Film Review “The Way”

Starring: Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger and James Nesbitt
Directed by: Emilio Estevez
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 1 hour 55 mins
Elixir Films

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

This past weekend my wife and I attended an engagement party for our son. While there I did the “dad” thing and contemplated the last twenty seven years. There is no stronger bond then the one between father and son. And no more is that statement proven then in the new film, “The Way”.

Dr. Tom Avery (Sheen) is a small town optometrist who seems content with his life. He has his practice. He has his golf game. And, occasionally, he has contact with his son, Daniel (played in flashbacks by director Estevez). It’s been some time since the two were in the same room. Daniel took off for France, much to the chagrin of his father, who scolded him about his life choices. “You don’t choose a life,” Daniel informs him, “you live one.” One day Tom receives the phone call all parents dread. Daniel has died. Tom makes the trip to France to retrieve his body. Little does he know that he is about to embark on the most important trip of his life.

Smartly written and directed with a master filmmaker’s eye, “The Way” is one of those films you’ll want to see again and again. The film takes place along a trail known as El Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage that begins in France and ends 800 kilometers later in Spain, where the remains of the apostle St. James are rumored to be buried. Tom learns that Daniel had begun to make the journey, passing away before he could reach the first check point. Faced with Daniel’s hiking gear and blank passport (there are many towns on the route and pilgrims receive colorful stamps on their passport at each one), Tom decides to honor his son’s memory by completing the journey himself. Though he wants to be alone with his grief, he soon meets up with fellow travelers from around the world. Joost (Yorick van Wageningen), a Dutchman, is making the journey to lose weight. Canadian Sarah (Unger) wants to quit smoking. The American priest (played by the great character actor Matt Clark) hoping to beat cancer. And the writer from Ireland (Nesbitt), whose novel is due soon, though he can’t come up with page one. Each has their own reasons for their pilgrimage, and the absolution they hope to find when the journey ends. As Tom makes his way, scattering bits of Daniel’s ashes as he goes, he begins to understand why Daniel was making the trip. And in doing so he finds a part of himself he thought had been lost.

Is there a more underrated actor working today then Martin Sheen? For more than five decades he has often been the best thing in many a film or television show. In “The Way” he gives a strong, mannered performance, touching every level of emotion. He is supported by an ensemble of talented actors, each breathing genuine life into their characters. Director Estevez, following up the outstanding “Bobby,” continues to grow as a filmmaker. Be it the expansive landscape or the intimate conversations, he keeps the film sharply paced, allowing us to take the journey with Tom and his companions. The film has been beautifully photographed by Juan Miguel Azpiroz, with many scenes looking like postcards that have come to life. The musical score, by popular horror film composer Tyler Bates, is first rate, keeping perfect time with the action on screen.

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Film Review “What’s Your Number?”

Starring:  Anna Faris, Chris Evans and Blythe Danner
Directed by:  Mark Mylod
Rated:  R
Running time:  1 hour 46 mins
20th Century Fox

Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars

Ally Darling (Faris) is having a bad day.  Having just gotten fired from a job she really didn’t like her day gets worse when she picks up a magazine and reads that the average woman will have 10.5 lovers in her life before she finds Mr. Right.  Surprised to read this, Ally quickly totals up the men of her past, a list which includes a step-cousin and a boy next door that she only refers to as “that creepy puppet guy.”  When a drunken one night stand puts Ally at the magic number of 20 (according to the article, after 20 it’s all downhill), she resolves to revisit the men of her past, convinced that one of them HAS to be her soul mate.

Featuring two winning performances, “What’s Your Number?” is a comedy that is sometimes sweet, sometimes sour, depending on your tastes.  Faris, who has built a career as the cute, spunky girl in films like “The House Bunny” and “Yogi Bear,” as well as the “Scary Movie” films, shines her as a comedienne of the first order.  Surprisingly as funny is co-star Evans, who plays her horn-dog neighbor, Colin.  So serious as Captain America, Evans shows a talent for comedy I didn’t expect.  As a man who believes the perfect relationship ends at breakfast, Colin agrees to help Ally track down her previous lovers.  Of course, as the search progresses it becomes clearly obvious that the two are meant for each other.  However, fearing the stigma of #21, Ally won’t budge on the idea.

Based on the book “20 Times a Lady,” the screenplay, by veteran television writers Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittendon, has some funny moments.  Flashbacks of Ally and her previous lovers are often hilarious, including her encounter with “creepy puppet guy!”  There are also moments that are cringe-worthy.  Note to Hollywood:  Just because films like “The Hangover” and “Bridesmaids” were successful doesn’t mean that having characters yell “Vagina” every few minutes is funny.  It usually isn’t.

On the plus side, the stars do their best to rise above the material.  And the supporting cast, including Danner, Ari Graynor and Ed Begley, Jr, are equally strong.  Director Mylod, who knows his way around an ensemble cast thanks to his work on “Entourage,” keeps the film moving smartly.  If only he had been given a script equally smart.

