Bridge to Nowhere
Dexter: 3rd Season - #
Gossip Girl: 2nd Season
Hannah Montana The Movie - #
Hardbodies Collection
Husbands (Extended Cut)
Last House on the Left - #
The Last Starfighter - #
Sons of Anarchy: Season One - #
Spring Break
Surveillance - #
These Old Broads
The Simpsons: 12th Season
Tyson - #
Click below for this week's Blu-ray releases
Go - *
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Kagemusha - (Criterion) - *
Playtime - (Criterion) - *
# - also on Blu-ray
* - Doctor approved
Monday, August 17, 2009
DVD and Blu-ray Releases 8/18/09
Sunday, August 16, 2009
District 9 - B
In theaters. Rated R, 113 minutes. Trailer.
A gritty modern day science fiction film, District 9 is entertaining and at times thought provoking. After a huge spaceship arrives and hovers over Johannesburg in the early 1980's, humanity sends in a team that discovers aliens (looking like a mix of a cricket and a human) and then colonizes them in a fenced area (District 9). Analogies and symbolism fly all over the place, but the filmmakers keep it on the level and thankfully don't try to neatly resolve them all during the film. As a noted eye-roller at the whole sci-fi/fantasy genre, I was very skeptical, even with Lord of the Rings helmer Peter Jackson producing the film. Click below for more DISTRICT:
The film opens in a pseudo-documentary/investigation of events that have already occurred involving Wikus Van De Merwe, who was in charge of the eviction and relocation of the aliens (called, derisively, 'prawns') from District 9 when the process went haywire. We learn that since the colonization of District 9 there have been escalating problems between the prawns and humans. As a result the government decides to relocate the prawns to a new area, but have to serve them all with eviction notices pursuant to NIO (basically the UN) regulations. The government turns to Multi National United (MNU) a huge shadowy Halliburton-y type para-military organization/corporation to handle the move.
Wikus is chosen as the director of the effort and is the film's main character and protagonist. His character is instantly sympathetic as an affable guy with a slight edge. As he explains the interactions of the humans/prawns and leads the eviction process, his initial prejudice/disregard for the prawns is evident. His heavy-handed tactics are at odds with his congenial disposition - until he stumbles upon an intelligent prawn ('named' Christopher Johnson) and his son and has an unfortunate interaction with a substance created by the prawn. This interaction renders him a valuable commodity and forces him to seek shelter and assistance from the prawns, Christopher in particular. The remainder of the film has the two of them working together against MNU as their goals become intertwined.
The subject of how the prawns should be treated/regarded is a major theme, but isn't explictly discussed. They aren't human or from our planet, but they are intelligent and aren't (initially) overtly hostile. So, what rights and protections should be imparted to them? Human rights? Citizens of South Africa? Animal rights? The film shows that society has basically pushed the decision off and ended up giving them something approaching United Nations refugee rights. It is the most interesting piece of the film, and draws parallels with refugees, Guantanamo, immigration, racism, and diversity. To the filmmakers credit, these parallels are simply intrinsic to the story, and I didn't find it to be overtly political.
The action sequences are great, with Bride finding them too graphic. I did not, and I typically a 'gore-wenie'. Lots of cool fire fights and alien weaponry, along with a bumbling Wikus to get involved in all of it. The overall film is as realistic as a film like this could be (who am I to say there is no other life in the universe?) and avoids taking the easy way out of several situations. New director Neill Blomkamp uses some creative camera work and quick editing to the give the film a gritty feel and fast pace.
The film ends on an extremely sequel-riffic note, with Wikus fully integrated into the prawn lifestyle as he pines for his wife.
Weekend Box Office - 8/14-8/16/09
Made for only $30 million, District 9 is hugely profitable. Funny People, made for $75 million, is sinking like a stone - only in its 3rd week and tied for 10th place.
