RIO, RANGO, Dickens and Cousin Bette

It is a slow month for compelling new movies--the weather is turning sunnier (but strangely cold, with lots of hail storms) and the income taxes are finally sent in. I am slowly trying to rest up for the onslaught of film that is the Seattle International Film Festival. Screenings start for me on May 2nd and the festival ends on June 12. During that time I will be seeing at LEAST three films a day, and on some days as many as 6! So I guess you'd say that I was resting up this month. Still, I did manage to see a few films.
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The new animated film by the creators of ICE AGE is a real treat, filled with wild, vivid color, a salsa musical beat, and set in the exotic RIO de Janeiro. The plot has a rare blue macaw--supposedly the last of his kind, sent to RIO to mate with a recently discovered female, and of course, the birds are kidnapped and there is much chasing around trying to reconnect the owners with the love birds, but it is all rather innocent and charming and there are a lot of humorous situations with the talking birds and other animals. And since this is all set during the Carnivale period, there are lots of exotic floats and costume and dance music to enjoy as well. GRADE------------B


Another animated feature that has turned into the year's biggest hit so far is RANGO, which features the amusing voice of Johnny Depp and others. It is the weirdest, most eccentric, existential animation feature I've ever seen a big U.S. studio release (not counting Japanese anime.)
There's lots of naturalistic (cartoon) violence (including an aardvark crushed in two by truck tires spouting on and on about the meaning of life...), hoary western plot devices (like the town rushing to give a stranger-Rango- the top job of sheriff because the last one was killed off quickly), predictable twists of corruption (like "who is stealing the town's water supply"--a la CHINATOWN) and many many movie homages to other (better) films (including an extended sequence featuring a look-alike Clint Eastwood, spouting about the meaning of life, as well as the typical HIGH NOON climax scene,etc). I'm not sure who this movie would appeal to. Surly the horrifying evil snake (with a machine gun for a rattler) would give any child nightmares, as would scenes involving the burning of the face of a fellow bar attendee, the skin scalding that many of the animated lizards and rodents encounter, the arrows through the head, the epileptic freezing of the "love" interest during which time Rango manages to take some liberties....and the general gloominess of the lives of these creatures. Unlike the the exaggerated violence of Elmer Fudd and that crazy rabbit, these scenes are played more for realism, not laughs, although some are so bizarre and surprising that I did laugh a few times. STILL--I was not bored, and it takes some balls to create such a dismal vision of the Old West (although the time is present day desert!--talk about incongruity!) GRADE (for creativity)-----------B-





DVD choices include-----


The BBC Masterpiece Theatre version of Charles Dickens's BLEAK HOUSE (2007) is a solidly acted and engrossing 8 hour experience. If this is ever remade in the US, there is a great part for the demented personality of Gary Busey--indeed, the British actor who plays the part of Smallweed (Phil Davis) looks and acts a lot like Busey. The entire cast is excellent, including Gillian Anderson, Carey Mulligan, Ian Richardson and Charles Dance. My big complaint is that the director (or cinematographer) made the unfortunate decision to start nearly every scene with loud ominous music and a very pretentious jump-cut and zoom--totally distracting and annoying. GRADE-----------B+


ALSO---
In a similar vein, COUSIN BETTE (1998) has Jessica Lange as the single cousin who tries to take revenge on her rich family who have ignored her for years, but things do not always go her way, in this venomous, witty black comedy set in 1840's Paris, and which features a funny and smart cast including Bob Hoskins, Elizabeth Shue, Hugh Laurie, and Kelly MacDonald. Based on the Balzac novel. GRADE-------B


Nearly unremarkable but watchable nonetheless, CASS TIMBERLANE (1947) based on the Sinclair Lewis novel features the reliable Spencer Tracy and the fascinating Lana Turner, yet somehow I didn't really care much about these people. He's a small town judge, and she is the simple girl (!) who longs for more adventurous notoriety in the big town of New York. She tries to find it in the arms of Tracy's best friend (Zachary Scott). GRADE---------C+