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Film Review “Dolphin Tale”

Starring: Harry Connick Jr, Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman
Directed by: Charles Martin Smith
Rated: PG
Running time: 1 hour 53 mins
Warner Brothers

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

Hollywood is full of films with stories that inspire us. “Rudy.” “Rocky.” “The Shawshank Redemption.” These are movies that, when you leave the theatre, stick in your memory long after the lights have come up. A new film opens this week that joins this short list: Dolphin Tale.

Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble) is a young boy living with his mother in Clearwater, Florida. His father having long deserted the family, he looks up to his older cousin Kyle (Austin Stowell). A champion swimmer Kyle seemingly has the world at his fingertips. But rather than accept the many scholarship offers he’s received, Kyle joins the Army. Feeling he’s being abandoned again, Sawyer is not happy with the decision. Kyle assures the boy he’ll be back and gives him a gift inscribed “Family is Forever.” With school out Sawyer happens down to the beach. While there he comes across a dolphin caught up in some netting. Soon the dolphin is rescued and taken to a nearby marine aquarium. Sawyer follows and soon begins an adventure that will change the lives of everyone, and everything, around him.

Based on a true story, “Dolphin Tale” is a smart, funny film that packs a solid message. The cast is strong across the board, with youngsters Gamble and Cozi Zuehlsdorff, who plays Hazel, the daughter of the aquarium director (Connick, Jr.), giving credible performances. On the adult side, Connick, Jr. excels as a father figure for Sawyer. Kris Kristofferson offers sage advice as the elder of the family. Freeman, who really should be declared a national treasure, brightens the film every moment he’s on screen. But the real star here is the real star: Winter the Dolphin. Playing herself, Winter is a natural performer. The bond she develops with Sawyer and the others feels real.

Because of her run in with the netting, Winter loses her tail. Freeman’s character embarks on a mission to create a prosthetic one for her. As Winter’s plight and circumstances become public the aquarium begins to attract visitors from all over the country, with a majority of them being families where one of the members has a handicap. It is these small moments, when a child in a wheel chair sees Winter overcome her hardship, that the film is at its most inspirational. Director Smith, probably best known to film fans for his roles in “American Graffiti” and “The Untouchables,” frames the film handsomely against the natural Florida beauty. If I have any quibble it’s that the 3D is practically non-existent and doesn’t really add anything to the story.

Read our interview with “Dolphin Tale” director Charles Martin Smith HERE

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Film Review “Moneyball”

Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman
Directed by: Bennett Miller
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 2 hours 13 mins
Columbia

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

As a kid you always spent your summer memorizing the statistics on the backs of baseball cards. Even the casual fan recognizes certain numbers. 2131 – consecutive games played by Cal Ripken, Jr. (his streak ended at 2632), 755 – career home runs by home run king Hank Aaron (sorry, I don’t recognize Bar-roid Bonds). 4256 – career hits by Pete Rose. You get my point. But there are even more stats to be compiled, hundreds of them. And the way they’re used is the story behind “Moneyball.”

October 15, 2001. Game 5 of the American League Divisional Series pitted two very different teams against each other. In one corner sat the New York Yankees, winners of 97 games with a payroll just over $113 million. In the other corner, the surprising Oakland Athletics, winners of 102 games. Total payroll – under $40 million. The Yankees would go on to win the game and the series. The next season they opened the team wallet and signed the A’s best player, Jason Giambi, paying him $20 million a year, half of the A’s total team salaries. Realizing the hole he is in as a small market team, A’s general manager Billy Beane (Pitt) begins to search for replacements for the ones he lost. While speaking with another team he meets Peter Brand (Hill), a young Yale graduate who looks at the game via statistics. Impressed by Brand, Beane hires him as his assistant and the two begin to build a team not based on scouting reports but on such percentages as runs scored and on base percentage.

Adapted from the best selling book by two of Hollywood’s best, Academy Award winners Steven Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”) and Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network”), “Moneyball” introduces us to the way baseball is now conducted. The A’s are truly the have nots of major league baseball. So strapped for cash that they charge the players for soda pop, they have to make the best out of what they can afford. By following the numbers they assemble a team that Brand refers to as coming from “the Island of Misfit Toys.” But between all of the number crunching is a film with heart…one that makes you want to root for the little guys.

Just as the fundamentals of Moneyball rest squarely on the real Billy Beane’s shoulders, the success of “Moneyball” rests on Pitt’s. He gives a many layered performance, one of humor and sadness. A former player who never lived up to the hype (Beane was chosen in the first round of the 1980 baseball draft – Brand tells him that, based on his research, he would have drafted him in the ninth), Beane has come to realize that money isn’t everything. You have to play the game for the love of the game. As head stat geek Brand, Hill gives a quiet yet solid performance. Oscar winner Hoffman is A’s manager Art Howe, the fly in Beane’s ointment. He doesn’t understand the numbers and is hesitant to do anything that will jeopardize his future as a big league manager. We are also introduced to Beane’s daughter, Casey (“Brother’s and Sister’s” Kerris Dorsey), and their scenes together are some of the film’s best.

