong suit of a modern American corporation. 

Lifetime should be ashamed. The life of Amanda Knox hangs in the balance as they weigh their balance sheets.

Movie Review: Volver

Volver (2006) 

Directed by Pedro Almodovar

Written by Pedro Almodovar 

Starring Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Duenes, Blanca Portilla

Release Date March 17th, 2006

Published December 6th, 2006 

I have always thought of myself as an educated filmgoer, it goes with the title of film critic; I suppose. However, despite having seen thousands of movies in my career, the art of Pedro Almodovar has escaped me. I have always planned on seeing his movies, putting them in my netflix cue, borrowing them from friends, but I never have.

So this week I made a special trip to Chicago with the specific intent of seeing Almodovar's latest movie Volver, a film that has been receiving raves since its debut at the Canne film festival back in May. My three hour trip was more than worth it. Volver is a lovely and dazzling slice of unusual life.

Volver (translates "to return" in english) tells the story of three generations of women from a small village outside Madrid Spain. Penelope Cruz is Raimunda an unhappily married woman who spends most of her time working several part time jobs. On weekends however, Raimunda returns to the village where she grew up to take part in a ritual, cleaning and polishing the graves of her late mother and father.

Joining Raimunda on this journey week after week are her daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo) and her sister Sole (Lola Duenas). This weekly trip also includes a visit to Raimunda's aunt Paula who raised her as a child even before her parents died. Aunt Paula is getting frail and losing her sight and yet week after week manages to provide fresh food for the girls to take home.

Back home, Raimunda's husband Paco is a deadbeat with no job and no ambition. Laying on the couch drinking all day, Paco seems unimportant but soon his death as well as the death of Aunt Paula will send everyone's life into an unusual and surprising direction.

That is the bare bones of the plot of Pedro Almodovar's Volver. To give away to much of this wonderfully amazing movie. Watching Volver unfold this rather dark story involving murder, manslaughter, abuse, infidelity and other such transgressions, you expect the film to be heavy. However, despite the many dark revelations and experiences, Volver is more than pleasant, it borders on jaunty.

Dressing everything in bright colors and bathing it in a lush score by Alberto Iglesias, Almodovar makes Volver not a dwelling on sadness but a paean to the bravery, pluck and gumption of the four women who make up the center of this film. I say four because there is another character in Volver, played by longtime Almodovar collaborator Carmen Maura, who holds all of the films secrets and who creates much of the films magic, humor and poignance.

Volver is a major comeback for the oft-maligned actress Penelope Cruz. Having spent much of her career being kicked around for her english language roles in Vanilla Sky and Sahara, and being known for a time as Tom Cruise's girlfriend, Cruz makes a statement as an actress in Volver. Her strength, her spirit and her surprisingly lovely singing voice bring a lively performance to the screen in a role that should win her much awards attention. Ms. Cruz belongs alongside Helen Mirren in the competition for best actress 2006.

Another strong awards candidate is Carmen Mauro who is truly enchanting in a role that holds all of the cards in the film. For a time her character is thought to be a ghost and it is the brilliance of her performance that she manages to really make you wonder about this supernatural possibility. Mauro combines humor and sadness so brilliantly it's breathtaking.

I know how many of you whine and complain about subtitles but please trust me when I tell you that even while reading this movie you will be able to enjoy the many pleasures of this wonderfully visual story. This movie is too good, too entertaining for you to worry about having to bring your reading glasses to the theater. Suck it up, see this movie.

For my first experience with a Pedro Almodovar film I could not have chosen a better film. Volver is bewitching, charming, thoughtful and very entertaining. I can't wait to have a look at past Almodovar films like All About My Mother, Talk To Me or Bad Education. If they are anywhere near as engaging and lovely as Volver I am in for a treat.

Essay The Box Office Myth - 2010

In 2010 I read an interview with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan. In the interview, the master of the twist attempted to twist logic. In response to questions about the quality of his then recent film, The Last Airbender, Shyamalan pointed to the box office returns for the film symbolic of how good the movie was. Essentially, because people bought tickets, they automatically liked the movie. I wrote this in response... 

It's time to correct a growing myth in the world of the movie box office. The myth is thus: success at the box office means the movie is good. The latest to pass off this ludicrous myth is a terrific film critic and reporter Steven Rea who recently interviewed director M. Night Shyamalan.

Shyamalan may in fact be the true progenitor of this particular myth. His films have repeatedly been 

trashed by critics and yet, as the article states, only his “Lady in the Water” can be considered a true box office failure. This propels Mr. Rea and Mr. Shyamalan toward the myth of box office equals quality film.