Weekend total / % Change / Cumulative total
1. District 9: 37 mil / (-)
2. G.I. Joe: 22.5 mil / (-59%) / 98.7 mil
3. Time Traveler’s Wife: 19.2 mil / (-)
4. Julie & Julia: 12.4 mil / (-38%) / 43.6 mil
5. G-Force: 6.9 mil / (-30%) / 99.0 mil
6. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard 5.4 mil (-)
7. Harry Potter 6: 5.2 mil / (-50%) / 284 mil
8. The Ugly Truth: 4.5 mil / (-33%) / 77.5 mil
9. Ponyo: 3.5 mil (-)
10. (500) Days of Summer / 3.0 mil (-19%) / 18.0
11. Funny People: 3.0 mil / (-62%) / 47.9 mil
12. A Perfect Getaway: 2.8 mil / (-53%) / 11.5 mil
13. Bandslam: 2.3 mil / (-)
14. The Hangover: 2.1 mil / (-38%) / 266 mil
15. Orphan: 1.7 mil / (-50%) / 38.4 mil
16. Transformers 2: 1.6 mil / (-47%) / 397 mil
Friday, August 14, 2009
Summer Movie Releases - 8/14/09
District 9
Alien refugees are forced to live in South Africa and tensions rise with the local humans. A heavy-handed deliberation on race relations? Maybe. But the visuals (from first-time director Neill Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson) look excellent.
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Eric Bana suffers from a rare (I'll say!) genetic defect that forces him to travel through time. Rachel McAdams plays his love interest. Based on a best-selling book, this thing is dripping with estrogen. Bana gets the summer versatility award with this, Star Trek, and Funny People.
It Might Get Loud
3 guitar players (Jimmy Page, Edge, and Jack White) hang out, play guitar, and get interviewed in director Davis Guggenheim’s documentary. The tri-generational approach is interesting, looking for some commonality. Guggenheim got the Oscar last time out for An Inconvenient Truth.
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
Jeremy Piven is hired to save a car dealership from bankruptcy. Ving Rhames and David Koechner go along for the ride. Looks somewhat funny, but the reviews are through the floor, making this a video rental – in 10 weeks or so.
Ponyo
Hand-drawn animation Japanese director Hayao Myazaki has never really worked for me. The animation is just not as great as the elitist critics insist. And the stories are always too strange for me to relate to. Don’t expect this to be any different. I didn’t bother with his last one (Howl’s Moving Castle), but found most of Princess Mononoke OK.
Bandslam
Teenage pop band rivalry where ex-boyfriends and girlfriends try to get even. For those of you who can’t wait for High School Musical 4. With Vanessa Hudgens and Lisa Kudrow.
Spread
Ashton Kutcher plays a high-end LA gigolo who meets his match when he meets his female counterpart (Margarita Levieva). Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language, and pervasive Kutcherian douchebaggery.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
New Radiohead Song
Lead singer Thom Yorke posted the lyrics to a song about Harry Patch, the 111 year old last surviving soldier from World War 1, and included some interesting comments along with a link to the song. Click below for the Yorke comments and link to the song.
Harry Patch (In Memory Of)
'i am the only one that got through
the others died where ever they fell
it was an ambush
they came up from all sides
give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves
i've seen devils coming up from the ground
i've seen hell upon this earth
the next will be chemical but they will never learn'
Recently the last remaining UK veteran of the 1st world war Harry Patch died at the age of 111.
I had heard a very emotional interview with him a few years ago on the Today program on Radio4.
The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me.
It became the inspiration for a song that we happened to record a few weeks before his death.
It was done live in an abbey. The strings were arranged by Jonny.
I very much hope the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.
It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us.
I hope we do not forget.
As Harry himself said
"Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims".
Recently the Today program played the song for the first time and now it is available to download from our website.
Please go here to download the song
The proceeds of this song will go to the British Legion.
To peace and understanding.
Thom
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
HBO Sunday Night - 8/9/09
Entourage: "Fore"
Season 6, Episode 5
The best Entourage episode of the season began (and ended) humbly enough with Eric and his new girlfriend Ashley getting along great until Sloan intrudes. In between these bookends were priceless situations and dialogue as the guys participate in a celebrity golf charity event. Everything guest star Mark Wahlberg did was gold and guest star Jeffrey Tambor was almost as good. My favorite moment was Ari (Jeremy Piven) beating the bag Lloyd is carrying with a golf club. And for a change, there were 2 great camera movements (both involving Eric and a golf cart) and some very strong editing choices that advanced the story. Too bad the least likable guys (Turtle and Eric) were given the well-worn events of not being able to carry through with your insult and saying another’s girl’s name, respectively. B+
Hung: Episode 6
"Doris is Dead" or "Are we Rich or Are we Poor?"