Miller, who earned a Best Director Academy Award nomination for “Capote,” keeps the tone of the film flowing seamlessly. He works in archival footage brilliantly, giving the game sequences almost a documentary feel. That this is his first film since “Capote” is a travesty. Films need more Bennett Miller and a six year gap between projects, unless it was something Miller wanted, is unconscionable.

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Film Review “Drive”

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Albert Brooks
Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hour 40 mins
Film District

Our Score: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

In a darkened room a man speaks into a cell phone. The rules are simple. You have him for 5 minutes. In that time frame he’s yours, no matter what. A minute before and a minute after you’re on your own. Yes or know?

Hollywood stunt driver by day/robbery wheel man at night, our hero – we never learn his name, he’s identified in the credits as DRIVER – (Gosling) is the best of the best when it comes to driving. So much so that his boss, Shannon, (Bryan Cranston) wants to make a NASCAR driver out of him. To get the money for a car Shannon visits Bernie (Brooks) one of the neighborhood “lenders,” a former film producer looking to invest his money wisely. Years ago Shannon ran afoul of Nino (Ron Perlman) one of Bernie’s fellow “lenders,” whose men demonstrated to Shannon that there really IS a substantial penalty on a delinquent loan. While returning home one night DRIVER meets his neighbor, Irene (Mulligan), a single mom who lives with her young son. Chance keeps putting the two in the same places and a friendship begins to grow. But, like many things we approach, things are not as they seem.

Winner of the Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, “Drive” is a stylish film that doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it a thriller? A romance? A heist film? All of the above? To be honest, I really don’t know. Though based on the novel of the same name by James Sallis, “Drive” has very little dialogue. The majority of the story is told through camera angles and a musical score that seems to have been composed in 1985. Gosling is serviceable here but he’s not given much of a back story – why does he do what he does? All he does is squint, talk softly and resemble a very young Christoph Waltz? He also spends his time constantly clenching his hand menacingly. As the mom next store, Mulligan is fine. Brooks, who I have followed since he started submitting short films on “Saturday Night Live” in the 70s does a good job as a bad guy, a role he’s also played in “The Simpson’s Movie.” Perlman is suitably evil and it’s always nice to see Russ Tamblyn (Riff in “West Side Story”) on the big screen. This is the good part.

I’m still confused as to what story director Refn wanted to tell. There are some fine chase scenes – perhaps an homage to Peter Yates’ “Bullitt” or William Friedkins’ “The French Connection” or “To Live and Die in L.A.” But there are also a lot of moody close ups accompanied by bad songs right out of 1985 – perhaps an homage to John Hughes? And there’s an awful lot of blood – props to Quentin Tarantino? This is the bad part.

I won’t deny that Renf has a way with a camera and, since I don’t know what his competition was, I will assume that he WAS the best director at Cannes this year. But slow motion action and gallons of blood do not a great film make. In this case, it only makes an average one.

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Oscar Winner Cliff Robertson Dies at 88

Cliff Robertson, an Oscar winning actor whose career spanned seven decades, died earlier to day, one day after his 88th birthday. According to his secretary of 53 years, Evelyn Christel, Mr. Robertson passed due to natural causes.

Born in Los Angeles on September 9, 1923, Robertson began his acting career with small, uncredited appearances in low budget films. In 1952 he began working in early television programming, working up to the title role in “Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers.” Other early appearances include “Hallmark Hall of Fame,” “Celebrity Playhouse” and “Robert Montgomery Presents.” In 1955 he made his first credited film appearance opposite William Holden and Kim Novak in “Picnic.” Other roles followed including “The Girl Most Likely,” “The Naked and the Dead” and “Gidget.” He also continued working in television, appearing on programs like “The Twilight Zone,” “Ben Casey” and “The Untouchables.”

In 1962 his star rose when he was personally chosen by President John Kennedy to portray him in “P.T. 109,” which was based on the true story of the sinking of Kennedy’s boat during World War II. After the release of “P.T. 109” Robertson’s roles got a little better. He played Charly Gordon, a retarded man who, because of a medical experiment, becomes a genius, in “Charly,” the film adaptation of Daniel Keyes’ best selling book “Flowers for Algernon.” For his performance in the film Robertson received the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was that success to direct a script he had written called “J.W. Coop,” about a rodeo cowboy who returned to the circuit after spending several years in prison.

Despite his Oscar, Robertson continued to work in television as well as films, including a tongue in cheek performance as the villain Shame on “Batman.” Though he appeared in some fine films in the 1970’s, including “3 Days of the Condor” and “Obsession,” it was a film he didn’t appear in that earned him notoriety. In 1977, while preparing his taxes, he noticed a $10,000 payment from Columbia Pictures that he never received. Upon investigating it was discovered that David Begelman, then head of the studio, had written a check to Robertson and others and cashed them himself. Begelman was quietly fired and, in 1995, committed suicide. Urged to keep the dirty business secret, Robertson went to the press. The resulting investigation became the basis for the book “Indecent Exposure,” one of the best “Hollywood” books I’ve ever read.

