It's nothing if not ambitious. It may seem familiar but it has a style and feel all it's own. Epic yet personal, thrilling yet subtle, technically awesome at times, yet intimate. These feeling I have for the new science fiction drama INTERSTELLAR by Christopher Nolan. How well you respond may have something to do with your tolerance for space and time travel films in general. It definitely belongs on the big screen, as opposed to TV. Last year's GRAVITY was more singular in approach to the vastness of space and captured the loneliness better, but INTERSTELLAR has those big themes to consider. Matthew McConaughey is a reluctant astronaut sent off to discover a new place for earth's inhabitants to live, because earth is becoming a dust bowl, incapable of growing anything except the hardiest of corn crops. He struggles with loneliness and guilt as his existence is slowed down by hibernation and slowness of aging in travel, compared to the family he left behind on earth, who in contrast are aging many times faster than the astronauts. Will he make it back in time to see the kids he left behind? The film raises a lot of questions (mostly unanswered), and creates an emotional pull--much like the worm hole that the space ship must travel thorough a couple times. (My one complaint--I felt that Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain should have swapped roles, since the young daughter looked more like Hathaway) Like the best of the space travel science fiction films, the enigma leaves a thoughtful aftermath in our minds. GRADE---------B+
If you've seen the preview trailers for BEYOND THE LIGHTS, you might be thinking uh-oh. Here's another drama of a bitchy, aggressive stage mother pushing her daughter into the limelight of fame, causing said daughter to rebel by attempted suicide, only to find love in the arms of the hunky policeman who rescues her from death. THE BODYGUARD (1992) covered this long ago to popular results. Fortunately, the actors here are better, the songs are appropriately effective, and it is refreshing to see a relationship (between all three main characters) that is grounded in reality. And the main reason for this is the strong interplay between the main characters played by a refreshingly underplayed Nate Parker as the ambitious cop who doesn't want the attention, the frustrated mother who is doing what she thinks is best for her daughter--Minnie Driver, and best of all is the young and talented daughter Gugu Mbatha-Raw who has never had to make her own life decisions. ( Gugu starred earlier this year in one of my favorite films, the period drama BELLE, as the mixed race child of an African woman and a white British officer, who both promptly die, leaving BELLE to be raised by an aristocratic uncle and aunt.) I liked BEYOND THE LIGHTS much more than I was expecting. GRADE-------B+
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, based on a book by Stephen Hawking's first wife, Jane Wilde, features actors that are very committed to their roles. Eddie Redmayne reminded me of the incredible transformation made by Daniel Day-Lewis in MY LEFT FOOT (1989) where most of the acting came from/through his appendage. Redmayne is limited to his pinkie finger through much of the film, but the early history of the film is memorably Hawking. Felicity Jones does wonders with her thankless role as a caretaker/wife, bringing much emotional balance to our sympathies. The film is smooth and engrossing, and the supporting cast is spot on. GRADE------B+
Bill Murray is a national acting treasure, in my opinion, and it is a pleasure to say that he easily steals the movie ST. VINCENT from some strong comic actors around him, including Melissa McCarthy and Naomi Watts, and even the young Jaeden Lieberher as the kid who needs Murray as a babysitter. There are some big laughs, but the film veers dangerously close to sentimentality by the end. Still, it is a pleasure to enjoy the sarcastic asides Murray tosses all around. GRADE-----B
The comedy/drama SKELETON TWINS is boosted by the careful characterizations of Bill Hader and
Kristen Wiig (who were featured together on TV's Saturday Night Live comedy for several years) as estranged and suicidal siblings who reconnect after many years. There's a funny, wonderful, unexpected lip-syncing scene, and I was impressed with the seriousness that the actors brought to their situations. GRADE--------B
Destined for cult status and/or midnight screenings, HORNS, based on a story by Stephen King's son Joe Hill, features enough horror and humor to appeal to those who love Twins Peaks and other films by David Lynch and that type. Daniel Radcliffe plays a man who is the prime suspect of his girl friend's murder. He wakes up one morning to find a pair of horns growing from his head, which gives him the power to have everyone he meets spill their innermost thoughts and desires to him. He decides to use this power to find the true murderer. Some of the effects are over the top, and some scenes work better than others, but I got some good laughs from the unusual situations. GRADE------B-