They are talking about Shyamalan's “The Last Airbender” which through this weekend has taken in more than 125 million dollars. Mr. Shyamalan uses this fact as a bludgeon against critics who have left his movie with an 8% positive rating on the review aggregator website Rottentomatoes (the relevance of Rotten Tomatoes is another debate for another time).

You see, by Mr. Shyamalan's logic, parroted by Mr. Rea, the relative box office success of “The Last Airbender” and each of Mr. Shyamalan's reviled epics “The Village” and the more modest financially successful “The Happening,” state clearly that critics are wrong about the quality of his films. The Audience loves them is what they extrapolate from the box office numbers.

Shyamalan and his defenders take the myth a step further stating that the reason critics don't like 

Shyamalan is somehow personal. They resent his success and especially his ability to draw an audience over their repeated objections to his films. The fans keep coming back so clearly the movies are good.

This notion repeated often enough I am sure offers some comfort to Mr. Shyamalan but let's take the air out of this once and for all. Seeing a movie does not automatically mean liking a movie. Millions of Americans are headed to the theaters this weekend and millions will walk out having paid to see a movie that they did not enjoy.

In the age of the front loaded box office this myth can hide ever so easily behind massive opening weekend box office before word of mouth gets out and ruins everything. That is what happened with “The Last Airbender” which has already dropped out of the box office top 10. After raking in nearly 60 million dollars in its first 4 days ‘Airbender’ has limped to 125 million dollars thru this weekend.

By comparison, “Despicable Me,” a film that has received mostly positive reviews from critics, made 56 million dollars on its opening weekend and has done so in less time in theaters than “The Last Airbender.” “Despicable Me” has already gone over the 200 million dollar mark at the box office and will likely pass 250 to 260 million dollars before it's done.

Box office doesn't translate to film quality. Just seeing a movie doesn't mean people liked it. Many have seen “The Last Airbender” and many of them walked out disappointed. They told their friends who told their friends and many of those people decided not to see it.

Mr. Shyamalan says it’s personal between the critics and him. Critics have it out for him. Why? He’s too successful and he succeeds despite the critics. Success can be defined any number of ways Mr. Shyamalan. Studios I’m sure will agree that your films are successful. The return on investment is the bottom line.

But box office is box office and film quality is film quality. “The Last Airbender” is a terrible film in my opinion and in the opinions of many other critics and even among many of the people who turned it into a successful business enterprise. Crow if you like about the film’s box office success Mr. Shyamalan but you disappointed many who saw your film, not just the critics.

Many Americans paid hard earned dollars to take their kids to see “The Last Airbender” and many walked out feeling cheated that they had spent so much to see a movie they didn’t enjoy. Shyamalan points to their dollars and calls himself successful. That’s a fail on this end Mr. Shyamalan, no matter what the balance sheets say.

Movie Review: Bandslam

Bandslam (2009) 

Directed by Todd Graff

Written by Todd Graff, Josh A. Cagan 

Starring Aly Michalka, Gaelen Connell, Vanessa Hudgens, Scott Porter, Lisa Kudrow, 

Release Date August 14th, 2009 

Published August 16th, 2009 

After more than a decade as a film critic it is very rare that a movie can sneak up on me. I am generally well informed and aware of most aspects of a movie  before I see it. I keep an open mind but it would be nearly impossible not to have expectations of a movie based on the trailer, the commercials, the stars and the director.

That is certainly the case with the teen comedy Bandslam. The film stars an unknown young man and two Disney channel divas, one of whom is best known for the vanilla High School Musical franchise. Bandslam comes from Summit Entertainment, the company behind the marketing phenomenon that is Twilight and Walden Media, the church lead movie company behind such forgettable fare as Hoot and Because of Winn Dixie.

Expectations were very, very low for Bandslam. Then I actually saw it and my expectations were trumped by a smile that refused to leave my face. Bandslam is a musically literate, adroit teen comedy that packs a number of surprising and honestly moving moments in the midst of some typical High School movie plotting.

The film stars Gaelan Connell as Will Burton a terminal outcast who spends his free time soaked in musical arcana. He writes daily missives to his hero David Bowie and longs for the day he can escape Cincinnati where his father has brought the family an infamy Will cannot escape.

Will gets his wish when his mom (Lisa Kudrow) tells him they are moving to New Jersey. At first, things aren't that different, Will is still an outcast, but things pick up when Charlotte (Aly Mischalka) randomly chooses Will to be her friend. Charlotte is a former cheerleader turned rocker chick who picks up stray outcasts to be her friends and bandmates. 