His film output wasn’t as great in the 80’s, with Robertson claiming to have been blacklisted because he spoke out about Begelman. He did appear in Bob Fosse’s “Star 80” and Douglas Trumbull’s “Brainstorm ,” but neither were popular at the box office. He worked sporadically the next two decades. In 2002 he became a star to a new generation of fans when he appeared as Uncle Ben in “Spider-man,” a role he would continue in the two sequels.

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Film Review “Warrior”

Starring: Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton and Nick Nolte
Directed by: Gavin O’Connor
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 2 hours 20 mins
Lionsgate

Our Score: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

Philadelphia is known as a sports town. Philly gave us Doug Allison, who history tells us was the first baseball player to wear a glove in the field. Also from the City of Brotherly Love: basketball player Lloyd Bernard Free, who in 1981 legally changed his name to World B. Free. But the town’s biggest claim of local talent belongs to fighters. Sonny Liston. Joe Frazier. Bernard Hopkins. Heck, even Rocky Balboa hails from Philly. In “Warrior” we learn that there are two more fighters to watch. The Conlon Brothers.

Paddy Conlon (Nolte), celebrating 1000 days away from the alcohol that cost him his family, spends his days listening to “Moby Dick”, the book-on-tape following him from home to the car and back. He arrives home one night to find Tommy (Hardy) waiting for him. He has a favor to ask.

Brendan Conlon (Edgerton) is a high school teacher. And a former MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter. With an ever rising mortgage looming over his head, he’s decided to make a little money on the side fighting. YouTube footage of one of his weekend battles gets him suspended from school. With the bank breathing down his neck he comes to the only possible solution. He visits his friend Frank (Frank Grillo), who owns the local gym. He has a favor to ask.

One part “Rocky,” one part “The Wrestler,” “Warrior,” in the wrong hands, could be your average ESPN movie of the week. But anchored by three outstanding performances the film soars and reaches all the right chords. Nolte, his face weathered from life (has it really been 35 years since he played young Tom Jordache on “Rich Man, Poor Man?”) would easily make my short list when Oscar nominations come around. As a man trying everything…anything…to right the wrongs of the past, Nolte’s performance ranks with his work in “The Prince of Tides” among his career best. I must say that I was only familiar with Edgerton thanks to his role as Luke Skywalker’s future Uncle Owen in “Star Wars: Episode II and III.” Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Conan O’Brien, he does a fine job here. But the revelation here is Hardy. So good as Eames, the master of disguise in “Inception,” Hardy explodes off the screen in what is truly a star making performance. And he’s ripped! I can’t wait to see him as Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Director O’Connor, who fluidly shot “Miracle,” the story of the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team, is just as strong here. His camera takes you into the ring so close to the action that you can almost feel every punch. The script is fairly tight, with a subplot of Tommy as an Iraqi war hero with a past the only distraction. Sport fans will recognize Olympic gold medal winning wrestler Kurt Angle as Russia’s entry into the films main event, a 16 man winner take all war called Sparta. And kudos to stunt coordinator/fight choreographer J.J. Perry for some of the best ring action ever committed to film.

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Film Review “Contagion”

Starring: Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne and Jude Law
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 1 hour 45 mins
Warner Brothers

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

There’s a great scene in “Along Came Polly” where Ben Stiller discusses the danger of eating from a bowl of mixed nuts at a bar. It goes something like this:

“Let’s say, conservatively, I don’t know, 17 people eat these nuts on a given night. Okay? If they’ve been here for even two weeks, we’re talking about 238 people who dipped their dirty hands into that bowl. On average, only one out of every six people wash their hands when they go to the bathroom. Yeah, so when you think you’re innocently eating a little bar snack, you’re actually ingesting potentially deadly bacteria from about 39 soil-handed strangers. I mean, people wonder why they get E. Coli poisoning or salmonella or hepatitis, when all they gotta do is look at the snack bowl at their local watering hole. I’m not being neurotic. It’s an absolute hot zone in there.”

Believe me, after seeing “Contagion,” you’ll take Ben Stiller much seriously.

Chicago. Business traveler Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow), just arrived from Hong Kong and on her way home to Minneapolis, chats with a friend before boarding her plane. When she gets home she finds she’s not feeling well. When she goes into convulsions her husband, Mitch (Damon) has her rushed to the hospital. Minutes later he’s informed that Beth is dead. Unbelieving, Mitch returns home where more tragedy awaits him. Within days, the world is caught up in a catastrophe that threatens to dwarf the greatest plagues of the past.

Directed with a skilled eye, “Contagion” is a film that plays off of our worse fears. What with the recent SARS and H1M1 Flu scares, the plot suggested by the film is really only one bad cold away. With a cast boasting as many Oscar winners as “The Towering Inferno” (I was going to say “The Poseidon Adventure” but Gene Hackman won his Oscar while filming the movie. “Inferno” alums Paul Newman and Faye Dunnaway also won theirs after that film was released). “Contagion” is a tight thriller that allows us to observe how the world might act if suddenly 25% of its inhabitants took ill. The cast, which besides Paltrow and Damon boasts award winners Marion Cotilliard and Kate Winslet. As a vaccine is being sought the world as a whole goes into anarchy. Taking advantage is a blogger (Law) who claims to have cured himself with a medication he has acquired a piece of financially. People avoid others like…well, like the plague.

