On DVD and Blu-ray
Rated R for language
Mike (Paul Giamatti) is a small town New Jersey lawyer whose practice is struggling to stay afloat. For some extra money, he agrees to take care of Leo (Burt Young), one of his wealthy clients, who has Alzheimer's but wants to stay at his own house. When Leo's grandson Kyle shows up to see him, Mike has to make further adjustments. Mike also coaches wrestling at the high school and finds extra inspiration when Kyle turns out to be an excellent wrestler. . .
If it sounds like every American indie film you've seen the past 10 years, it is. But the performances by Giamatti and Amy Ryan (the wife) give it depth while the sacrifices (and compromises) Mike makes for his family makes it relatable in these down times. The inspiring score helps as does the comedic relief from friends/coaches Bobby Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor.
The film gains momentum as it progresses and while the ending is never really in doubt, how it gets there is so nicely restrained and understated, that it still sneaks up on you. The deft touch is provided by writer-director Tom McCarthy, whose previous 2 films (The Visitor, The Station Agent) were too contrived and preachy to be completely successful. His subtle, complicated touch here allows it to build into a sum greater than its parts. B+
The Wire alumnus: None other than Mr. McCarthy, who played an ethically challenged newsman in season 5. And I can't help but think of the similarities.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Win Win - B+
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Snap Judgments - a Quick Review of 5 Movies
In a Better World
A doctor alternates working between an African refugee camp and his hometown in Denmark. He has marital problems and his sons are having trouble at school. But it really doesn't compare to the horrifying lives the Africans have. Which is the whole point director Susanne Bier bluntly brings home. Bier made the same point more subtly in After the Wedding, which was much less manipulative about white guilt and how the affluent create problems for themselves to solve. But, the acting and emotions ring true and it never hurts to have a reminder of how good we still have it. This won last February's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. B-
Unknown
Liam Neeson and his wife (January Jones) arrive in Berlin for a medical conference. When he discovers his briefcase is missing, he takes a cab back to the airport (without her). The cab gets into a wreck and he slips into a coma for 4 days. When he wakes up, no one recognizes him - and he may not even exist. Neeson is in full Taken mode here, but it's not nearly as sharp, invigorating, or honorable. Taken played it straight while films like this will obviously have lots of twists. The best scenes belong to Bruno Ganz (Downfall) who plays a former Stasi agent that's become an investigator. His comments about modern generations forgetting about their past could have spun off into another movie, which would have been more interesting than what we got. C+
Just Go With It
Adam Sandler plays a plastic surgeon who finally wants to settle down (with Brooklyn Decker) after years of falsely wearing a wedding ring to pick up women. After she finds the ring, he has to fake a marriage (and impending divorce) with his assistant (Jennifer Aniston), who has 2 kids from a previous marriage. Lies begat more lies until everyone learns the elusive life lesson that it's better (and easier) to tell the truth. The simplicity of the message matches the obviousness of the humor - and the predictability of the conclusion. What exactly is the elegant Nicole Kidman doing in this? And why is Sandler so physically abusive to the kids? At least I laughed at the sheep getting the Heimlich maneuver. So there's that. C
Paul
Two nerdy Brits (Simon Pegg, Nick Frost) are traveling across the American Southwest when they discover Paul, an escaped alien (voiced by Seth Rogen). They then try to protect him from the pursuing FBI agents. The script (by Frost and Pegg) seems to only exist in an attempt to discredit Christianity. A fundamentalist Christian (Kristen Wiig) loses her faith immediately when Paul feeds her brain all sorts of information through his hand. She quickly becomes a foul-mouthed slut and is happier for it, of course. The script certainly doesn't exist to provide any laughs. We can safely say the success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz belongs entirely to former Pegg-collaborator and director Edgar Wright, who succeeded without him with Scott Pilgrim. Director Greg Mottola has done good (Superbad) and great (Adventureland, Arrested Development) work, but the heavy Lucas-Spielberg references and ridiculous plot leaves him stranded. The sole bright spot is Jason Bateman, who deadpans every one of his agent's acerbic lines beautifully. D+
Take Me Home Tonight
A recent MIT grad (Topher Grace) returns home and regresses to living with his parents and working at the mall. His twin sister (Anna Faris) is about to marry her shallow boyfriend (Chris Pratt) and his schmuck best friend (Dan Fogler) just lost his job. But his unrequited love of high school is back in town and the group heads to a party for one crazy night that will change everything. The message of "you can't win if you don't take a shot" is fine, but the writing lets the hard-working actors down. There are no memorable lines or moments and the whole thing feels like a retread from every coming-of-age movie (or TV show) ever. The movie is set in 1988 for apparently no other reason than to have an expensive soundtrack of 80s pop songs. They should have spent more money on a rewrite. C-
DVD and Blu-ray Releases - 9/20/11
Bridesmaids - #
The Kennedys - #
The River Murders
Set Up - #
Spooky Buddies - #
Body of Proof - 1st Season
Castle: 3rd Season
Hawaii Five-O: 1st Season - #
The Mentalist: 3rd Season
Mike & Molly: 1st Season - #
Modern Family: 2nd Season - #
Raising Hope: 1st Season
Click below for this week's Blu-ray releases
Breakfast at Tiffany's - *
Dead Heat
Dumbo - *
Le Beau Serge (Criterion)
Les Cousins (Criterion)
The Others - *
Scrooge
Vamp
# - also on Blu-ray
* - Doctor approved
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Vanilla Ice Real Estate Program
Vanilla Ice has a real estate investment plan for you. This video is priceless. Money Quote:
"When I'm not touring around the world....I'm makin' money in real estate."