She and Will bond over music but she makes clear she has no interest in him romantically. The musical bond leads to Will becoming the manager of Charlotte's band which in the near future will play Bandslam and go head to head for a record contract with Charlotte's ex-boyfriend (Scott Porter) and his band The Glorydogs.

The band is good but Will see's potential and begins to round out the sound with a few more outcasts, including a strange cello player and an Asian exchange student with a talent for piano. Meanwhile, Will begins a flirtation with Sa5m; the 5 is silent. She has a secret past as well as a musician but their bond is more romantic than musical. At least at first.

Directed by Todd Graf, who's Camp was another wonderful movie about musical outsiders. Like Camp,  Bandslam is a musically literate teen flick held together by a lead performance by Gaelan Connell that evokes a young John Cusack. No kidding, the kid is that good.

It's a movie of terrific musical taste that runs the gamut from indie rock to ska to The Velvet Underground and David Bowie who shows up late in the film as required by Will's quirk of regularly writing him letters. Graf does well to manage the musical tastes of his fictional teens keeping them smart without being too smart, the music played by the bands at Bandslam is purely the contemporary pop radio stuff one would expect of teens playing in a garage.

That touch of truthfulness gives depth to the movie as do the complicated, believable relationships between these terrific characters. I mentioned Connell as the film's center but he is matched well by Mischalka, an actress I was not familiar with before this film. I am told she is a star of some teen sitcom, wherever she came from she is on her way to big things. I loved the random way she and Connell bond on screen and later when expected complications arise she deftly roots the character in behavior that comes directly from the life experience of this character and not the unnatural, necessary behavior of some teen movie drone.

Also strong is Vanessa Hudgens in an unexpectedly small role. When I saw that one of the stars of High School Musical was in Bandslam I naturally assumed she would be the star. Hudgens however, melts right into this ensemble cast. Though the name Sa5m is a little precious, Hudgens does well to underplay the character quirks. And just wait till she gets on stage to deliver a rockin' version of Bread's "Everything I Own". Wow! Not kidding, great stuff.

The music of Bandslam is a wonderfully curious mix. Bread and Cheap Trick mix effortlessly with Bowie and The Velvet Underground and with such modern rockers as The Daze and Peter, Bjorn and John. Director Graf has experience with mixing musical tastes, in Camp he mixed showtunes and rock and roll with breezy good natured ease.

What fun it is to be surprised. Bandslam looked like just another teen coming of age movie. Thankfully, in its love of music, music literacy and clever and engaging characters, Bandslam transcends genre and low expectations becomes a terrific little movie.

Essay Hollywood Sex and Violence Link (2006)

In 2006, in the wake of the release of A History of Violence and Sin City, I wrote about how Hollywood movies linked sex and violence. This is that essay recovered from an old MySpace blog... 

FYI This post contains what you might call spoilers for the plot of the film A History of Violence. If you wish to watch that film with the mystery in place do not read until after you watch the film. Happy reading and please post your responses.

One unique trend in modern film is the link between sex and violence. In horror films and thrillers these two disparate acts are now often found at a crossroad. In horror films sex is often punished with a bloody violent death, see Friday the 13th as an example. Sexuality or sensuality is similarly punished, consider films like Slumber Party Massacre (not exactly a brilliant subject of serious discourse but follow me here) where beautiful woman are brutally and viciously murdered for the simple fact that they are beautiful. The camera spends ample time exploiting the beauty of the women in the film with copious nude scenes and scenes of woman in various states of undress. And then the film sets about destroying that beauty with hardcore violence.

In the thriller genre take an example like Steven Speilberg's Munich which transposes a scene of a husband making love to his wife, a reunion after a long absence by the husband who has been compromising his morals out of duty to his country. The conflicted husband cannot escape thoughts of horrific violence as he is going about the loving act of intercourse with his wife. The sex scene is edited to a chorus violent images of Israeli athletes being brutally killed.What is the purpose of the sex and violence link in Munich? I believe it was the demonstration of the husband's conflicted conscience. On the one hand he is engaged in a pure act of love. On the other he cannot escape the horror of the violence he has been set to avenge. He cannot escape the horror of violence even as he is experiencing the ultimate in pure human goodness and joy.

In Sin City sex and violence are uniquely linked by the prostitutes of Sin City. Led by Rosario Dawson's character the prostitutes are unlikely representations of justice and righteousness. They mete out the punishment of corruption with violence and reward perceived goodness with sexual favors. Thus, Michael Clark Duncan's corrupt detective is punished with violence while Mickey Rourke's Marv is rewarded for his good intentions with the sexual favors of Goldie.

