Penny Thoughts: Dec. 3-9

Looking For Eric (2010) **½

Director: Ken Loach

Writer: Paul Laverty

Starring: Steve Evets, Eric Cantona, Stephanie Bishop, Gerard Kearns, Stefan Gumbs, John Henshaw, Justin Moorhouse

I’m a little hesitant to give “Looking For Eric” a negative rating because when we make movies in America that involve a famous sports icon in a fantasy plot it usually ends up something like “Space Jam”. “Looking for Eric” is an infinitely better movie and kinder to it’s sports figure, but it still doesn’t quite work. Director Ken Loach is perhaps the best filmmaker out there depicting the workingman’s struggles in Britain today, but this mix of comedy and seriousness doesn’t quite meld.

Like “Leaves of Grass”, another film I watched recently, the movie starts with a fairly lighthearted premise, in this case a Postman faced with having to confront his first wife on a daily basis begins to see visions and have conversations with his sports idol, former Manchester United star Eric Cantona. Like “Grass”, it fills in its family subplots with a criminal element and soon the subplot takes over and the whole thing becomes too serious for the audience to laugh anymore. This slice of life take on a comedy/fantasy set up is interesting, but it seems filmmakers need to smooth out some of the wrinkles before the concept can really fly.

 The Keep (1983) **½

Director: Michael Mann

Writers: Michael Mann, F. Paul Wilson (novel)

Starring: Scott Glenn, Alberta Watson, Jürgen Prochnow, Robert Prosky, Gabriel Byrne, Ian McKellen

The WWII-based horror flick “The Keep” was, until this week, the only film I hadn’t seen by master of mood director Michael Mann. As a horror aficionado, I don’t know how I went this long without seeing the sophomore effort by one of my favorite directors, but… well, now I have. Close that chapter.

That makes the movie sound worse than it is. Probably its biggest problem is that it has dated over the years. It’s a movie that depends pretty heavily on special effects and could probably use a George Lucas touch up by this point. It’s story about a Nazi unit assigned to a strange Hungarian keep that unleashes a Golem from it depths is certainly an original one. It also boasts a wonderful cast that at that point was probably fairly unknown to American audiences. Mann’s visuals confirm why he continued to thrive in Hollywood as an important filmmaker, but he’s not a horror director. Of course, Mann’s best films have centered on crime of some sort, and it’s hard to imagine him choosing to dabble in fantasy. With sole screenplay credit, I’m guessing this was a bit of a passion project for him. I think he benefitted from going in a different direction with his career.

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977, special edition 1997) ****

Director/Writer: George Lucas

Starring: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, James Earl Jones

It wasn’t exactly a family tradition, but there were a few years in there where my brother, Dan, would insist on watching the entire “Star Wars” trilogy (the original) sometime when he was home for the holidays after he had left home for college. Like I said, it was no official family tradition or anything, but we did it a couple of times. I decided to try it with my boys this year, mostly because my youngest has been begging me for about six months to watch them.

You know, I’ve see this movie so many times at this point, I’m not really sure what I could hope to achieve by seeing it again. That won’t stop me from watching it. It’s just an observation. At one point, I spoke one of Obi-wan Kenobi’s lines in exact unison and inflection along with Alec Guinness. The boys laughed at how accurate I was, but I had to promise them I wouldn’t do that for the entire movie, even though I could’ve.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980, special edition 1997) ****

Director: Irvin Kershner

Writers: Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas

Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Frank Oz, James Earl Jones, Alec Guinness, Kenneth Colley

Arguably the best movie out of the entire “Star Wars” franchise, “The Empire Strikes Back” helps to prove the rule that the second film in a successful franchise of more than two movies is often the best. The reason for this is simply that since you’ve already established the mythological story lines and a third film allows the heroes to have one more crack at it, the good guys can actually lose in the second episode. Exploring loss is a much more thematically satisfying task than the typical happy ending scenario. The rebels really get their butts kicked in this one.

Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983, special edition 1997) ****

Director: Richard Marquand

Writers: Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas

Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Sebastian Shaw, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Ian McDiarmid, Frank Oz, James Earl Jones, Alec Guinness, Kenneth Colley, Warwick Davis

“You rebel scum!”