The story moves quickly as the illness spreads, only slowing down some in what felt to me like an ending stretched out for time purposes. The musical score, by frequent Soderbergh collaborator Cliff Martinez is chillingly perfect, reminding me of some of the great scores by Tangerine Dream. The bleak landscapes of major cities deserted by the frightened are well depicted courtesy of production designer Howard Cummings. “Contagion” is a strong film to kick off the end of summer…just make sure you know who you’re sharing your popcorn with!

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Film Review “Shark Night 3D”

Starring: Sara Paxton, Dustin Milligan and Chris Carmack
Directed by: David R. Ellis
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 1 hour 31 mins
Rogue Entertainment

Our Score: 0 out of 5 stars

A young woman is swimming alone, left in the water by her boyfriend. Suddenly she is pulled violently back in forth until she disappears. Sound familiar? This is the opening scene from “Shark Night 3D,” a film that tries, on several occasions, to steal from “Jaws”…a feat it fails at miserably.

The story: a group of college students from Tulane decide to spend the weekend at the home of rich girl Sara (Paxton). While stopping for booze they meet some of the unsavory characters that Sara grew up with. Why has it been three years since she’s come home? And really, who cares? Once at the house they begin to disappear, one by one, in a series of shark attacks. Scared yet?

What a horrible film. The plot, as it is, is lame enough without all of the inconsistencies the story holds. When the teens decide to call for help we are told that there is no cell phone reception. But surely that won’t affect the land line based telephones in the house?

Besides the opening “Jaws” rip-off scene, the film also steals from “Jaws 2” (waterskier), “Jaws 3” (horrible 3D) and even pulls a “flying” shark out of “Jaws the Revenge.” We learn that there are 46 different kinds of sharks in the lake yet apparently no one has ever been attacked until now. Trying to tie the attacks into an attempt to make money off the people who enjoy “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel each year is equally absurd. More unbelievable are the various sharks. They come off as cartoony rubber toys. And to my understanding, most of the lakes I’ve come across are fresh water, which would not be conducive to sharks. But when this fact is brought up on screen we are informed that this is a salt water lake. Whatever.

The direction is pedestrian at best. Director Ellis seems keen on two things: speeding up the film to make everyone travel around fast and bikini clad back sides. The scares, if you want to call them that, are telegraphed minutes ahead. And the 3D is almost non-existent. Apparently Hollywood thought they would ass-rape the movie going public one more time before the summer ended and charge an extra three dollars! My advice is to take that money and go rent “Jaws.”

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Film Review “The Debt”

Starring: Marton Csokas, Jessica Chastain and Sam Worthington
Directed by: John Madden
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hour 54 mins
Miramax

Our Score: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

The year is 1997. The place is Tel Aviv, Israel. The occasion is a book launching party for Sarah Gold (Romi Aboulafia). Her book is the story of how three young MOSSAD agents infiltrated East Berlin in 1966 and captured and killed Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), better known as “The Surgeon of Berkenau,” a place more commonly known as Auschwitz. Two of the agents involved attend the party, mostly because they are Sarah’s parents. But as the tale unfolds, we learn that what we believe to be true often isn’t.

Based on the 2007 Israeli film “Ha-Hov,” the majority of the film deals with the operation to kidnap and return Vogel, who is working in East Berlin as a fertility doctor, to Israel to stand trial. The three agents given the assignment are Stephan (Csokas), Rachel (Chastain) and David (Worthington). Rachel and David are pretending to be a young married couple who cannot conceive, causing them to visit Vogel (now referred to as Doctor Bernhardt). Though there seems to be some chemistry between the two, it is Stephan and Rachel who make beautiful music (both physically and literally in a bit of piano-playing foreplay). As the plan proceeds we think we know the outcome but, as I said, don’t believe everything you see (or read).

Skillfully directed by John Madden, who earned an Academy Award nomination for the Oscar-winning Best Picture “Shakespeare in Love,” “The Debt” is a thriller that keeps you guessing up to the end. It also boasts two talented groups of actors. While Csokas, Chastain and Worthington give life to their characters in the flashbacks, the characters are played in later years by Tom Wilkinson, Helen Mirren and Ciaran Hinds, all veterans at the top of their game here. All six give strong performances and it’s a relief to see Worthington not standing in front of a green screen and doing some actual emoting. The story flows nicely for the first ninety minutes or so. It’s only at the end, when 66 year old Mirren goes into her “RED” mode, that the film feels forced. It’s as if the filmmakers felt they needed to take the story PAST the logical ending just to prove they weren’t making a conventional film.

The set decoration by Jim Clay is outstanding, capturing the look of Cold War Berlin perfectly. Thomas Newman’s score helps drive the action as well.