The innocent but oh so provocative sexuality of Jessica Alba's character is protected by the righteous violence of Bruce Willis' cop character. He would be rewarded with sexual favor if he were so inclined. Sex and violence are linked in Sin City in a cause and effect fashion. The good receive sexual favors the evil are punished with violence. All is right with the world.

In A History of Violence the sex violence link is a narrative function. The film features the extremes of both sex and violence. The films central action involves a pair of psychotically violent killers who are first glimpsed having murdered the staff of an anonymous roadside motel and a small child of one of the staffers. They come to the small town Indiana diner of Viggo Mortenson's Tom Stahl with the intent of more violence and are met with a viciously violent reaction from the seemingly mild mannered Mr. Stahl. The violence of this scene is extreme. Tom shoots one killer in the head sending him flailing through a plate glass window. Tom is graphically stabbed in the foot by the other killer who is then shot in the head by Tom. Director David Cronenberg gives us a closeup look at the damage of the bullet through the killer's skull in all of it's gory glory.

Meanwhile at home, prior to the violence at the center of the plot Tom makes love to his wife played by Mario Bello. The first sex scene is tender and loving but with more than a little hint of kink. Tom's wife has chosen to dress as a cheerleader and the two role play as a high school couple entering their first sexual experiment. The sex then becomes more graphic as oral copulation becomes central to the scene before we fade to the next morning and the establishing of the films central plot. Oddly the first sex scene features no nudity. The only link between the sex and violence at this point is Tom. He is an attentive and gentle lover who later shows himself capable of terrific physical violence. This is central to the dichotomy that is Tom who is revealed to have a violent secret past.

The second sex scene takes place after further violence has established Tom as a dangerous figure. An argument between Tom and his wife becomes physical as Tom attempts to stop his wife from walking away from their argument. Tom grabs her forces her to the ground, they are fighting on the stares leading to their bedroom, she slaps and kicks to break away from him. He forces her beneath him. After seeming to subdue her the violent confrontation suddenly begins to become sexual. The wife becomes turned on as does Tom and the two engage in angry, violent sex right there on the staircase. The scene, I believe, demonstrates the wife's tacit acceptance of her husbands true nature. She is telling him at once that she is unhappy with his lie but accepts it and will eventually be able to put it behind her. It's a brilliant form of shorthand that eliminates the need for a merely melodramatic scene of a couple arguing.

None of what I've written however truly gets at the heart of the sex/violence link in modern film. I have demonstrated the link but not the reason. This is where you come in dear reader. What is your theory of why Hollywood has so directly linked sex and violence. Post your responses please.

Movie Review: Ask the Dust

Ask the Dust (2006) 

Directed by Robert Towne 

Written by Robert Towne 

Starring  Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek, Donald Sutherland, Idina Menzel 

Release Date March 17th, 2006

Published September 16th, 

Though one of the great screenwriters of the 70's; Robert Towne's directorial career is spotty at best. His Personal Best was groundbreaking in subject but banal in execution. Without Limits was well acted but laconic. And the less said about the Mel Gibson-Michele Pfeiffer thriller Tequila Sunrise the better. Back behind the camera for the first time in 8 years; Robert Towne's latest effort, the romance Ask The Dust, is likely his greatest failure yet.

A miscalculation of idea and performance, Ask The Dust is Towne indulging his love of Los Angeles and its history at the expense of telling an interesting story.

Colin Farrell stars in Ask The Dust as Arturo Bandini. Coming to LA in 1930, Bandini intended to write the definitive novel of that famed city. Unfortunately the city of Los Angeles in the 1930's is not as inspiring as he had hoped. The streets are dusty and dull, the people are either decrepit and living out their string or they're writers like Bandini trying to write the great American novel.

The lives of some Angelenos are less easily devised. Camilla (Salma Hayek), a waitress at a dive bar where our friend Bandini drops his last nickel on some bad coffee, claims to be an aspiring actress held back by her latino heritage. However, her real aspirations are far less obvious and eventually undone when she falls into a romance with the struggling writer.

The relationship between Bandini and Camilla is defined by conflict. Their first meeting, the bad coffee, Bandini insulted Camilla and poured his coffee all over the floor. Later, after Bandini gives a weak apology, the two share a romantic drive to the beach where Camilla implores Bandini to join her for some skinny dipping. She plays a cruel trick on him, pretending to drown, and the angry Bandini walks home the seven miles from the beach to his rundown hotel. Still the romance somehow persists.