Killer’s Kiss (1955) ***

Director/Writer: Stanley Kubrick

Starring: Jamie Smith, Irene Kane, Frank Silvera

Another early career Kubrick, “Killer’s Kiss” exemplifies the skill of this director working outside the Hollywood system on a micro budget with a self-produced film. It’s easy to see why his work caught the eye of the likes of Kirk Douglas just when he was beginning to become a major Hollywood player. Kubrick does some amazing things with his camera here, exploring complex themes within a fairly standard Hollywood set up about a boxer who falls in with the wrong crowd over a woman. In this short running story, Kubrick takes the time to focus his camera on setting and mood as much as he does on story and dialogue, filling a simple story with depth of emotion and themes. It’s quite an impressive little film for its meager scope.

September (1987) ***

Director/Writer: Woody Allen

Starring: Denholm Elliott, Mia Farrow, Elaine Stritch, Jack Warden, Sam Waterston, Dianne Wiest

Watching this Woody Allen drama, much of my drama school studies came back to me with its classic five-act structure and Chekhovian themes of romantic narcissism. As is usual with Allen’s dramas, the performances by the small ensemble cast are superb. Although, I had a hard time not thinking about Elaine Stritch as Jack Donaghy’s mother on the current television series “30 Rock”, merely because she’s so good at being a nasty mom. I liked that she had more dimensions to her here, though.

I never liked Chekhov in college, although I was in a student production of “The Cherry Orchard”. As a pure romantic at that time, I didn’t understand why his characters spent so much effort getting in their own way, or the way they seemed to enjoy pining for another more so than actually being with each other. As an adult, while I still prefer my more classic romance with my wife, I understand better how adults can be so obsessed with what they don’t have, as opposed to enjoying what they do have. I think I might try and read a little Chekhov now.

Centurion (2010) **½

Director/Writer: Neil Marshall

Starring: Michael Fassbender, David Morrissey, Olga Kurylenko, Dominic West, J.J. Field, Noel Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Dimitri Leonidas, Riz Ahmed, Imogen Poots, Ulrich Thomsen

Watching Neil Marshall’s fourth feature-length film “Centurion”, I can still see the brilliance he displayed with his magnificently scary horror flick “The Descent”, yet I can’t help but think this story about Roman soldiers being hunted down behind enemy lines in what is now northern Britain by the tribal Picts is really just another version of “Predator”. While it’s competently made, it doesn’t seem to have the same insight into the primal nature of man as the “Predator” films because it wants us to view it as a document of fictionalized history or some such thing. It would rather be seen in the same company as “Gladiator” and “Braveheart”, when really it’s just a bunch of guys running through the woods trying to escape the savages that are trying to kill them. Again the direction is stylish and exciting, but the substance just isn’t there. Interesting tidbit, there was a rumor floating around for a while that Neil Marshall was supposed to direct “Predators”.

Paths of Glory (1957) ****

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Writers: Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham, Jim Thompson, Humphrey Cobb (novel)

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, George Macready, Adolphe Menjou Wayne Morris, Richard Anderson, Timothy Carey, Joe Turkel

“Paths of Glory” is the movie that made Kubrick’s career. The directing relationship he established with Kirk Douglas during the filming of this movie inspired Douglas to suggest Kubrick as director for the big budget Hollywood epic “Spartacus”. Like all of Kubrick’s films, other than “Spartacus”, it’s a very personal movie. And, it’s shocking to me upon seeing this film, that the Hollywood establishment was willing to embrace him, even at the behest of Douglas.

“Paths of Glory” is a stunning indictment against the mentality of war and human nature as a whole. It doesn’t have anything good to say about war or man, which was unusual for a war film in the 50s. I think the key scene comes at the very end of the film. It depicts a group of soldiers in a bar whooting and hollering at a woman who has been put on display for their entertainment. The proprietor claims she has a wonderful singing voice and forces her to sing through her tears. Eventually the men stop their harassing cat calls, but Kubrick makes his point about the nasty nature of man by how long the men continue to yell at her knowing she’s trying to sing for them. As soldiers, she eventually reminds them that they miss the good life; but as men, they are all too willing to be cruel to her.