THE MAZE RUNNER plot is rather simple and feels a bit underdeveloped, but this story of a group of teen boys (and eventually one girl) who are dumped in a large several acre piece of land surrounded by giant cement walls has at least one redeeming feature. The walls are really part of giant maze, which opens once a day and allows the boys to run through the maze to try to find a way out, but they must be back before nightfall, otherwise the creepy monster comes out to kill those that don't make it back. The best part is the set design--the walls and maze look very intriguing and menacing, so I wasn't bored, but by the time the finale 15 minutes of talk talk talk explanation comes along featuring the "star" turn by Patricia Clarkson, I felt cheated, and the film is a set up for a sequel. THE MAZE RUNNER features a LOT of running, natch, but little satisfaction. GRADE--------C
First, the good news. The short playing in front of BIG HERO 6 called FEAST, is a charming, incise, wordless cartoon feature of a dog from the streets adopted by a man who spoils him with "human" food, but when a girlfriend enters the picture, the food becomes haute cuisine. When BIG HERO 6 started, I was enchanted with the set up and animation for about 20 minutes, but the science fiction story/plot becomes more bizarre and illogical. It felt that the writers were making up the rules as they went along, and the action becomes chaotic and inconceivable. The true sign was the 5 or 6 kids that occasionally went running back and forth along the bottom of the auditorium, obviously uninterested in what was on the screen. I was bored too. GRADE-----D+
DVD CHOICES----------------------------------
French director Robert Bresson's spare, simple yet detailed black and white film, A MAN ESCAPED (1957) about a prison break from a Nazi prison becomes a slow burn thriller, one of his best. GRADE------B+
Could be compared to a French version of THE BIG CHILL, the newest film by Guillaume (TELL NO ONE 2006) Canet called LITTLE WHITE LIES (2012) is a mix of comedy and drama with popular music on the soundtrack. A group of 40-something friends gather at a beach home while one of their friends lies gravely ill in a hospital after a motorcycle accident. GRADE-----B+
Similar in ways to the above LITTLE WHITE LIES is the Dutch film SIMON (2004) which is told from the point of view of a gay man who is befriended by a gregarious, drug dealing heterosexual and his bohemian friends, and who is dying of cancer. The film mixes comedy and drama, and has an eclectic style that takes some getting use to, but finally becomes endearing. GRADE------B-
Spanish director Guillem Morales thriller JULIA'S EYES (2010) has a woman in peril theme. Julia's twin sister has been murdered, and Julia along w/her husband are trying to find out why. Trouble is, Julia is losing her eye sight due to stress and a life long disease, a malady she shared with her twin. There are several scenes which were borrowed from WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967) with Audrey Hepburn playing a blind woman terrorized by thugs. I felt that I anticipated most of the plot twists, but there is still a lot of tension and some wicked scenes, including one in particular set in a locker room filled with blind, naked women!!! ( One of Morales previous thrillers is a favorite--THE UNINVITED GUEST (2004) where a lonely architect loses his girlfriend and finds himself becoming paranoid in his large home. A stranger comes to the door asking to use the phone, only to disappear with out a trace, and the architect starts to hallucinate that others are in the home with him. There is a fantastic, chilling scene where he becomes the "uninvited" in another home, and the film is fascinating throughout. ) GRADE------B-
A perverse film comedy has 17 year old delinquent Debbie Reynolds spending the holiday weekend with 35 year old writer Dick Powell (although he looks more like 45 in this film) in SUSAN SLEPT HERE (1954). He decides to chastely "marry" her to keep her out of jail, and spends most of the film not to be in the same room with her, while she decides she really loves him and wants to consummate the marriage. A very strange film, indeed, with a high "ick" factor. GRADE-------C+
This Peter Sellers vehicle THE PARTY (1968) has him portraying an east Indian actor who causes havoc everywhere he goes. He is mistakenly invited to a posh Hollywood party and proceeds to nearly bring down the house. Some of the sight gags are clever and funny, others not so successful, but the film is easy enough to watch for those not too picky about their comedies. This is one of Blake Edwards directorial efforts--he also made the PINK PANTHER films, SOB, "10" VICTOR/VICTORIA, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S and others. GRADE-----C
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