Meanwhile Bandini has another girl, though not one he really wants anything to do with. The other woman is Vera Rivkin a needy Jewish princess, who Bandini finds passed out in his hotel room. She offers him a sad story and begs for sex which he turns down. Later, however, Bandini, after another strikeout with Camilla, does fall into Vera's arms but is blunt in telling her that he was dreaming of Camilla. Vera's character and her fate are two of the more puzzling aspects of Ask The Dust.

There are any number of puzzling things about Ask The Dust. It's clear that Director Robert Towne is crafting a dusty paean to his beloved city of Los Angeles. With the help of Cinematographer Caleb Deshanel, Towne turns his South African location into a lovely image of 1930's California. At some point however, Towne became too enamored of his scenery and neglected his characters and their romance. Thus why we get stilted angry exchanges that turn quickly to passionate love making and back again with little rhythm and zero chemistry.

Colin Ferrell's performance in Ask The Dust is, at once, the most entertaining and confusing part of the film. On the one hand, Ferrell's offbeat delivery and flashes of Johnny Depp-like tics and mannerisms are quite humorous. Unfortunately, it's unclear whether or not we are supposed to be laughing. Ferrell as Bandini schizophrenically moves from shy to belligerent, from belligerent to sweet and from sweet to cocky without warning. Caught in the maze of Robert Towne's direction, Ferrell likely just did what was asked of him in each scene, regardless of whether the performance would coherently cut together later.

The one thing that really works in Ask The Dust is Caleb Deschanel's lush and beautiful cinematography. While Farrell and Hayek bicker and antagonize us and each other, we can at the very least distract ourselves by gazing at the gorgeous sandy vistas of early South Africa standing in for 30's Los Angeles. The dusty streets and blaze orange sunsets are the stuff of picture postcards, lovely images of warmth and comfort, completely at odds with the war of the roses characters.

Movies are not supposed to work to the audiences' preconceived notions of what we think the movie should be. Movies are the visions of the filmmakers with only a modicum of consideration of what the audience might want. That still doesn't quell my disappointment over not getting what I expected from Ask The Dust. I was hoping for a classical, passionate romance with two hot stars burning up the screen and the kind of literate, well read dialogue that you get with the best literary adaptations.

What I got with Ask The Dust was angry banter that works like a sad, unintentional parody of the Cary Grant-Irene Dunne romances of the 30's and 40's.

Robert Towne is a very talented writer but his direction in Ask The Dust is as lazy as the dusty, windblown, sun drenched streets of 1930's Los Angeles. The script relies heavily on the performances of Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek who, whether they were directed this way or not, come off like petulant children playing dramatic versions of the Bickersons. Blowing the dust off of cliches of 40's melodramas, they bicker like cats and dogs and fall in love anyway. The film is updated only for the sex which runs hot and cold, but mostly cold.

Movie Review My One and Only

My One and Only (2009) 

Directed by Richard Loncraine 

Written by Charlie Peters 

Starring Logan Lerman, Kevin Bacon, Renee Zellweger, Chris Noth

Release Date August 21st, 2009 

Published November 29th, 2009 

In My One and Only Renee Zellweger brings southern propriety to life in a way that reveals the tragedy behind the preening self importance. As the wandering eyed Ann Devereau, mother of two teenage boys, Ms. Zellweger brings both twinkle and tear to her character with spirit, bravado and beauty.

George (Logan Lerman) loves living in ....New York...., the lively streets, the cold, the culture, are the necessities of a budding writer. Thus, when his mother Anne announces a sudden move to ....Boston...., George is none too pleased. With George and his brother Robbie (Mark Rendell) in tow, Mom buys a powder blue Cadillac and sets off to find a new man to care for her family.

Her last husband, George's father Dan (Kevin Bacon) was a serial philanderer that she happily leaves behind despite having no means of making money; Anne is not exactly the working kind. In ....Boston...., Anne quickly connects with an old boyfriend, Wallace (Steven Weber), who promptly ransacks her purse and skips the bill on their dinner date.

That's Ok because the encounter leads directly to another suitor, Dr. Harlan Williams (Chris Noth). He takes care of her bill and soon is making wedding plans. The Doc's temper unfortunately clashes with George and it's not long before the road is calling again and the family is off to ....Pittsburgh.....

Here, again, another man waits. His name is Charlie (Eric McCormick) and despite competition from a much younger woman, Anne is confident she has found a new man. This series of scenes are among the films best as George bonds with a neighbor girl named Paula (Molly C. Quinn) and for a moment settles into his mother's world.