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Film Review “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”

Starring: Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes and Bailee Madison
Directed by: Troy Nixey
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hour 39 mins
Miramax

Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro describes the 1973 “made for television” film “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” as the scariest movie ever made for that medium. While my first choice would actually be “Trilogy of Terror,” it was pretty scary to my 13-year old mind. del Toro is the producer behind the new version of the Kim Darby/Jim Hutton (Tim’s dad) scare-fest and, while it has a few good moments, it’s another unnecessary new film based on an old film.

In a quiet part of Rhode Island, little Sally (Madison) has been sent by her mother to live with her dad, Alex (Pearce) and his girlfriend Kim (Holmes). Unhappy with the move, Sally is a brooding child. When she spies a broach that Kim is wearing Kim tells her, “my mother gave it to me.” “My mom gave ME to my dad,” Sally replies. She is also unhappy about the house, an old mansion that we’re introduced to in a prologue that makes the “is it safe?” scene in “Marathon Man” look like fun. While exploring the grounds Sally discovers a hidden basement. What she finds inside will make you think twice before you look for a quarter under your pillow.

With one seventeen-minute short film on his resume’, Troy Nixey certainly seems like an odd choice to direct a feature horror film. The film moves well but it’s obvious that Nixey (as well as screenwriters del Toro and Matthew Robbins) have been influenced by what they’ve seen before, including “Poltergeist,” “Gremlins,” “The Amityville Horror” and del Toro’s own “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Though there is some blood and violence, the majority of the scares depend on how they are set up. I can put a camera over someone’s shoulder, play the music loud and, when I feel like it, throw a cat up on screen to make everybody jump. There are no flying cats, thank goodness, but a lot of the scares are basically Horror Movie 101. I would LOVE to have seen what del Toro would do with it.

The cast tries it’s best to convey the terror. As little Sally, Madison appears to be in full “Damien” mode at first. Quiet and brooding, she begins to try to make friends with the creatures that live in the basement and want her to be their friend. Holmes is strong as the young woman not prepared to be a mother, even in a temporary roll. Pearce, looking creepily like a young Mark Wahlberg or Scott Glenn, circa “Urban Cowboy,” is also strong as his Alex must first battle with Sally’s mood then the eventual creatures that she encourages with her action. The visual effects, by effects maestros Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger, are a little jumpy, with the creatures resembling Salacious Crumb, the little guy that sat on Jabba the Hutts’ lap in “Return of the Jedi.”

“That place is unsafe for children,” a local handyman repeatedly tells Alex and Kim about the basement. Unsafe? I guess so. But, with the exception of a few scares, there’s really no reason to be afraid of the dark. I wasn’t.

 

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Film Review “Buck”

Starring: Buck Brannaman and Robert Redford
Directed by: Cindy Meehl
Rated: PG
Running time: 1 hour 28 mins
IFC Films

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

You probably don’t know it but you’ve heard of Buck Brannaman. Maybe not by name, but certainly by reputation. Brannaman is the man they call “the Horse Whisperer.” In fact, he was the inspiration for the popular novel by Nicholas Evans of the same name. He served as a consultant and technical adviser for Robert Redford on the film version of the book. Now Brannaman himself is featured in the new documentary simply titled “Buck.”

A true cowboy, Brannaman has been around horses his entire life. As a young man he and his brother, Smokie, were popular entertainers at local rodeos, thrilling the crowds with a variety of rope tricks. The boys were so popular that they were featured in a television commercial for “Sugar Pops” cereal. (Note to readers born after 1980: believe it or not, sugar used to be a good thing. As a kid I was treated to such tasty cereals as “Sugar Crisp,” Sugar Frosted Flakes” and, as previously mentioned, “Sugar Pops.” You can still find these products on your grocer’s shelves, now labeled “Golden Crisp,” “Frosted Flakes” and plain old “Corn Pops.”) What the public didn’t know was that the boys were raised by an abusive father. As Buck tells it, “my dad gave us the choice of practicing roping tricks or getting whipped,” The abuse grew so bad that the boys spent many years in foster homes. But it is this upbringing that leads Buck to his calling. His job: to help horses with people problems.

Beautifully photographed (I have no idea if documentary films are eligible for academy awards outside of their category but if so “Buck” is on my short list for this year’s best cinematography), “Buck” shows life at its most simple level. His love for horses is unyielding as is his way with them. If a horse will not allow itself to be broken it is because “humans have failed him.” As he approaches a horse his tone is quiet; barely a whisper. When his face is inches away from the animal he looks into its eyes, which he refers to as “a window to your soul.” There apparently isn’t a horse that he can’t tame, and he does it with love, not a whip. The film also takes a look at Buck with his family. These are some of the film’s best scenes, especially the ones that feature Buck and his youngest daughter, Reata, who is practicing to be a championship roper herself.