Hung continues to defy expectations, with Ray (Thomas Jane) unaware of where Jemma (Natalie Zea) is taking him (and us) early on, then somewhat surprised at his feelings toward the end. The basketball speech he gives to his players is not exactly verbatim to the “perfect” speech Billy Bob Thornton gives in Friday Night Lights, but it’s awfully close. But there’s so much under the surface and it was great to see Tanya finally meet Ray’s kids and his ex. The subplot of Ray’s ex (Anne Heche) and her new husband losing lots of money isn’t working nearly as well as everything else, but hopefully it’s leading to something great. B+
Monday, August 10, 2009
DVD and Blu-ray Releases 8/11/09
17 Again - #
Alien Trespass - #
Almost Heaven
Fierce Light
Gigantic
I Love You, Man - #
London to Brighton
Click below for this week's Blu-ray releases
About Last Night…
Blue Thunder
Chaos
The Class
Cutthroat Island
The Ninth Gate
St. Elmo’s Fire
Starman
# - also on Blu-ray
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Worst of the Worst
The Spirit F
Bestowing the title “The Worst Movie I’ve Ever Seen” on a film is not something I enter into lightly. So, understand it is with significant forethought that I announce my successor to No Where to Run, a film that’s held that honor since its release in 1993. (Cue the trumpets) without further ado, I give you The Spirit. It is awful. It is horrendous. To deem the dialogue nonsensical is to rob the plot of the only word worthy of describing it. I’d give you the rundown, but I’m still not sure I understand what was (supposedly) going on. So, I’ll just list what was wasted or destroyed in this monstrosity: The last shred of dignity clinging to Samuel L. Jackson’s career. Any question as to who actually directed Sin City (Robert Rodriguez or Frank Miller—both credited). Miller “directs” this mess, and while I don’t think the world of Rodriguez or Sin City, at least it hung together. A quadrilateral of babes: Eva Mendes. Scarlett Johansson. Paz Vega. Jamie King. Dan Lauria’s performance (actually pretty good). A decent allusion to Vertigo. The fledgling leading man career of Gabriel Macht. And, finally, roughly two hours of my time. It’s not that I’ve never seen films that had worse plots or worse acting or worse direction. But I’ve never seen a movie with this amount of talent that cost this amount of money that takes itself this seriously remain this awful.
The Mutant Chronicles C
In direct contrast to The Spirit, The Mutant Chronicles knows it’s awful. It revels in it. If you’re tempted to forget, it’ll create a particularly horrendous scene to drive the point home. There is talent to waste in this film as well—in particular John Malkovich and Ron Perlman—neither a stranger to slumming for a dime—but they’re having gleeful fun, daring you to take it seriously. The plot is apocalyptic zombie goo set several hundred years in the future, with odd religious and sci-fi overtones. Thousands of years ago an alien machine that turns corpses into mutant zombie killers (with claw-like appendages) was implanted on earth. It’s been reawakened, with certain death awaiting all of earth’s inhabitants who don’t get a golden ticket on a spaceship off this rock. Ron Perlman plays a priest with an ancient prophetic book who’s looking for a few brave soldiers to turn the machine off. The opening sequence was all that was released for a trailer last year and is over-the-top violent fun in a way only B horror flicks are. To be honest, grading it at all isn’t fair since it never asks you to take it even moderately seriously. I certainly can’t recommend it, but it seems disingenuous to mark it lower than a C since it is exactly what it sets out to be—sci-fi trash. C
Weekend Box Office - 8/7-8/9/09
Weekend total / % Change / Cumulative total
1. G.I. Joe: 56.2 mil / (-)
2. Julie & Julia: 20.1 mil / (-)
3. G-Force: 9.8 mil / (-44%) / 86.1 mil
4. Harry Potter 6: 8.9 mil / (-50%) / 274 mil
5. Funny People: 7.9 mil / (-65%) / 40.4 mil
6. The Ugly Truth: 7.0 mil / (-53%) / 69.1 mil
7. A Perfect Getaway: 5.8 mil / (-)
8. Aliens in the Attic: 4.0 mil / (-50%) / 16.3 mil
9. Orphan: 3.7 mil / (-50%) / 34.8 mil
10. 500 Days of Summer: 3.7 mil /(+34%)/12.3 mil
11. The Hangover: 3.4 mil / (-35%) / 262 mil
12. Transformers 2: 3.0 mil / (-36%) / 394 mil
13. The Proposal: 2.9 mil / (-42%) / 155 mil
14. Ice Age 3: 2.6 mil / (-54%) / 188 mil
15. The Collector: 1.5 mil / (-59%) / 6.6 mil
16. The Hurt Locker: 1.3 mil / (-34%) / 9.0 mil
17. Public Enemies: 1.0 mil / (-61%) / 95.5 mil
Saturday, August 8, 2009
In The Loop - B+
In theaters. Not Rated, 106 minutes. Trailer.