Well, if that weren't abruptly ended there wouldn't be much of a movie. The scene shifts across the country to ....St. Louis.... where Anne's sister lives and eventually to ....Los Angeles.... where Robbie dreams of becoming an actor and George longs for the comforts of ....New York City.....

The story of My One and Only is a fictionalized account of the teen years of actor George Hamilton and the portrait is striking. ....Hamilton.... has become something of a pop culture goofball with his leathery tan and willingness to be the butt of the joke. The modern ....Hamilton.... bears little resemblance to the thoughtful, Catcher in the ....Rye.... loving George of this story.

True or not to Mr. Hamilton's life it is a fabulous story and well told by Director Richard Loncraine. Having struggled to make the move from director of proper English period pieces, The Gathering Storm, My House in Umbria to a modern Hollywood moviemaker, Wimbledon, Firewall, Mr. Loncraine is for the first time comfortable telling a Hollywood style story.

My One and Only is frothy and showbizy with just the right air of angst and desperation.  Ms. Zellweger's indomitable heroine is a creation of years of Hollywood stereotypes of the 'Southern Belle' with her classy pretension to glamour and yet she feels fully real. 

Logan Lerman brings a deep soul to George. Looking like a young Christian Slater, Lerman is a terribly handsome kid with real chops. When the reality of who Lerman is playing is revealed you may find it hard to believe as the uptight, soulful intellectual George of this film clashes with the modern pop cult version of George Hamilton we now know.

A fantastic story, exceptionally well told, My One and Only is one of the surprise films of 2009. Having slipped through the cracks, the film received little box office attention before popping up on DVD. Now, as awards season approaches My One and Only is barely on the radar and it's a terrible shame. Ms. Zellweger and Mr. Lerman both deliver awards caliber performances.

The film itself reveals the evolution of Director Richard Loncraine and promises even better work ahead. Too many people missed My One and Only in theaters; do not forget it now that it has arrived on DVD.

Movie Review: Zen Dog

Zen Dog (2018)

Directed by Rick Darge

Written by Rick Darge 

Starring Kyle Gallner, Celia Diane, Adam Herschman 

Release Date June 22nd, 2018

Published June 23rd, 2018 

Zen Dog stars Kyle Gallner from Shameless as Reed, a boring man stuck in a routine. He has a unique job attempting to create virtual reality tours of cities he’s never been to. Reed’s life is upended when his friend Dwayne (Adam Herschman) comes to stay. Dwayne interrupts all of Reed’s well crafted routine, messes up his apartment and generally throws Reed’s life into a general chaos.

One night Dwayne sees Reed having a nightmare, something that Reed admits is a regular occurrence. Dwayne claims to have a solution to Reed’s problem, lucid dreaming. Using a special kind of tea that he curiously refuses to reveal the origins of, Dwayne claims that Reed can control his dreams and get away from his recurring nightmare. Reed is dubious of Dwayne’s claims but tries the drink anyway.

In Reed’s dream, his name is Mud and he’s just quit a job where someone has just taken their life. The revelation sets Mud on a cross country odyssey from Los Angeles to New York City with a bizarre stop in Las Vegas and a fortuitous stop in Denver, Colorado. It is in Denver where Mud meets Maya (Celia Diane), a beautiful French woman with nowhere to go after breaking up with her boyfriend. Maya agrees to join Mud for a day which becomes a week and then a full romantic road trip.

Zen Dog can be confounding if you allow it to be but if you hang in there and get on the film’s unique vibe you will be rewarded. First time writer-director Rick Darge is a cinematographer turned director and his remarkable visual style carried me past my reservations about confusing story threads, including one about a character played by Clea Duvall that goes absolutely nowhere. The style of Zen Dog, the unique use of color saturation and the clever production design and costume pushed me past my reservations or confusion.

Zen Dog is a beautiful, meditative art piece featuring a lead performance by Kyle Gallner that is warm and inviting. Gallner’s unusual face is a great asset to his work here as he sleepiness, his heavy lidded eyes are a lovely way of delineating Reed from the much more lively, smiling and charismatic Mud, even as they are apparently the same person. Gallner’s face is so different yet the same from Reed to Mud that, much like the lively visual style of the film, it helps get you into both stories being told.

There is a legitimately Terence Malick quality to Zen Dog. It’s not nearly as polished or confident as a Malick film like Tree of Life or To the Wonder but the crisp visuals and the exploration of the psyche is similar. Like Malick, Darge likes to use changes in color as a visual shorthand for a memory or a dream. The desaturated look of Reed’s apartment and brightly colored Volkswagen that Mud drives are each lovely in their own way and help differentiate where we are in each story. It’s a lovely way to visually cue a story.