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) ***

Director: Phillip Noyce

Writers: Christine Olsen, Doric Pilkington (book)

Starring: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, Kenneth Branagh, David Gulpili, Jason Clarke

After watching the pettiness that man will stoop to in “Paths of Glory”, I watched another example of the atrocities man is willing to inflict upon his fellow man in the true-life story of “Rabbit-Proof Fence”. Phillip Noyce’s beautifully photographed telling of the story of three girls taken from their mothers by the government of Australia because they were half-castes (Aboriginal with white fathers) marks another shameful chapter in human history. The government of Australian took the Aboriginal natives of the country into their own custody, like cattle property. Officials decided that the half-castes were a threat to the state, possibly corrupting the white population with their genetic inferiority. Kenneth Branagh plays his typical officious slimeball who theorizes that the black could actually be bred out of the natives over time.

Meanwhile, the three girls just want to go home. They escape the servant school to which they’ve been shipped and trek across most of the breadth of the country, using the country long rabbit-proof fence as a guide. The film doesn’t break much new narrative ground. However, Noyce films it in a manner unlike any of his sleeker Hollywood action outings. It’s visual style looks more like a movie made in the 70s. Peter Gabriel’s Aboriginal-music stylized score also adds greatly to the mood and effect of the film.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) **

Director: David Slade

Writers: Melissa Rosenberg, Stephenie Meyer (novel)

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Xavier Samuel, Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dakota Fanning

It’s not that I “don’t get it.” Oh, believe me, I understand the whole teen angst thing. I understand the fascination with vampires and werewolves and all things goth at that age. I understand the romantic obsession and drama of teenage life. And compared to the rest of the “Twilight Saga” so far, “Eclipse” does a better job of capturing all that than the previous two.

Here’s something else I get that legions of “Twilight” fans don’t, the classic monsters of vampires and werewolves are not about such things. Vampires are creatures of sex and lust that try to hide among the normal morally conscious people of the world, infecting them with their poisonous outlook and cunning charm. Werewolves are about a loss of self-definition and a giving into our primal nature as beasts at the top of the animal food chain. These notions are never even mentioned in the “Twilight” films. And, they are so much more compelling than the flip-flopping of a teenage heart. Here everything is fueled by petty passions, nothing deep, nothing real. It’s all part of this fantasy romance mindset that is better handled in fairy tales than amongst the scariest monsters buried inside man’s own subconscious. Leave the classic monsters to the adults. Adults are more interesting. Just look at Bella’s parents.

Penny Thoughts: Nov. 26-Dec. 2

A Christmas Story (1983) ****

Director: Bob Clark

Writers: Jean Shepherd (also novel), Leigh Brown, Bob Clark

Starring: Peter Billingsly, Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Ian Petrella, Scott Schwartz, R.D. Robb, Tedde Moore, Yano Anaya, Zack Ward

We watch “A Christmas Story” just about every holiday season, not an uncommon tradition. What is uncommon is how this movie grows with each and every viewing. Certainly everyone sees so much of his or her own Christmas childhood and school day memories depicted here, but it’s the nuclear family content that really gets me.

First of all, Ralphie and Randy are so alike my boys Jack and Jude it’s absolutely frightening. But lately, it is the mother and father relationship that has been warming my heart so much in this film. Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin portray the ultimate couple in this film. The way they conflict with each other, the way the ignore certain things the other does, the way they just seem to bond and cohere without effort despite their differences. It’s the perfect marriage. And, they are wonderful parents, a team that all parents should strive to be.

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) **

Director: George Stevens, David Lean (uncredited), Jean Negulesco (uncredited)

Writers: James Lee Barrett, George Stevens, Henry Denker (source writings), Fulton Oursler (book), Carl Sandburg (uncredited)

Starring: Max Von Sydow, Michael Anderson Jr., Victor Buono, Joanna Dunham, José Ferrer, Van Helfin, Charlton Heston, Martin Landau, Angela Lansbury, David McCallum, Roddy McDowall, Dorothy McGuire, Sal Mineo, Donald Pleasence, Sidney Poitier, Claude Raines, Gary Raymond, Telly Savalas, Burt Brinkerhoff, Robert Blake, John Considine, Jamie Farr, Tom Reese, Michael Tolan

With a cast of hundreds of Hollywood stars (many more than mentioned in my credits including the likes of John Wayne, Shelley Winters, and Pat Boone in walk on roles), it may be “The Greatest Story Ever Told”; but unfortunately, it’s not told greatly. Frankly, it’s a bit dull. At three hours and fifteen minutes, dull is deadly. It seems the screenwriters (another cast of hundreds) put a lot of effort to get all the famous red type lines from the Bible in there, and there are some great teachings to be found here, with visualized lessons that help send them home. But the cinema is not just a classroom.