 

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Film Review “30 Minutes or Less”

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride and Aziz Ansari
Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hour 23 mins
Columbia

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

In August 2003, a 45 year old pizza delivery man named Brian Wells walked into a bank in Erie, Pennsylvania with a bomb strapped to his chest and attempted to rob it. Foiled by the police, Wells told the cops that the bomb had been forcibly strapped to him by several men who ordered him to rob the bank. If he didn’t bring them the money the bomb would explode. Not believing Wells, the police detained him. BOOM! Not the type of story you’d think one would make a comedy about but the creators of “30 Minutes or Less” have done just that.

Nick (Eisenberg) is a young slacker with no drive. When he’s not home playing video games he’s delivering pizzas around town. Due to his company’s “30 Minutes or Less or your pizza is free” policy he can usually be found running red lights and speeding excessively. He has two friends: schoolteacher Chet (Ansari) and his twin sister, Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria), who he is desperately in love with. When Kate shows surprise that Nick isn’t on Facebook he replies that he’s completely “off the grid,” a nice nod to Eisenberg’s Oscar nominated performance as Facebook co-creator Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Network.” As Nick drives aimlessly from one address to another, across town 30-something Dwayne (McBride) is aimlessly blowing up things with the help of his friend Travis (Nick Swardson), a master of all things technical. Dwayne lives at home with his lottery winning father, a former Marine referred to as the Major (Fred Ward). The Major can’t stand Travis’ lazy ways. Travis can’t stand the fact that the Major is blowing through the winnings he’s hoping to inherit. One way to hasten that inheritance is to have the Major killed. But a hit man costs money.

Continuously funny from start to end, “30 Minutes or Less” rides on the talents of it’s cast. Eisenberg, who managed to make Mark Zuckerberg seem almost likable, is off beat as Nick. It’s a persona he has down to a tee and he conveys it well. As Chet, Ansari is both the voice of reason and the voice of mayhem. No matter how hard he tries to convince Nick to go to the police he continues to feed on the high of helping his friend pull off the heist, suggesting they follow the plan devised in the movie “Point Break.” Swardson has made a career of playing slightly vacuous characters (“Grandma’s Boy,” “Blades of Glory”) and does the same here. As the hit man for hire, Michael Pena shows a talent for comedy. But the star here is McBride. His dim, fantasy-world-living Travis gives the film its best laughs. Between his recent on-screen work and his performance as Kenny Powers in HBOs’ “Eastbound and Down,” he may be the funniest actor working these days. To play off the title of the film, Danny McBride delivers!

In case you were wondering, it turned out that Brian Wells was a willing participant in the bank robbery mentioned above, though speculation remains that he didn’t know the bomb was real. His co-conspirators were eventually apprehended and are serving the next few decades in federal prison. Maybe they’ll get a chance to see “30 Minutes or Less” on “movie night.”

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Film Review “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

Starring: James Franco, Frieda Pinto and Andy Serkis
Directed by: Rupert Wyatt
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes
20th Century Fox

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

CLICK HERE for our interview with the film’s writers Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa.

What can I say about the “Planet of the Apes” films? As a child of the late 60’s and early 70’s, nothing beat a film about talking monkeys! There were five original films in all (the last one, “Battle for the Planet of the Apes,” released when “Rise” director Rupert Wyatt is one year old). There followed an animated series as well as a weekly television show. And of course, back in the days before home video, there was that rare day each summer when the local theatre would hold an “APE-a-thon,” and my friends and I would spend most of a day in the darkness, watching each film. Tim Burton “re-imagined” “Planet of the Apes” in 2001, though he confused a lot of people with the ending (which was based on the ending in Pierre Boulle’s original novel). The two things I remember most about the Burton version is that Helena Bonham Carter really looked a lot like Michael Jackson and that, in what I thought was pretty ironic, NRA President (and original “Planet of the Apes” visitor) Charlton Heston was the only character that had a gun! With four decades of “Ape” enjoyment under my belt, I was a little skeptical when I learned of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” Happily, I needn’t have worried.

Modern day San Francisco. In a large, foreboding research facility, an ape nicknamed “Bright Eyes” is working a puzzle. Her skills impress those watching her. Bright Eyes is part of an experimental drug program. The goal: develop a way to reverse and cure Alzheimer’s Disease in humans. The cause is very close to head researcher Will Rodman’s (Franco) heart…his father (John Lithgow) is suffering from the disease. When an apparent successful demonstration of the drug goes terribly wrong, Will’s research is put on hold. On his way out the door he takes a newborn chimp with him. Not one to take “no” for an answer, Will continues his work, using his dad as a guinea pig. As for the chimp…well there wouldn’t be a movie if not for him.

Full of some fine tips of the hat to the original series (a list of some of them follow this review), “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is a smartly directed film that sits squarely on the shoulders of Andy Serkis. Serkis, whose performance as Golum in the “Lord of the Rings” films should have earned him an Oscar nomination or two (or three…he was ruled ineligible because the onscreen character was computer generated) is Caesar, the baby chimp all grown up. With a rapidly growing IQ but with the innocence of a child, Serkis gives Caesar, and the film, its soul. After spending many years living with Will, Caesar is discovered and sent to live in a primate house, overseen by a bureaucratic Brian Cox. There he is mistreated by both the handlers and the other apes, who do not easily accept a clothes-wearing ape. As Caesar battles with his kind Will must do the same, hoping to find a vaccine that will return his father back to him. The similarities between Will and his dad, and Caesar and Will, become more and more highlighted as the film progresses. Caesar considers Will his father and cannot understand the changes in his life. Ditto for Will and HIS dad.