Celia Diane is wonderfully cast as a manic pixie dream girl. Diane’s face and manner have a lovely dream-like quality in the way she moves like a dancer, so effortlessly. Her French-ness is part of the fantasy, especially if you’re a movie fan. There is a 60’s quality to Mud’s journey, from his uniquely styled jacket, covered with 60’s art to his VW’s psychedelic paint job. If you’re a cinema snob of the 60’s then all you wanted in the world was a road trip with a beautiful French out of a Godard fantasy. That’s Celia Diane.

I am reading way more into Zen Dog than most maybe, probably because this kind of movie is right up my alley. In reality, Zen Dog is not a movie for all audiences. If you desperately need a linear story with a conventional plot, Zen Dog is not for you. If you are impatient, Zen Dog is not a movie for you. If you are not someone who gets swept up in beautiful visuals, Zen Dog is not for you. If however, you have a love for great cinematography, costumes and the romance of cinema, Zen Dog is exactly the kind of movie you’ve been looking for.

Zen Dog is available now to rent via most Video On-Demand or Streaming Services and is on Blu Ray in some stores. 

Movie Review John Wick

John Wick (2014) 

Directed by Chad Stahelski 

Written by Derek Kolstad

Starring Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Dean Winters, Bridget Moynahan

Release Date October 24th, 2014

Published January 5th, 2019

Keanu Reeves returns to theaters this weekend in Replicas, a new sci-fi flick in which he plays a scientist attempting to clone the family he lost in a car wreck. While that film looks, from the trailer, like a complete trainwreck, the appeal of Keanu Reeves “Movie Star” will remain regardless of how Replicas fares. In more than 30 years as a movie star, Keanu Reeves has earned our eternal adoration as the blankly handsome face of action movies.

As I wrote yesterday, in my review of The Matrix, it’s Reeves’ very blankness that makes his otherwise ethereal handsomeness an everyman quality. We relate to him because we project upon Keanu our own personality in a more conventionally handsome vessel. That is certainly the appeal of Keanu in The Matrix and that extends also to the budding John Wick franchise. Once again, Keanu is our attractive avatar, just enough of a blank personality for us to fantasize ourselves into the role.

John Wick stars Keanu Reeves as the titular John Wick, the world’s foremost assassin. Or, at least, he used to be. Once John Wick got married he retired his arsenal of death in favor of being a loyal and dutiful husband. Sadly, John’s wife recently passed away, leaving him a present, a dog, to help him to not be lonely. Though not conventionally a ‘dog person,’ John takes to the pup as a connection to his late wife.

One day, as John is out and about happily in retirement, he stops at a gas station while driving his cherry black muscle mustang. A seemingly random rich guy, the son of a local mobster, tries to convince John to sell his car. John rebuffs the offer and is on his way but the kid, played by Alfie Allen, is not one to take no for an answer. The kid sends thugs to kill John and take the car and during the assault, they kill John’s dog. This leads John Wick out of retirement and on the trail of the mobster’s kid.

The key to John Wick is the tremendous world building by screenwriter Derek Kolstad and the film’s credited and uncredited directors, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. Every other character in John Wick goes out of their way to talk about how scary Wick is. The main bad guy in the movie, the mobster played by the late Michael Nyqvist, only opposes John Wick because of his son. He appears more upset with his son for attacking Wick than he does at Wick for wanting revenge.

Then there are the brilliant touches around the edges of John Wick. The fight scene in which the dog is killed ends with John Wick contacting a secret, underground cleaning service that specializes in disposing of bodies. The richness of this idea is remarkable as in the John Wick universe you could make a dark comic television show based on these minor characters who answer a question that has been raised in dozens of action movies in the past: how are bodies disposed of in action movies?

Then there is the brilliant creation of The Continental, a hotel that itself could be the premise of a movie or a television show. Ian McShane is the proprietor of The Continental, a luxury hotel that caters to criminals and assassins. So respected are the halls of The Continental that even the most hardened killers are obliged to honor the rules against killing on the premises. The Continental offers swift justice to anyone who breaks the rules.

I could argue that the film’s treatment of women is less than great, the only woman with a relatively large role, Adrianne Palicki as contract killer Mrs. Perkins, is not well fleshed out and feels like a token opposite all of the testosterone on display, but that doesn’t affect my enjoyment of John Wick. The sequel appears to be attempting to rectify the role of women in the John Wick Universe by casting Halle Berry in John Wick 3.