"You don't believe it, I don't believe, but it is a useful hypocrisy." This line, spoken during an argument in the meditation room at the United Nations, encapsulates the irreverent tone and fallen worldview of British political farce In the Loop. The film follows a pathetic and sniveling UK government minister as he gaffes his way to facilitating a declaration of war (along with the United States) on an unnamed Middle Eastern enemy. Along the way the staffers and superiors in England and the United States colorfully and masterfully eviscerate each other and deliver line after line of deliciously caustic wit. Click below for more LOOP:
Stephen Foster is the diminutive and bumbling UK government minister who is heckled at every turn by Malcom Pluck, the Tarantino-ish bile spewing spin doctor for the Prime Minister. After his amorphous comments about a war excite the press, he continues to throw fuel on the fire while his female and male aid struggle to keep him happy and advance themselves. On the other side of the pond, two high level US State Department bureaucrats are at war over the potential war, and their aids spar mercilessly as their superiors make idiots of themselves. James Gandolfini also stars as American general George Miller, an anti-war non-soldier that comically huffs and puffs througut the film.
There is minimal character development and only a sketchy plot, but the film works anyway because of its ability to provide a venue for such a cynical and crass (but realistic) worldview. Those that are in charge are idiots and they make decisions arbitrarily - while not entirely true, it also isn't too much of a stretch. Not for those that are sensitive to crude language.
Here a couple extremely NSFW clips: Clip 1; Clip 2.
New A Serious Man Poster
It's looking like a great fall for movies. The Coens, Scorsese, Jonze, Cameron, Peter Jackson, Eastwood, Soderbergh, and Wes Anderson are all releasing major films. And that's not even counting the stuff not quite on radar yet. I've already got 3 A-'s for this year (Up, Public Enemies, The Hurt Locker); I only had 5 all of last year. The Coens A Serious Man is looking surprisingly strong. Click below for the fantastic poster. 
Friday, August 7, 2009
New David Gray
After a torturously long wait, singer-songwriter David Gray is back with a new album next month and a brief North American tour. The first single off the album is Fugitive, an instant favorite. The tour information and single can be found here (nothing in the southwest, natch).
Continue reading this postThe Hurt Locker - A-
In Iraq 2004, Sergeant Will James (Jeremy Renner) leads an Army bomb squad which also consists of the doubting newcomer Specialist Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) and a rational, by-the book Sergeant Sanborn (Anthony Mackie). James is new to the team and his aggressive, unpredictable style is unsettling. Their differences will be set aside in the heat of battle when lives are threatened. The 3 lead actors are relatively unknown, with only Renner sorta recognizable from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. There are no preconceived notions about the actors and they give realistic, interesting performances. The 3 familiar actors (Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, and David Morse) essentially have single scene extended cameos. They’re all memorable and exciting, and all provide some needed levity to the proceedings (especially Morse).
