Keeping Up With Mother and The Joneses at a Funeral

If you want a sharp and clever satire on commercialism, you couldn't do much better than watching THE JONESES, the new comedy/drama featuring an excellent cast including Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Gary Cole, and Amber Heard. I felt like I'd wondered into another version of THE STEPFORD WIVES at first, as a seemingly perfect family moves into a definitely upper class neighborhood and starts to flaunt their fine cars, golf clubs, wine, jewelry and clothing, acting more like sales persons than real people. Of course, you realize rather quickly that they really are into SALES, and the pleasure comes in knowing that every sales conquest will sooner or later bring a downside. The script keeps moving, and you feel outraged yet strangely entertained as the lives of the people around them start to change. This felt very much like a story/script that Paddy Chayefsky (NETWORK, HOSPITAL) might have written in the 1970's, although without quite so much outrage and intellectual depth. Still, it's always a pleasure to watch a good story, and good actors having a great time. Grade----B+

Enjoying a solid run for a foreign film, the new film by Korean director Bong Joon-ho is a lot different than his last--the entertaining monster film THE HOST (2006) which put a new spin on the monster from the depths theme. This new film, MOTHER, has been described as more Hitchcockian, but that's a tall order for any film-maker, and not quite accurate. Still, there is a lot of suspense and tension as an overbearing mother tries to clear her naive, mentally handicapped son from a murder charge--any way she can. The film is a pleasure to watch, and there are a couple of twists that surprise the audience. Grade----B+

If you saw and liked the British version of DEATH AT A FUNERAL that came out in 2007, you might be interested in the new version of DEATH AT A FUNERAL that has been urbanized and recast with an all American, mostly black cast including Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, Loretta Devine, Danny Glover, Tracy Morgan, and repeating his role from the British version, Peter Dinklage. There are some clever, funny things going on at this funeral, including the wrong body showing up, some cranky characters including the minister and the old uncle, a guest who accidentally takes LSD and ends up naked on the roof, and lots of family sniping that comes to light. But the film is rather manic, like a farce that goes into double time, and the use of the handheld camera is overkill, tipping the film-makers hand that they are not secure enough in the story line to play it straight. I felt exactly the same way about the earlier version, yet both have their moments. To be fair, the full house that I saw this screening with seemed to really enjoy the pratfalls and comedic predicaments. It's too bad that the main thrust of the plot seems to hinge on the homophobia of the main characters. Grade----C+

I watched for the FIRST time (!), in German and on DVD, Josef von Sternberg's classic film THE BLUE ANGEL (1930) with stars Emil Jannings and Marlene Dietrich. I brought a lot of baggage with me to this screening, so I was quite surprised to see that the scope of THE BLUE ANGEL is rather modest and straight-forward. Jannings stars as the Professor, a sexually repressed teacher at a boy's school. When he discovers that some of his older students are frequenting the morally questionable nightclub nearby, he ventures forth and finds himself smitten by an uninhibited performer Lola-Lola (Dietrich) who returns his affections. This leads to the slippery path of his moral degradation. The film is rather odd, in that it starts out like GOODBYE MR. CHIPS with light hearted pranks and ends up with a tragic tone--I found it hard to believe that as a man of learning, the Professor could be so totally naive and foolish in many of his actions. Indeed, he continues to decline by saying and doing things (he seems almost demented) that most people would know better of. Also, Dietrich's singing of what would become her signature song, Falling in Love Again, seems preformed so casually and informally that I was underwhelmed. The film is directed in a leisurely fashion, and felt about half a beat too slow. Still, in the week since I saw it I have been haunted by the overall tragedy of his situation.
Grade----B+

A curious "B" movie which is advertised (at least on the poster art) like a horror film, THE GHOST SHIP (1943) is actually a sharp (and low budget) little suspenser about a newly commissioned Lieutenant who comes aboard a cargo ship where the sinister captain appears to be normal to his crew, but his actions are insane to the new hire. (The producer is Val Lewton who created a number of suspense films in the 1940's like LEOPARD MAN and CAT PEOPLE, etc.) The film is very much like the latter THE CAINE MUTINY (1954) with Humphrey Bogart's sanity in question by his crew, and CM is definitely the better film. But THE GHOST SHIP keeps you guessing, and we feel very anxious for the new Lieutenant's safety, and even though the ending wraps up way to fast, its a very entertaining 69 minutes! Grade----B