The laconic pace set by Von Sydow’s first Hollywood role as Jesus, as it was insisted by those around him he stay in character most of the time, has an unfortunate effect on the entire production. Sydow’s performance is wonderful, but the reverence of his character should’ve been counter balanced more by the scenes not featuring Jesus. It seems, however, everyone was directed to perform with the same reverence for the word of God. With everyone as understanding as Jesus, it’s hard to see just what He was here to teach man. Everyone is so willing to learn in this take. Still, this movie gave us the greatness of Sweden’s Sydow, and Telly Savalas’s bald head. Savalas shaved his head to play Pontius Pilate and kept it that way for the remainder of his career.

Airplane! (1980) ****

Directors/Writers: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker

Starring: Robert Hayes, Julie Haggerty, Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Stephen Stucker, Lorna Patterson, Otto

We lost a great film comedian this week with the passing of Leslie Nielsen. He was a dramatic actor until his casting in this comedy classic. His deadpan style as Dr. Rumack redefined his career into that of a funny man, while the movie itself ushered in a new era of comedy for Hollywood.

With very little comedy being produced at the end of the 70s, the resounding success of this spoof of 70s disaster flicks helped to make the 80s a decade populated with comedies. It also invigorated the spoof genre, with Abrahams and the Zucker brothers proving that your name didn’t have to be Woody Allen or Mel Brooks to pull one off. Soon the spoof movie became a foregone conclusion to any overdone Hollywood trend, a tradition that continues to this day in movies like the new to DVD “Vampires Suck”.

Rarely has the movie spoof been done so well as it is with “Airplane!”. It’s jokes in repetition, oversimplification of understanding, use of bygone stars in cameo roles (Ethel Merman), lampooning of Hollywood standards, and flat out over exaggeration of stereotypes became staples of the genre. But, it’s all the little details in the comedy of “Airplane!” that allows it to become the standard bearer of the spoof genre. The background airport announcement arguments, the smoking plane ticket, the way the filmmakers never forget about the guy in the taxi whose fare is building even though his driver has completely forgotten about him, these are the elements that keep you laughing from opening to closing credits.

You Don’t Know Jack (2010) ***½

Director: Barry Levinson

Writer: Adam Mazer

Starring: Al Pacino, Brenda Vaccano, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Danny Huston, James Urbaniak

I remember the witnessing the retirement career of Dr. Jack Kevorkian from the distance at which the media put us. I very distinctly remember that I did not oppose his philosophy. I didn’t oppose the idea of legalized euthanasia. At that time, and even today, it makes sense to me. Yet somehow, as Kevorkian battled the legal system that prevented such sensible measures, the press still succeeded in vilifying the man in my mind. I realize that not much about the man himself was ever reported, and very little about what he was really trying to do was reported either. What dominated the headlines of the time were the views of those who opposed him, and even more so their personal views of Kevorkian himself, elements that are really beside the issue of euthanasia.

HBO’s feature movie, starring Al Pacino as Kevorkian, cuts through the media play of the time to get at the man himself and the belief he had in a better way to care for the “terminally ill”, for lack of a better term.  The movie doesn’t glorify Kevorkian as some sort of misunderstood man of good. Pacino was chosen to portray a flawed individual, whose 8-year incarceration for murder was his own fault and deserved considering his own lack of understanding of justice in the American legal system. But, it also equally portrays the reason behind his medical philosophy and points out just why, even without the help of the press in presenting a fair image of the man, so many people understood what he was trying to change and that he was right about that. He may have been dubbed “Dr. Death” by the media, but I think most of us realize he is really Dr. Mercy.

