TOWER HEIST, 3 (THREE), BEING ELMO:PUPPETEER'S JOURNEY...

New this week is TOWER HEIST--a populist type comedy that fits right in with our 99% VS 1% angst during this economic depression era. The simple premise occurs when a rich, arrogant "money-manager" who lives in a high rise mansion is accused of stealing the pension plan of the workers there who's job it is to pamper him and other rich condo owners. With nothing to lose, many of them band together to plan an elaborate robbery of his hidden $20 million in cash that the FBI can't seem to find. The players are all in fine form, especially Eddie Murphy as the one "professional" thief (but don't call him that to his face!) amongst the bunch, and Tea Leoni as the growling FBI agent on the case, and Gabourey Sidibe (from PRECIOUS) who nails her Caribbean accent and the best lines as the maid with a higher skill set than most would imagine. Unfortunately, by the end, the logic and plot holes bring us down to earth in a hurry, but it is a funny, clever, entertaining ride getting there. GRADE--------B

Germany's strongest writer director Tom Tykwer has had a very creative if bumpy career, but I've enjoyed watching his progression which started so brilliantly with WINTER SLEEPERS in 1997, and includes the international hit RUN LOLA RUN (1998), PRINCESS and the WARRIOR (2000), HEAVEN (2002), PERFUME: STORY OF A MURDERER (2006) and THE INTERNATIONAL (2009). Most of his films have a grand, exotic visual style, sometimes complete with camera tricks, special effects and swooping camera angles. His newest film opens today in Seattle, and titled "3"--it's an intriguing, more personal love story, of sorts, between a married couple, and how they manage to each become involved with a worldly scientific man, unbeknownst to each other. The themes of love, bisexuality, infidelity, intellectualism, and death seem to be juggled with almost a light-hearted approach--it keeps this drama as surprising as Tykwer's career has been to date. GRADE-----------B+

The formally titled BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER'S JOURNEY is a documentary chronicling the discovery and rise to power of Kevin Clash who created Elmo for Jim Hensen in the early 1980's when he came to work as a young puppeteer from Baltimore. Elmo quickly became one of the most beloved puppets on the show, and Clash is now a major player for the company. Narrated by Whoppi Goldberg, the film, geared more for adults and mature older children, shows the behind the scenes politics, creative forces and puts a human face on all aspects of the Muppets and Sesame Street. GRADE-------B

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DVD CHOICES for the week included a couple of classics.

I hadn't watched THE HOURS (2002) since it first came out, but I felt like every scene has been seared into my mind the first time---I remembered so much of it watching it the second time. It is a demanding, smart story of three different women from different time periods, whose life's seem to be intertwined. The film starts with the suicide of writer Virginia Woolf played by Oscar winner Nichole Kidman(so you know it's going to be heavy going), then backtracks to show how she got there. The second woman is a 1950's housewife (the luminous Julianne Moore)who seems to be on the verge of a mental breakdown--she can't bake a simple cake for her husband's birthday and seems to terrify her young son with her intense and odd behavior. She is reading Woolf's novel "Mrs. Dalloway." The third woman (Meryl Streep) is from a contemporary time and is throwing a party for a dying friend, much like Mrs. Dalloway in the book, and the film takes place all in one day, but cuts back and forth between the characters as they deal with spouses, friends, relatives, death, sanity and choices. The biggest theme is the relentless and memorable piano score from the great Philip Glass. It was interesting to me this time to realize that each woman kisses with great passion a character that is not their spouse/loved one, as if to find something meaningful in a secondary relationship. In two cases it is another woman, in one case a gay man dying of AIDS. All three kisses seemed inappropriate, yet struck me as quite movingly profound. An intense, memorable experience even 10 years later. GRADE---------A

Based on the novel by Herman Melville, the intelligent and thoughtful film BILLY BUDD (1962) was directed and co-written by Peter Ustinov who also subtly plays a key role in the film which has a theme of good VS evil. Robert Ryan is the evil quarter-master who is hated by all the crew men except the innocent Billy Budd, played by newcomer Terrance Stamp--his first film. An engrossing and fascinating tragedy played out on the high seas. GRADE----------B+

Recently rediscovered and released by Criterion, NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH (1940) shares some similar themes as the earlier (and superior) Alfred Hitchcock thriller THE LADY VANISHES (1939)--but has many pleasures to recommend it. VANISHES writer Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat also wrote MUNICH, and it is set in Europe during World War II, as Hitler is sweeping through. A Czech scientist and his daughter are caught by the Nazi's and are being forced to cooperate with Germany, and a debonair British undercover agent (Rex Harrison) comes after them to try to smuggle them out of Germany. It has the same type of miniature set pieces that don't look very realistic (especially the ski-lodge and the factory) and it features the same two veddy British men for comic relief that feature in VANISHES (the traveling underwear salesmen, but in MUNICH they are naive tourist in Germany). It all mounts to a smooth, clever, funny, exciting story. GRADE-------B

I recently read an unflattering book called BETTE DAVIS: A BIOGRAPHY by Barbara Leaming--not that I blame Leaming for the unpleasantness described. From all reports, Bette was a piece of work, demanding, argumentative, disruptive, willful and manipulative. She was also verbally and physically abused by several husbands, although it sounds like she could dish it right back. Still, I've always admired her work. She comes across as a strong, smart, no nonsense character in many of her films, and DECEPTION (1946) is no exception. She is perhaps slightly miscast as the love object of two handsome powerful men (she was nearly 40 when she played this role and was herself insecure about the part) but the melodrama works well. When she drops her famous composer lover (Claude Rains) to suddenly marry her love from before the war (Paul Henreid, who plays the evil Nazi in the above NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH)--she tries to deceive both to placate her jealous husband and the spurned Rains, who steals all of his scenes, a difficult task when Bette Davis is in her prime. It's an engrossing film noir, with a terrific, iconic townhouse apartment that is itself fascinating, with soaring ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, shadows that cut diagonally, and odd shaped rooms and crannies. If DECEPTION is not one of her best, it is still very fascinating. GRADE-----B

In her last film, Lucille Ball plays the title character MAME (1974) and there are moments when it looks like she may die before the end of the scene. She's looks awfully tired throughout. Bea Arthur has a couple of moments, but seems wasted in an underdeveloped role. There were actually a couple of songs that I recognized and slightly enjoyed--"We Need a Little Christmas" and the title song "Mame" and one other which I've forgotten. Unfortunately this is not an undiscovered gem and it was torturous to watch all 131 minutes. GRADE-------D+