The Keanu Reeves of John Wick may have more clenched teeth intensity but he maintains that same quiet behind the eyes approach that makes him so appealing as an audience avatar. The quality that many critics fault Reeves for, a lack of a dominating personality, is, for me, one of his great strengths. He’s lowkey and passive enough as a personality to allow the audience to reflect ourselves in him.

In John Wick, Keanu offers us the role of a lifetime as the baddest man on the planet. He’s the man everyone else is afraid of with a set of envious skills that we can pretend for 90 or 100 minutes of our skills. Through Keanu’s eyes we become John Wick and that audience identifies with Keanu, his status as our resident handsome avatar is what makes Keanu a movie star who has lasted for so many years.

Movie Review John Wick 3 Parabellum

John Wick Parabellum (2019) 

Directed by Chad Stahelski 

Written by Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins

Starring Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Mark Dacascos, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick

Release Date May 17th, 2019

Published May 17th, 2019

The John Wick franchise is the best thing Keanu Reeves has done in his career. I realize that won’t be a popular statement with the fandoms of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure or The Matrix, but it's true. The role of supreme assassin John Wick fits Keanu Reeves like a perfectly tailored bulletproof suit. Reeves’ very physical being seems to have been crafted to act out John Wick’s incredibly choreographed violence. It’s a joy to behold for fans of action cinema.

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (Prepare for War) picks up in the immediate aftermath of John Wick Chapter 2. John now has a $14 million dollar bounty on his head and is considered Excommunicado by the community of assassins amongst whom he’d been considered the greatest of all. Now, thanks to his old friend, Winston (Ian McShane), John has one hour to get his affairs in order before his own contract goes live and he becomes a target.

Writer Derek Kolstad and Director Chad Stehelski, who’ve each been with this franchise from the start, have a remarkable talent for world building, as they’ve demonstrated in each of the first two Chapters of the John Wick story. The layer upon layer of dynamic mythology that Stahelski and Kolstad have crafted within this John Wick universe kicks right back in with John Wick Chapter 3 and draws you right back into this unique world in mere minutes.

The odds are well stacked against John Wick and yet, the screenplay does a remarkable amount of work to sell you the idea that an army the size of a small country won’t be enough to slow down our hero. The same mythologizing that gave us such compelling details as The Continental, a hotel for assassins only, a service that caters to killers by removing large numbers of dead bodies, and so on, also gives us a John Wick personal mythology that makes Wick both the Devil incarnate and Death in human form.

John Wick carries this remarkable air of menace and invulnerability, it’s like rooting for a horror movie villain. John Wick could come up on Jason Voorhees and you would fairly assume John Wick is the more fearsome of the two. That comes from Derek Klolstad’s exceptional script which takes care to include dialogue that never lets up in putting over the idea of John Wick as the most remarkable killer since the plague.

The fight choreography in John Wick Chapter 3 is insanely awesome. A fight scene inside what appears to be a weapons museum is gloriously staged with gut wrenching violence that also happens to be incredibly witty. The audience I was with watching John Wick Chapter 3 groaned and hollered and giggled with delight at the various unique ways John Wick murdered potential assassins. Knife throwing, neck cracking, close quarters combat, all of it at a breakneck pace that never feels too fast. It’s damned brilliant and director Chad Stahelski and stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio deserve all the praise imaginable for this remarkable work.

Keanu Reeves, as I mentioned, has never been better than when he’s in John Wick’s black, bulletproof suit. His blank slate face is a perfect mask for the baddest killer on the planet. The character calls for an actor who masks his emotions and never betrays his thoughts to his opponents and Reeves is remarkably great at not letting anyone in on his inner thoughts. In the past, that might be me calling Reeves boring, or dim, but in John Wick, it comes off as the perfect choice for how to play this character.

John Wick doesn’t show weakness, he rarely appears to register pain, he’s never cocky or flashy and he doesn’t smile. All of those qualities are exactly the kinds of things that have held Keanu Reeves back in other movies and yet, with John Wick, it’s as if the character were tailored for Reeves’ unique acting talent. Reeves’ wiry physicality, and powerhouse use of angles and leverage, it could be a stunt person or CGI, whatever, it looks awesome. He doesn’t just play John Wick, his body appears to have been built specifically for the balletic violence of this character.

I completely adore John Wick Chapters 1,2 and 3. This is a great franchise with a remarkable pace, incredible style and a performance by Keanu Reeves that is relentlessly entertaining. John Wick is incredibly violent and that should be noted here for those who think they want to see what is likely going to be the number 1 movie in America on opening weekend. John Wick Chapter 3 is filled with bloody, gory, brutal violence, of the hard R-Rated variety. If violence is a turn off for you, John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum is not the movie for you.