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Song of the Day - A Real Hero, College
This moody gem sets the tone for Drive and I cannot get it out of my head.
Continue reading this postDrive - A
In theaters. Rated R, 100 minutes. Trailer.
A film that evokes Taxi Driver, Scarface and Lost in Translation all at the same time? I really didn't know what to expect when I walked into director Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive which stars Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman. Gosling is the unnamed and very introverted "Driver" who is a movie stunt drive by day and a heist driver by night. After falling for a neighbor, he involves himself in a complicated situation that challenges his tightly controlled existence. Click below for more on DRIVE:
The film is as understated as any Michael Bay film is loud. Refn's elegant and velvety direction and visuals provide a counterbalance to the grime and grit of the locations and characters in the film. Gosling's Driver is very economical with his words, and his burgeoning relationship with Mulligan's character is one of the most emotional I've experienced in years despite only a few scenes and dozens of words. I was shocked this was playing in a normal theater and not an arthouse - it feels like an arthouse movie the whole time and the audience didn't appear to enjoy it much. I loved the moodiness of the film and the excellent music, not the least of which is A Real Hero by College.
Much has been made about the violence in the film - it is as graphic as any Scorsese film and brings Scarface to mind in one scene in particular. Some have viewed it as a major flaw - I disagree and feel that informs Gosling's character. He hardly speaks but clearly is a volcano of emotions and anger that I think the explicit nature of the violence is just right for the film and Gosling's character.
My favorite scene in the film is the Welcome Home scene during Standard's speech - Mulligan's nonverbal acting is amazing and it nearly brought me to tears.
Get there.
Weekend Box Office: 9/16-9/18/11
Title/Gross/%Change/Total
1. Lion King (in 3D): 29.3 mil / NEW
2. Contagion: 14.5 mil / -35% / 44 mil
3. Drive: 11 mil / NEW
4. The Help: 6.4 mil / -28% / 147 mil
5. Straw Dogs: 5 mil / NEW
6. I Don't Know How She Does It: 4.5 mil / NEW
7. The Debt: 2.9 mil / -38% / 27 mil
8. Warrior: 2.8 mil / -47% / 9.9 mil
9. Rise of Planet of Apes: 2.6 mil / -33% / 172 mil
10. Colombiana: 2.3 mil / -42% / 33 mil
Friday, September 16, 2011
Warrior A-
Rated PG-13, In theatres, 140 minutes
Miracle’s Gavin O’Connor directs this film about two estranged brothers and their dad destined to meet in the finals of a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) tournament without tricks or subtleties, but it’s the stronger film for it. Like Miracle, if you saw the trailer, you know the story, but you don’t know that O’Connor, who also co-wrote, is using the set-up to explore the emasculation of men by the financial crisis and what it means to be a man in 21st Century America. Along the way we get a stellar performance out of Nick Nolte as a recovering alcoholic father as well as perfectly shot fight scenes that neither exaggerate nor downplay the brutality of MMA.
The basics: Nick Nolte plays Paddy Conlon, wrestling trainer, three years sober, and apparently an abusive father and husband. His youngest son Tommy (Tom Hardy, Inception), a wrestling prodigy, left in his early teens with his mother. Mom died, and Tommy is finally returning home after a stint in Iraq. Older son Brendon (Joel Edgerton, Animal Kingdom), stuck around to be with his girlfriend, now wife, Tess (Jennifer Morrison). After some years in the UFC, he’s settled in to teaching, but his youngest daughter got sick and he’s caught between hospital bills and a house that’s lost half its value in the crash. He takes to fighting to pay some bills, his school gets wind of it, and now he’s suspended without pay. Brendon returns to serious fighting against his wife’s wishes to stave off foreclosure. Meanwhile, Tommy, who is RIPPED btw, gets back into fighting to keep a promise made to a dying comrade to take care of his wife and kid. Tommy comes back to have dad train him, but he can’t come close to forgiving his father for the past. In fact, both sons heap so scorn and abuse on their father until your heart breaks a bit for him even though you know he probably has it coming.