Finally, we have a great Iraq War film, partly because it almost completely avoids politics, sticking to a tense film about what the men and women are going through over there. Unlike Three Kings which was filmed in Arizona, The Hurt Locker used Jordan as its filming location, and this gives a more authentic feel. Director Kathryn Bigelow paces the film beautifully and gives us one great action scene after another. Each one is unlike anything you’ve seen before. The scene of the year occurs when the guys are pinned down by snipers and Sanborn and James set aside their differences. Eldridge gets to redeem himself and Capri Suns are used for nourishment, implying the guys are just kids inside. Genius. Add some sand to the guys’ faces and some top-drawer cinematography and you have an instant classic scene.
Renner is in nearly every scene and gives a remarkable performance, much more than a one-note adrenaline junkie. He’s just as good in a quiet scene with his infant son. The title comes from a box he keeps under his bunk and shows just how unusual, and yes, crazy, someone must be to do what he does, to like it, and to keep doing it. As unique as the film is, it’s can’t quite break completely from convention as some of the minor developments (the colonel doctor, some of the quick kills) are easily telegraphed. But these are minor quibbles in this first-rate film which is and will likely remain the defining Iraq War film for years to come. It may rise to a full "A" on 2nd viewing. Best film of the year so far. A-
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Summer Movie Releases - 8/7/09
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
They won’t even have to change the title for the porno version of this. Early bad buzz is slowly turning into “great summer escapist” nonsense. Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Marlon Wayans star.
Cold Souls
Paul Giamatti has his soul extracted to help him deliver a stage performance but must travel to Russia when it’s sold without his permission. Someone (first-time writer-director Sophie Barthes) was obviously inspired after watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich back to back. Of course, if you’re going for a rip-off, might as well go from the best. Giamatti isn’t nearly as good or as strange as Malkovich, but there might be enough weirdness and cleverness here to make it work. In limited release.
Julie & Julia
After the pretty good Doubt, Meryl Streep (Julia Child) and Amy Adams star in 2 separate stories (like The Hours) about cooking. Nora Ephron tries to fuse 2 different true stories into a coherent film. Good luck! Streep’s said to be excellent, but when hasn’t she been?
A Perfect Getaway
A honeymooning couple (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) roughing it in Hawaii run across some frightened backpackers who tell them of some honeymooners who were just murdered. Who are the bad guys? Who can you trust? Who cares?
Shorts
Robert Rodriguez hasn’t made a watchable film in over 10 years, and his “kids” films have been unbearable. A rainbow ball falls from the sky and grants wishes to whoever is holding it. No doubt there’s a message (to be happy with what you have) beaten to death in the closing minutes.
Paper Heart
Charlyne Yi (Knocked Up) travels cross country to find love in this pseudo-documentary. Michael Cera co-stars. Not if it was the last film on earth.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Public Enemies - A-
Priest gave this great review over a month ago. Michael Mann’s films become more complex with repeated viewings, so initial reactions usually don’t mean much in the long run. There’s usually a discrepancy between the film that you expect and the one that you get. At first glance, you might think that Public Enemies is a biopic in the same vein as Ali, solely focused on a famous character who defined the times in which he lived. But it’s closer to The Insider (the Jeffrey Wigand biopic), in that Mann uses the background of a man to hang themes about loyalty, honor, and nobility. In Public Enemies, the main theme is living in the moment, but Mann is able to explore advancing technology, the effectiveness of torture, and becoming a criminal to catch one as well. Like Zodiac and No Country for Old Men, Public Enemies is a period film that discusses some of the challenges of our current era . . .
The movie has a rocky beginning – we’re thrown into the film unaware of where we are or what’s happening. The digital video is a brave (but not unsurprising) choice for Mann and takes some getting used to. Another brave choice is asking us to relate to criminals who have just killed some cops right off the bat. One of the toughest things in the film will be sympathizing with John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard). It proved impossible for me right up until the last scene where Frechette doesn’t seem to care about all the damage Dillinger has done to other people. The movie takes off and never lets up when Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) calls in some Texas Rangers (led by Manhunter alum Stephen Lang) to help him deal with the savage, violent nature of Baby Face Nelson and John Dillinger. Everything from that point on is first rate, highlighted by Dante Ferretti’s cinematography (the 2 police flare sequences were astonishing).
