A GOOD WEEK: Animal Kingdom, Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Despicable Me

A growing sense of menace and dread keeps the new Australian crime thriller ANIMAL KINGDOM fascinating. A teen age boy's mother has committed suicide as the film begins, and he has no one to turn to except his estranged grandmother, who has several sons involved in various criminal activities. His uncles naturally start to involve him in their activities, until the death of two police men puts an intense focus on the shrinking crime family. (The police seem to have no qualms blowing off the occasional family member, probably due to their frustration at not being able to pin anything definite on them.) The police begin to close in on the young, newest member of the family, hoping his naivety will give them info they can use against the uncles. There is a lot of tension as the teen realizes that he doesn't have a friend in his family or with the police and the grandmother turns out to be full of horrifying contradictions. It's a very well made film with an especially chilling ending.
GRADE-----B+

Micheal Cera has the perfect role as a young 20 something wanna be rock musician who gets mixed up with a wild girl with seven evil ex-boyfriends in the comedy/fantasy film SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD. The film moves fast, has a lot of rock music, much witty dialogue, clever editing and special effects and a lot of sight gags, most of which work very well. To win over the girl, he must defeat her seven evil ex boyfriends. My only complaint to what is an original and clever film, is that it seems like about 3 boyfriends too many--and the confrontation/fight scenes seemed a bit too repetitious by the end. Still, any film that includes hilarious scenes of three gay men and one straight man sharing a bed, and mixes violent video games with "real" time fighting for great slapstick gags, deserves a lot of credit. GRADE----B+

Finally caught up with DESPICABLE ME in a totally unnecessary 3-D format, and despite the extra $4 paid for the 3-D glasses, I found the film to be quite delightful and witty, and like the best animation, the film has a lot of heart amid the mayhem. Steve Carell voices Gru, a self proclaimed evil mastermind who wants of shrink and steal the moon, and adopts three orphan girls to help him in his plan. Of course he hates children, but that changes everything. There are a lot of complicated sight gags that work very well. GRADE-----B+

From the John Wayne TCM collection, watched REAP THE WILD WIND (1942) directed by Cecil B. DeMille and featuring Ray Milland, Raymond Massey, Paulette Goddard, Robert Preston, Susan Hayward and Charles Bickford. Wayne and Milland fight for the affections of Southern Belle Goddard in this period piece set in 1840's and involving pirate ships affecting seafaring trade. It is enjoyable hokum with a strong plot and interesting characters, and the underwater scenes won a special effects Oscar--quite advanced for their time.
GRADE-----B

Saw two Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton films this week, and both had their strengths and weaknesses. First up was THE SANDPIPER (1965) with Taylor as a free-spirited painter (who paints in high fashion pant suits and sweaters, then throws her brushes aside across the table when a guest enters her home--shouldn't she store them in water or oil????) who falls in love with the president of a private religious school (Burton) who is married to Eva Marie Saint....You get the picture, but the affair is carefully introduced without much flamboyance, and the music is lovely if overdone--The Shadow of Your Smile won the Oscar for best song that year. Charles Bronson and Robert Webber have small but important roles when both were very young, and the film is filmed and set on the California Big Sur coast, which is beautifully filmed. I must admit I really got into this soapy drama--it's easy to see why Taylor and Burton created so much publicity--they both have charisma to burn. The second film was THE COMEDIANS from 1967 with an excellent cast including Alec Guiness, Peter Ustinov, Paul Ford, Lillian Gish, James Earl Jones (recognized his voice before his young face), Roscoe Lee Brown and Cicely Tyson. The film is set in Haiti during the reign of cruel dictator Duvalier, and there's a feeling of dread that covers the film. In fact, in retrospect, this feels very real and sad--even the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti seemed telegraphed as the only way this country can be jolted out of corruption into the mainstream of world wide awareness. Burton and Taylor are OK as adulterous lovers amid the political corruption, and Alec Guiness has great moments as a slightly daffy retired World War II commander in over his head, and the rest of the cast has their moments, but the Graham Greene novel this is based on seems uninspired compared to other filmizations of his work (OUR MAN IN HAVANA, THE THIRD MAN, etc). Still, if you are patient, this film is admirable, curious and watchable. GRADE for THE SANDPIPER------B-and GRADE for THE COMEDIANS------B-