The bonus: O’Connor approaches his material like nothing so much as a Greek tragedy. The GreekProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0
understood what anyone with Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits already knows: Sometimes you’ve got to fight to be a man. He plays with the two main male archetypes: warrior and the father/husband protector. Both his protagonists feel like they’ve failed in those roles and are looking for redemption in the most male of all pursuits: hand-to-hand combat. Into this crucible O’Connor dumps the pain of brothers separated and a father’s attempt to make up for that which cannot be replaced. Unlike last year’s otherwise superior The Fighter, Warrior never forgets exactly which story it’s telling—the reunification of the brothers and father. The other subplots are perfectly handled to drive the primary narrative and are balanced to propel not take away from it. Whereas The Fighter never has that one emotionally climactic payoff you expect from a sports movie, Warrior knocks it out of the park. All the leads and supporting cast are good, and Nolte is exceptional, potentially lining himself up for a Best Supporting nomination come award season.
O’Connor here produces, for my money, a better sports film than Miracle, no small feat. His last film, the ambitious but flawed Pride and Glory, signaled he was interested in more than straight studio pics, and he comes through here admirably. Like a poor man’s Michael Mann, he is interested in the world of men and the struggles to be masculine in our current context. There is a scene between the brothers on a beach as they address the issues dividing them that, if it had been better, might have propelled this to a full A from me. O’Connor is still wrestling with the medium, but he’s got things to say, and he’s smart enough to appeal to the average dude while he’s saying them.
Much better than I expected going in. A-
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Inside Scientology
By Janet Reitman, 2011. 464 pages.
Scientology has always fascinated me, but I've never been able to understand what it is exactly. This book does a good job of laying out the facts without a bias. Even so, I found myself laughing out loud at several passages, especially Scientology found L. Ron Hubbard and his fleet of ships and commodore outfits. The "religion's" ridiculous language and happy talk is all just a a scam for a cult that feeds cash to its bizarre leader, the ruthless David Miscavige. Worth a read - you should know about Scientology and be aware of their tactics. Their response to this book pretty much showcases exactly what they are. Here is a great video from Southpark that is 100% accurate on its telling of the Scientology creation story.
Thor - B-
On DVD and Blu-ray
PG-13, 114 minutes
Through an interspace portal, the arrogant Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and friends start a war with some ice creatures (Frost Giants) which upsets his father (Anthony Hopkins), the king who then banishes his son to Earth (through another portal). There, Thor meet some scientists (Including Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kat Dennings) who are trying to understand the portal. During his brief stay on Earth, Thor will learn humility and altruism which makes him worthy in his father's eyes . . .
The unusual choice of Kenneth Branagh to direct turned out to be wise since he has enough Shakespearean history to keep the dramatic, political scenes afloat while family members try to out-scheme each other. Branagh's smart sense of humor frequently shines through, too. The action scenes (something new for Branagh) actually make sense but are hardly groundbreaking. The experienced, talented cast are good enough to make the audience believe all the nonsense (they sell it well, so it's easier to buy).
What keeps this in the mid-tier range of comic book movies is the choice of style-over-substance with respect to the title character. The camera loves Hemsworth, but he just isn't interesting enough to draw you in (like Robert Downey, Jr. in the original Iron Man, for instance). The film also doesn't have anything else on its mind other than a young man maturing and gaining his father's acceptance. B-
The Wire alumnus: Idris Elba (as a loyal gatekeeper for Thor) - quite the drop-off from the iconic Stringer Bell.