Hanna, Lincoln Lawyer, When We Leave, Soul Surfer

The new film from Joe Wright (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, ATONEMENT) is called HANNA, and it is a blast of fresh air for the first hour anyway, until it descends into a standard chase thriller mode. (The last half reminded me of the BOURNE films.) HANNA is played with a great deal of sympathy and energy by the young Saoirse Ronan (ATONEMENT and LOVELY BONES)--she's been trained as an assassin by her father (Eric Bana) from birth to kill (or protect herself from) the agent who is trying to kill her--played with wicked menace by Cate Blanchett. The plot pieces don't all fall easily into place by the end, but the first hour in which the young HANNA is making her way in a strange world she doesn't yet understand, and trying to "pretend" she is normal and making friends is the classic "fish out of water" milieu, with a lot of laughs and tension to move things along. Very entertaining, with exciting (but sometimes a bit over active ) camera work (think RUN LOLA RUN) and effectively modern music by the Chemical Brothers. GRADE------------B+ ----------------- I am no fan of actor Matthew McConaughey (as well as Nicholas Cage and often John Travolta) but I have to say that his new film THE LINCOLN LAWYER fits him like a glove, and for those who care, he does get to take his shirt off. He plays a sleazy defense attorney who seems to have no conscience defending the guilty, the evil, and the scum-bags. When he takes a case of a naughty rich boy accused of murder, you know sooner or later he is going to grow a conscience, since all his friends and associates (including William H. Macy and his ex-wife Marisa Tomei ) seem to think he's wonderful. There are a fair number of twists and turns (although the final twist was hardly persuasive), and overall, it plays like a superior episode of TV's LAW and ORDER. GRADE----------B --------------------WHEN WE LEAVE is a heartbreaking Turkish film of a young married woman who leaves her abusive husband and with her child travels back to Germany to live with her parents, who are shocked that she would embarrass them in that way. The film deals with the efforts of her in-laws and husband to get her back, and when the talk turns to family honor, you know that violent tragedy is just around the corner, but when it happens, it is quite a shock. GRADE--------B ----------------I nearly walked out of SOUL SURFER after the first 20 minutes. The camera works seems to have been done by an 11 year old boy on roller skates and crack, zooming the camera around to nauseating effect, and the film is edited like a Michael Bay hysterical epic, with no shot lasting for more than 3 seconds. Finally, when a shark attack bites off the arm of the 13 year old surfer Bethany Hamilton, things get a little calmer and more interesting. Based on the true story of how Bethany got back to surfing after this tragedy, we have to sit through several church scenes and speeches about family love, believing in God's will, trusting Jesus, etc. that I felt this was more of a sermon than a movie. Add lots of promotion for the work of World Vision, and a cast (including old pros like a gaunt Helen Hunt, a perky Dennis Quaid, and an ex Hercules Kevin Sorbo) stuck with spouting homilies and reading passages from the Bible, and I just lost interest in what could have been a compelling story. But the Hawaiian scenery was pleasant. GRADE-------C- ------------------------------- On the DVD front this week---- The recent DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS (2010) is a remake of a French farce THE DINNER GAME (1998). This new version takes the basic premise of snobbish executives inviting nerdy fools for dinner to insult them, but makes it a lot more silly with pratfalls, sight gags, and crude jokes to fill in for sophistication. Still, the casting is quite good, with each character, including the "schmucks" given a lot of screen time to develop amusing back stories and characterizations, and quickly it becomes apparent who the real fools are. I especially enjoyed the smaller characters--many from Europe--including hilarious turns byJermaine Clement as an egotistical artist who often dresses as a naked Minotaur creature, Zach Galifianakis as the intense IRS "mind-reader" and Lucy Punch as a vindictive stalker ex-girlfriend!!!! Comedy like this often splits the audience, but if you are in the mood there is a lot to enjoy. GRADE-----------B ----------------SHADOW OF THE THIN MAN (1941) is the follow up to last week's original THIN MAN film, and once again I love the chemistry between the leads William Powell and Myrna Loy--they are witty, sarcastic and very funny in their dead pan deliveries, but the murder mystery plot was quite forgettable. GRADE-------B-