The high-def video camera ends up drawing the viewer into the impeccably recreated Depression-era costumes, streets, and rooms. We feel as though we’re right next to Depp and Bale. The shootouts (especially the Little Bohemia Lodge sequence) are first rate as is Mann’s direction – he films each shootout differently, often using shocking violence to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat. His technique in the quieter scenes is equally impressive, creating tension even if (like me, you’ve seen Dillinger’s biography many times on TV) you know what’s going to happen. Surprisingly, the attention-to-detail Mann intentionally makes some chronological errors for dramatic effect (Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd were both killed after Dillinger). But he can be forgiven for some historical inconsistencies after giving such a dense, captivating film. A-
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
HBO Sunday Night - 8/2/09
Hung Episode 5: “Do It, Monkey”
Ray (Thomas Jane) gets his first unsatisfied customer which drives him nuts. Tanya (Jane Adams) tries to fend off advances from her motivational speaker. And Ray’s ex-wife (Anne Heche) and new husband (Eddie Jemison) try to deal with being less rich. Another excellent episode that brilliantly plays with the audience’s expectations. (To give anything away would rob you of greatness). The show also continues to show situations (putting the dog to sleep) that haven’t been overdone. Continually inventive, funny, well-acted, and timely. A bad episode would be a surprise at this point. B+
Entourage: “Runnin’ on E”
Season 6, Episode 4
Drama gets to make-out with some models trying out for his TV show, Eric’s company goes belly up, and Vince’s Enzo Ferrari movie gets delayed by 3 months which gives him nothing to do except bang hot chicks. The highlight of the episode was David Schwimmer considering a new TV series at Ari’s office. Gary Cole is doing some nice work as Ari’s friend and work partner who misunderstands some of Ari’s advice. The best line was from Ari to Lloyd about Zac Efron. You know the one. The show is consistently entertaining, without being groundbreaking, profound, or insightful. B
Programming note: Curb Your Enthusiasm's next season starts in September and Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, and Jason Alexander will be in 5-7 episodes. Which reminds me, great Michael Richards reference in Funny People. Richards was doing stand-up when he had his meltdown after all.
Monday, August 3, 2009
DVD and Blu-ray Releases 8/4/09
Delgo
Flight of the Conchords - Season 2
Labor Pains - #
Mutant Chronicles - #
Nature’s Grave
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh - #
Obsessed - #
Race to Witch Mountain - #
Shadowheart
The Soloist - #
Click below for this week's Blu-ray releases.
Big Trouble in Little China
The Last Starfighter
My Cousin Vinny
The Waterboy
# - also on Blu-ray
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Weekend Box Office - 7/31-8/2/09
Funny People took the top spot, but some were probably expecting more. It's got too much drama for the Sandler fans and is too complex for The Hangover crowd. The Hangover and The Proposal (where's the review, Priest?) keep their low % loss.
Weekend total / % Change / Cumulative total
1. Funny People: 23.4 mil / (-)
2. Harry Potter 6: 17.7 mil / (-40%) / 255 mil
3. G-Force: 17.1 mil / (-46%) / 66.5 mil
4. The Ugly Truth: 13 mil / (-53%) / 54.5 mil
5. Aliens in the Attic: 7.8 mil / (-)
6. Orphan: 7.3 mil / (-44%) / 26.8 mil
7. Ice Age 3: 5.3 mil / (-37%) / 182 mil
8. The Hangover: 5.1 mil / (-21%) / 256 mil
9. The Proposal: 4.8 mil / (-24%) / 149 mil
10. Transformers 2: 4.6 mil / (-43%) / 388 mil
Saturday, August 1, 2009
500 Days of Summer A-
Rated PG-13, In Theatres, 95 minutes
Once every so often someone makes a perfect romantic comedy. When Harry Met Sally comes to mind. Less often, someone makes a perfect movie about love. Eternal Sunshine, say. These are movies that remember that, for each of us—best-case scenario—one romantic relationship ends well. One. In all the rest, no matter the physical attraction, no matter the chemistry, no matter the depth of feeling and exuberance, in the end somebody’s crying. 500 Days of summer isn’t quite as good as Eternal Sunshine, but it is a nearly perfectly realized movie about one of the really good ones that al as most makes it.
Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Tom Hansen an architect doing time at a greeting card company until he gets back to architecting. Indie lovely Zooey Deschanel is Summer Finn, his boss’s new receptionist. In a nice reversal, he’s the doe-eyed romantic and she’s the cynical girl who doesn’t believe in love. She warns him that she’s only in it for a fun, and he believes no one can walk away from something this good. They bond over a love for The Smiths, buildings, and sex. The whole should be too cute for its own good. They pull out every dramatic device in the bag—voice-overs, non-chronological ordering (tracked based on the numbered day since their first encounter) Karaoke sing-a-longs, a dance number in the park, scenes turned to charcoal darawings, short, documentary-like background sketches, and interviews about love with the main characters. Amazingly, the whole conflagration, which should fall like a bad soufflé, is light as air. It totally works, because the love affair at the heart of it works.
If 500 Days of Summer has a flaw, it’s that Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel have too much sizzle. They work too well. You buy it too much. They’re having too much fun. You want them too badly to make it. Which means, ultimately, that you hurt too much when, as you knew from the beginning they wouldn’t, they don’t. It’s easy to give Ms. Deschanel all the credit for manufacturing this intangible that masquerades under the label of “chemistry”. She’s been proving at least as far back as Elf that she’s once-in-a-generation adorable. The brown eyes. The wrinkled nose. The throwback clothing and scrubbed face freshness and to-the-bone sweetness that seems to beam out of those eyes. She’s an indie-rock goddess, and here she puts it all in over-drive. From the moment she kisses him in the copy room, poor Gordon-Levitt never stands a chance. And here’s the amazing thing. Joseph Gordon-Levitt keeps up. Aside from a few flashbacks and photo-essays, he’s in every scene. Star-eyed in love. Living off twinkies and whiskey. Longing. Hurt. Dying to meet her then dying to get over her. Through all that, you never tire of him. Never want to scream “buck-up, camper.” Never wonder why she’d mess with him in the first place. You like him and root for him and never tire of his optimism or his depression. If you think that’s not tough, check out Zack Braff’s recent body of work. If Zooey is the reason you come, Joseph is the reason you aren’t disappointed. A-
Funny People - B+
Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, a version of his real-life self who worked his way up doing stand-up comedy and now makes a living with dumb popular movies. When he's diagnosed with leukemia, he returns to his stand-up roots and meets Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) who he asks to be his assistant and joke-writer. Simmons uses his disease to reconcile old family relationships and an old girlfriend (Leslie Mann) who's now married (to Eric Bana). As with 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, writer-director Judd Apatow's special blend of honest emotional moments and raunchy humor works. But the film is overly self-referential, drops too many names, and tells way too many phallic jokes to reach the high level of his previous 2 efforts . . .
At nearly 2 1/2 hours, the film is rough around the edges, going on tangents, then forgetting subplots before remembering them again. Apparently, Apatow couldn't leave one cameo on the cutting room floor. Some scenes that appear inconsequential later become vital, so Apatow's script is well-constructed while leaving obvious room for improvisations. The stand-up routines work fine and the film plays well as an insider's look at the L.A. stand-up scene. But some of the best comic moments are Ira and his 2 roommates (Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman) riffing and occasionally being cruel to each other. Aubrey Plaza ("Parks and Recreation") has some great scenes with Rogen as well.
But my favorite scene was a dramatic one, which has the oncologist (Torsten Voges) giving Simmons some good news. I've never been a big Sandler fan, respecting only his collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson (and tolerating The Wedding Singer). He's superb here, but unlike Punch-Drunk Love, Apatow pulls some punches and lets Sandler off easy. Rogen, however, gives his all-time best performance, playing a real character for the first time. He portrays decency and morality very well, making Ira the easiest character to root for. Mann is amazing as expected and has a couple of moving moments. Somehow, Apatow is able to make a lot of great points about fame, wealth, family, marriage, male bonding, and friendship. It is a little all over the place thematically, but Apatow does stick the landing - the last 10 minutes are perfect. Apatow's musical choices (including one from his real life daughter's play) are perfect as well, with a heavy dose of John Lennon and some pretty good original stuff from Jason Schwartzman. B+
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