DVD and Blu-ray Releases - 9/13/11
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - #
Hesher - #
The Hills Have Eyes - #
Incendies - #
The Last House on the Left - #
Meek's Cutoff - #
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena - #
The Tempest - #
Thor - #
True Legend - #
Click below for this week's Blu-ray and TV releases
TV:
The Big Bang Theory: 4th Season
Blue Bloods: 1st Season
Camelot: 1st Season
Glee: 2nd Season
Grey's Anatomy: 7th Season
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: 6th Season
Love Wedding Marriage
Outsourced: Complete Series
Private Practice: 4th Season
Rescue Me: 6th Season
Sanctuary: 3rd Season
Supernatural: 6th Season
Blu-ray:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Citizen Kane - *
The Count of Monte Cristo
Don't Say a Word
The Frighteners
Halloween II
Manhunter - *
My Life as a Dog (Criterion) - *
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - *
Poltergeist II
Star Wars: Complete Saga
Star Wars: Original Trilogy - *
Star Wars: Prequel Trilogy
3 Women (Criterion) - *
Trainspotting - *
# - also on Blu-ray
* - Doctor approved
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Hanna - B+
On DVD (2011). Rated R, 111 minutes. Trailer.
Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett star in this Joe Wright (Atonement, The Soloist) directed film. Bana and Ronan are on the run from Blanchett's CIA character after a government program went wrong. The film has several spellbinding chase sequences with interesting and cool visuals paired with excellent music. After their cover is blown, Ronan has to try and meet up with Bana and experiences a coming of age beyond her caretakers control. The film doesn't really explain itself, but it explores several interesting themes and was a blast to watch. I can't wait to see it again.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Contagion - B+
In theaters. Rated R, 105 minutes. Trailer.
Contagion is a taut and wonky film about a modern-day deadly virus that causes a near collapse of civilization. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring a ridiculous cast (Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow), the film presents a chillingly realistic 2 weeks in the life of a virus and the attempt to contain it. The film is intelligent, interesting, and ambiguous. Click below for more on the best film so far this year:
Soderbergh uses his considerable skill to weave together the governmental response at the Center for Disease Control (CDC), a subplot in China involving the World Health Organization (WHO), a crazy blogger and Matt Damon's family and survival. We are challenged to think about what we would do in each of their shoes and reminded that all the things that normalize society can go away very quickly when survival is not assured. I enjoyed the pulsating score and loved the intense but not scary tone that Soderbergh struck. Definitely worth your time - might rise to an A- on a second viewing. Here's an article from the NYTimes on the plausibility of the film from one of its technical advisors. Here's a great article discussing the history of 'disease cinema'.
Weekend Box Office: 9/9-9/11/11
Title/Gross/%Change/Total
1. Contagion: 22.4 mil / NEW
2. The Help: 8.9 mil / -39% / 137 mil
3. Warrior: 5.2 mil / NEW
4. The Debt: 4.7 mil / -52% / 22 mil
5. Colombiana: 3.9 mil / -47%
6. Rise of Planet of Apes: 3.9 mil / -51% / 168 mil
7. Shark Night 3D: 3.4 mil / -59% / 15 mil
8; Apollo 18: 2.9 mil / -67% / 15 mil
9. Our Idiot Brother: 2.7 mil / -51% / 21 mil
10. Spy Kids 4: 2.5 mil / -48% / 34 mil
11. Crazy Stupid Love: 2.3 mil / -31% / 79 mil
12. Don't Be Afraid of Dark: 2.2 mil / -58% / 21 mil
Sunday, September 11, 2011
WTC in the Movies
9/11 was unlike any other day ever. No one could watch Pearl Harbor or a presidential assassination on live TV. We watched the Challenger explode as it happened, but that was an accident. John Hinckley's attack was caught by cameras, but all the shooting victims survived. There have been many more people killed in a single day, many times in fact. 230,000 people died because of the 2004 tsunami. 316,000 people died because of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. But that was Mother Nature doing her random thing. 9/11 changed everything for many reasons, not least of which is the altered NYC skyline.
There have been hundreds of movies which showed the iconic Towers, often featuring them. Every time one of those old movies shows up on cable, an immediate reminder of the horrors that occurred 10 years ago comes to mind. Even the crappiest of 70s, 80s, and 90s NYC movies suddenly has gravitas. 12/7/41 isn't on the forefront of your mind unless you're watching From Here to Eternity. 11/22/63 doesn't come to mind unless you're watching In the Line of Fire or JFK. You rarely see Dealey Plaza or the USS Arizona memorial in a movie, if ever.
No doubt, future generations will definitely not be as affected by watching Wall Street or Working Girl. My oldest son (born well after 9/11) just asked about the Towers last week which stunned me. The day (the day) is slowly entering into history. Yet it feels like it was just yesterday. And it does, every time I watch Fight Club or Being John Malkovich or Dressed to Kill or Ghostbusters or Taxi Driver or Mean Streets . . .
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
PJ 20 - Tivo Alert
Pearl Jam is on Jimmy Fallon tonight. Below is a super awesome clip from their upcoming documentary.....can't wait.
Watch the full episode. See more American Masters.
Continue reading this post