Source Code, Paul, Win Win, Sundowners, Left Handed Gun

The new science fiction film SOURCE CODE has a generic (and forgettable) title, and borrows lots of concepts from other films and TV, but it is a lot of fun to watch. Just don't try to analyze the plot after it's over--you really can't. The set up is intriguing---an Army pilot wakes up aboard a commuter train heading into Chicago and seems to die 8 minutes later in an horrific bomb explosion/crash, only to wake up again in a strange metal pod where a cold uniformed woman keeps trying to have him focus on a mission he seems to know nothing about. His mission is to try to find out who the bomber is and where the bomb is, because "officials" fear the bomber will strike again with a dirty bomb, so he is sent back to try again. Much like the tedious VANTAGE POINT(2008) and the exasperating cult romantic comedy GROUNDHOG DAY (1993)--those eight minutes are repeated many times with more points of view and different information coming forth in each segment. I didn't mind the conceit this time, because the cast is quite good and like able--Jake Gyllenhaal is the pilot, Vera Farmiga is the mysterious uniformed woman, and Michelle Monaghan has great chemistry with Jake as the recent girlfriend who is with him aboard the train--an innocent passenger who gets blown up with the others a dozen or so times. By the end, there is a lot of discussion about the "why" and "how"--and it is supposed to be all about parallel realities and quantum physics (and cleverly features the voice of TV's Quantum Leap star Scott Bakula as the father) but the explanations are only a smoke-screen. In spite of the cinematic rush that all the mayhem has delivered, it is still unbelievable and/or illogical in the "science" portion. GRADE------------B ***************** Another science fiction film this week is PAUL, about an extra-terrestial who travels along in a large van with a couple of sci-fi geeks from Great Britain trying to find his way home. The film seems lazily written, and in spite of some clever jokes and funny sight gags, (along with the usual gross and juvenile fart, pee and gay jokes) I wish there had been a lot more. But, it is a gentle spoof of aliens and their followers and does get some creative points for that subject matter. GRADE----------B- ************* I loved writer/director Tom McCarthy's first refreshing film THE STATION AGENT (2003) and his 2nd film THE VISITOR (2008) had a lot of ethno-centric warmth. His newest film is WIN WIN and while it is pleasant and at times heart warming, it feels like a case of diminishing returns. Paul Giamatti stars as a struggling lawyer who makes a poor ethical decision to take care of an old man's estate, then gets involved with the man's grandson, a talented teen wrestler who could make the lawyer's after hours job of high school wrestling coach a whole lot better. It is a quiet, low-key comedy drama that (again) shows that "family" can be created anywhere, between the most unlikely of characters. It just felt a bit obvious to me this time. GRADE---------B- ************ ---------------------- DVD choices this week--- One of my favorite directors-- Arthur Penn died recently. His incredible repertoire of fine films includes one of my all time favorites BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967) as well as LITTLE BIG MAN(1970), MICKEY ONE, THE MIRACLE WORKER, THE CHASE (1966), ALICE'S RESTAURANT(1969), and the underrated NIGHT MOVES (1975) and FOUR FRIENDS(1981). One of his first films impressed me greatly this week, called LEFT HANDED GUN (1958) and featuring the break through performance by Paul Newman. Gore Vidal wrote the economical script based on the life of Billy the Kid, who's portrayed as an innocent cattle hand trying to right the wrongful murder of his boss. Without soft pedaling or sensationalizing, the story is very compelling, and incited me to read up on the real Billy the Kid. GRADE--------A ************* THE SUNDOWNERS (1960) is an excellent Australian western about a family of cattle herders headed by Robert Mitchum and his wife Deborah Kerr, and their friend Peter Ustinov,and it kept me riveted with their struggle to become home owners amid the hard work of sheep herding and shearing. The accents of both were quite convincing, and the director Fred Zinneman keeps things rolling at a jaunty pace. The film was nominated for six Oscars. GRADE-------A ************** THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951)--still classic Robert Wise science fiction drama with the impressive Michael Rennie as the dignified alien sent to warn Earth of pending danger. Bernard Herrmann did the impressive score, as usual. REMEMBER: Klaatu barada nikto! GRADE--------A *********** SCARAMOUCHE (1952)--excellent cast (Stewart Granger, Eleanor Parker, Janet Leigh, Mel Ferrer, etc) features some long and entertaining swashbuckling scenes. GRADE-----B+ *********** COUNTRY GIRL (1954)---She won the Oscar for this, one of her first roles, but Grace Kelly is well matched with William Holden and especially Bing Crosby (who surprised me in this part.) GRADE--------B+ ************ CAPTAIN FROM CASTILLE (1947)--Epic historical drama of early conquest of Mexico with Tyrone Power, Jean Peters, Lee J. Cobb and Cesar Romero all superb....colorful, engrossing, but the ending seemed incomplete, with much of the story left untold. GRADE-------B ********* NEVER ON SUNDAY (1960)--Highlighted by an extravagant performance by Melina Mercouri, this story of an intellectual who tries to bring culture to and earthy prostitute is delightful to watch, and has a very catchy (and popular) theme music. GRADE-----B ********** IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942)--Noel Coward and David Lean co-directed this WWII drama about life of sailors during wartime. Many moving and fascinating scenes, but the story lacks some dramatic punch and resolution---I've seen it twice in the last few years, and still can't recall how it ends. GRADE------B ********* THE THIN MAN (1934)--Myrna Loy and William Powell have chemistry to burn as husband and wife detective team--it's deliciously witty and coy, though the plot is not great. There were four other sequels. GRADE--------B