Wyatt, who also directed 2008’s “The Escapist,” which also starred Brian Cox, stages the film well, most notably when the film centers itself on the Golden Gate Bridge. You may have heard of gorillas in the mist…try dealing with gorillas in the fog!

Click here to read another favorable review from our guest writer Angelo Casciorizzo Jr.

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PAYING HOMAGE
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” recalls previous films.

SPOILER ALERT: As mentioned above, there are several references to the early series of “Ape” films. Here are a few that I noticed:

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The first ape we meet is Bright Eyes. Bright Eyes was the name given to Colonel Taylor (Heston) in the first film by the ape scientists.

An orangutan in the film is named Maurice. Maurice Evans played Dr. Zaius, an orangutan, in the original film.

To control him, Caesar’s handlers use a fire hose. The same thing was done to Taylor.

In one scene the apes in the primate house become very noisy, causing one of the handlers to yell “It’s a Madhouse!” Taylor thought the same thing.

Early in the film Caesar plays with a model of the Statue of Liberty. The Statue plays an important role in the original film.

One of the characters is named Dr. Cornelia. One of the ape scientists in the first film was Dr. Cornelius, played by Roddy McDowall.

After an altercation one of the ape handlers utters the classic line, “take your paws off of me you damn, dirty ape!.” Once again, courtesy of Colonel Taylor in the original.

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Film Review “Cowboys and Aliens”

Starring:  Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde
Directed by:  Jon Favreau
Rated:  PG 13
Running time:  1 hour 58 mins
Universal

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

Let me say at the beginning that the film title is not just a clever name.  “Cowboys and Aliens” is about, well, cowboys.  And aliens.  I’m sure the pitch for it was “John Wayne plus “Dances With Wolves” meets “Alien.”  However it came to be, it’s one hell of a movie.

On a desolate trail three men stumble upon another laying on the ground.  They tell him that they are looking for absolution.  Are they looking for salvation or is that just one of those cool old western town names?  Before we can find out they observe that the man appears to have been shot and is wearing a heavy metal shackle on his wrist.  “Must have escaped from the hoosegow,” one replies.  Thinking him to be an escaped convict, the trio decide to take his clothes and money.  Well, at least they try to.

In the town of Absolution (question answered), Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), the spoiled son of the town big shot, is drunkenly bothering some of the town folk.  He encounters our desert wanderer (Craig), who has no time for alcoholic hijinx.  Circumstances land both of them in the local jail.  Percy has shot a deputy while the man, who claims to not know who he is, has been identified as Jake Lonergan, who is wanted for robbing a train full of gold.  Percy’s daddy’s gold.  Only Jake doesn’t remember anything.  And what about that funny bracelet on his wrist?

As beautifully shot as an old John Ford western with the action one would expect from the director of “Iron Man,” “Cowboys and Aliens” is a perfect merger of two of the most popular genres ever.  With a list of behind the scenes producers that includes Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, “Cowboys and Aliens” is a great companion piece to this year’s earlier “Super 8,” as both films were made by directors who love the medium they’re working in and are happy to pay homage to the films that came before them.

Craig has a perfect face for a western.  If this were the late 1960s he would be Lee Van Cleef (the “bad” part of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”).  In fact, with this performance and his recurring role as James Bond, Craig may be the baddest man on the planet.  To paraphrase a popular joke, Daniel Craig is so bad that Chuck Norris has his poster on his wall.  As Colonel Dolarhyde, Harrison Ford is equally well cast.  When we first meet him he’s a combination of Bernard’s father in “Billy Jack,” Ben Gazarra in “Road House” and Gene Hackman in “The Quick and the Dead.”  Yet as the film progresses, and Percy and others are snatched up by the title aliens, he begins to realize that life isn’t just gold and power.  Wilde seems to have come from another film, as if the filmmakers realized that they needed a woman on screen in case those in the intended audience brought a date.  Some great actors fill the supporting roles, including Keith Carradine as the town sheriff, Clancy Brown as the local preacher, Sam Rockwell as the owner of the saloon and Adam Beach as a member of Dolarhyde’s crew.  And to give the film a connection to the westerns of the past, Brendan Wayne, grandson of the Duke himself, also appears.

The special effects are well done and the title aliens are pretty darn creepy.  Credit director Favreau with keeping the alien technology as “primitive” as possible.  One of my biggest problems with the second “Star Wars” trilogy was that the ships and weapons were more technologically advanced then the ones in the first trilogy, even though it was earlier in the time line.  As the summer begins to draw to an end, this is certainly one of the films to see before it does.

Check out our review from guest author Desiree Yates, here.

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