A Kick-Ass Date Night

It's always a pleasure to watch a well written movie, and especially so when that film is a comedy. So it is with great pleasure that I recommend to you the new film starring Tina Fey (from SNL and 30 Rock) and Steve Carell (from 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and The Office) called DATE NIGHT. They make a great and loving comedy movie couple, and the adventure they have on their one big night in Manhattan is very clever and very funny, and the film has a big heart as well as some frightening moments. My only complaint is that the jokes and sight gags keep softening the dangerous edge that the plot keeps building on--sometimes it's hard to have it both ways. Also, I think the PG-13 rating keeps the humor in the "safe" column. Still, very entertaining. GRADE----B+

Just the title alone could keep some people from seeing an outrageous and amusing "super" hero movie--KICK ASS. But that is the perfect title for an energetic, clever, violent story of a high school boy who wonders "How come nobody's ever tried to become a super-hero (in real life) before?" and then he set out to try to become one, complete with a skin-diving suit and mask. He's not too successful at first, but later fame of his vigilante efforts spreads throughout the Internet and he meets up with some other super-hero wanna bees. The main disturbing part of this film is the introduction of an 11 year old girl who along with her father become part of that super hero network. She curses and kills and maims like any hardcore adult superhero would, and it's bothersome to think of the type of childhood she's had, and the kind of adult she'll become--probably very screwed up. Still, she's fun to watch as she bloodily slices and dices her way through a bevy of bad guys. The film is fascinating in building up the urban myths and psychosis that each character will have to deal with. In many ways it is the precursor to the flawed but fascinating human super-hero film from last year WATCHMEN, and it's a better, more rounded film, too. If you like super-hero movies, this semi-satire will be your cup of spiked tea. GRADE----B+

THE SQUARE is a nasty little film-noir from Australia with some kicker plot twists that thrilled audiences last June during the Seattle International Film Festival screenings. It's one of those movies where the main character/s make a bad move (often because of a woman), and things keep getting worse and worse, out of control until the inevitable tragedy/ies--in other words, a typical film-noir. You don't want to think too hard--just sit back and enjoy. GRADE----B

In the DVD picks this week were two interesting films that dealt with illegitimate births in very different ways. Part of a quartet of films from the late fifties/early sixties which included A SUMMER PLACE, PARRISH, and ROME ADVENTURE, and written, directed and starring many of the same film-makers, SUSAN SLADE (1961) seemed typical of them all. Naive Connie Stevens finds herself pregnant after her first affair, and the baby's father dies before he even knew about the baby, yet Ms Stevens finds herself pursued by two other healthy male specimens (only in the movies)! How will she cope/hide her baby/find true love/etc.????
Yes, this is a weepy, women's melodrama, written and directed by a melodrama expert Delmer Davies and the attractive cast includes Troy Donahue, Dorothy Mcguire, Lloyd Nolan, Kent Smith and (!) Bert Convoy. But there is something quite watchable about these types of films--not only is the cast great, but most (including this one) are filmed in lush, wide screen Technicolor
with luscious musical scores. And because the milieu is during that puritanical time, some of the lines and situations border, deliciously, on camp (ie. unintentionally funny). We enjoyed this one.
In a similar vein, Bette Davis plays the down to earth character opposite the bitchy concert pianist played by Mary Astor and they both love George Brent. He was illegally ( and apparently, drunkenly) married to Astor for a week, then moves on to his true love Davis. Then, promptly, when he is suddenly missing and presumed dead in South American, it develops that Astor is going to have his baby (but the word "pregnant" was never uttered) and lets Davis know. There is a twist of wills going on for George's love and love child. Davis convinces Astor to let her secretly adopt the baby as her own, since it would interfere with Astor's concert schedule/lifestyle. There's some nasty and campy rivalry of words between the two women in several scenes, and a very intense (and somewhat campy) final scene. Mary Astor won a supporting actress Oscar for this film, called THE GREAT LIE (1941). Strangely compelling to watch. GRADE for both films----B

Filmed in the Seattle and Tacoma area, TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (1999) is an updated teen age high school comedy version of Shakespeare's TAMING OF THE SHREW and while sometimes it made me wince, there's some good stuff going on, too, especially because it was the first major film for rising star Heath Ledger (THE DARK KNIGHT and BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN), and the film also features fun acting moments by Julia Stiles (O and the BOURNE films), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 DAYS OF SUMMER), and Allison Janney (West Wing on TV.) The film has some youthful energy, charming hi jinks, and (lowbrow) humor. Interesting. GRADE----B-

You'd think a film starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward (and Thelma Ritter) would be pretty classy. Unfortunately, A NEW KIND OF LOVE (1963) falls very flat in spite of the eye candy of the leads and the location, Paris. The characters are all buffoons and played without much subtlety. Woodward is a supposed fashion director but she dresses like a man complete with short hair and baggy shirts, and supposedly "hates" men. Newman is a bon vivant sports reporter who falls for her "make-over" which is supposed to make her look sexier. It does, but she looks more like a prostitute, which is want Newman thinks she is, and proceeds to interview her over time and liken her "sexual adventures" to "plays" on a sports field. ????????? Maurice Chevalier shows up in one scene to sing some songs. Dumb and unbelievable. GRADE----C

Finally, what to make of the classic film THE SERVANT (1963) which has cult status and many British awards in it's wake. Directed by Joseph Losey and featuring a strong cast including Dirk Bogarde, James Fox, and Sarah Miles, this odd, moody drama of a man-servant who "takes" over the life of his milquetoast master seemed to me so obvious and strangely ineffective at times (there were scenes that start up that almost seemed out of sequence, or had no logical reason for being) that I wanted to laugh, except it's all played out in deadly seriousness. I wasn't exactly bored, just bewildered by the psycho-sexual manipulations. Perhaps it needs to be remade with a more explicit subtext. The masochistic and homosexual subtext is so subtle that it's easy to shrug it off--then you're left to wonder what the hell you are watching. GRADE----C-