Please Give (2010) ***

Director/Writer: Nicole Holofcner

Starring: Catherine Keener, Rebecca Hall, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Sarah Steele, Ann Morgan Guilbert, Lois Smith, Thomas Ian Nicholas

Nicole Holofcner’s latest study in female behavior “Please Give” gives actress Catherine Keener yet another chance to show us a side not often explored in film. This is a movie is about compassion. Keener’s character suffers from an overabundance of it, which is a nice change for Keener, who all too often plays the bitch of the bunch. As a parent she tries to be even handed with it. As a neighbor, the old woman whose apartment Keener and her husband have purchased from her in advance of her death shows an unerring lack of compassion. The neighbor’s two granddaughters that care for her are split in their compassion. Rebecca Hall is the good daughter; Amanda Peet is the one who’s inherited the grandmother’s negative outlook. But, it is with those less fortunate that Keener’s character has trouble finding balance. She gives homeless people on the street money every time she passes them. She offers her dinner leftovers to a man she mistakes as homeless but is actually just waiting for a table at a restaurant. She volunteers at a home for people in need of special care, but her pity for them makes them depressed.

“Please Give” is not the best of Holofcner’s films, nor is it her worst. “Lovely & Amazing” is perhaps her best, but this one is very good. She explores subjects that just aren’t commonly seen in popular entertainment. She makes interesting, compelling, and entertaining stories about the women in her films. That makes her work a rare commodity in Hollywood, something worth searching out.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 / *** (PG-13)

Harry Potter: Daniel Radcliffe

Hermione Granger: Emma Watson

Ron Weasley: Rupert Grint

Lord Voldemort: Ralph Fiennes

Bellatrix Lestrange: Helena Bonham Carter

Voice of Dobby: Toby Jones

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a film directed by David Yates. Written by Steve Kloves. Based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Running time: 146 min. Rated PG-13 (for intense action violence, frightening images, and brief sensuality).

I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking about “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1” since seeing it. This introspection is not a surprise considering the direction the film takes. For the first time in this seven-film franchise, it seems its main trio of characters actually stop long enough to contemplate the full gravity of what is happening to them and around them. This is not what I expected from the penultimate episode of one of the most exciting franchises to find its way to the silver screen.

“The Deathly Hallows” is a dark, slow and brooding film. I don’t mean that as a criticism against it, however. For the first time since the first two movies in the series the filmmakers take the time necessary to establish the scope and seriousness of what the three main characters have gotten themselves into. Since they’re all grown up this time, the magnitude is more profoundly felt.

In many ways, this movie is more focused and intimate than any other Potter film. Although there are appearances by almost all of the adult cast members that have populated the franchise throughout its run, the supporting roles are much more abbreviated this time out. We get to spend a lot more time with just the three primary heroes, Harry, Hermione, and Ron. This is a pleasure, since we’ve watched these actors mature on screen from roughly the same ages as their characters. Only now do we really get to see them sink their teeth into these roles. Rupert Grint (“Driving Lessons”) gets a bit shortchanged here, as the plot is always abusing poor Ron.

At the opening of the film, the death of Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon, “The Book of Eli”) from the previous film has all the heroes on edge. There doesn’t seem to be much holding the powers of darkness at bay anymore and soon even the Ministry of Magic is taken over by Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes, “Clash of the Titans”). It doesn’t take long for Voldemort and his Death Eaters to find Harry and do some major damage to the ranks of good guys. Out of fear that more people will perish in Voldemort’s search to destroy Harry, the trio of heroes sets off to find the horcrux pieces they need to destroy Voldemort. Their adventure is bleak and nearly fruitless.

The photography by first time Potter cinematographer Eduardo Serra (“Blood Diamond”) sets the tone of the film in cold blues and overcast winter wilderness landscapes. The feeling of despair and helplessness is as inescapable for the audience as it is for the characters. Third time Potter director David Yates (“State of Play” BBC mini-series) slows the pace down to a crawl. I realized after it was over that rarely has so little occurred during a nearly three-hour film. Yet, I think this was Yates’s point. It isn’t just that the dark forces have risen to power that threatens our heroes, but the fact that nothing they try to do is successful. It’s like one of those weeks we’ve all experienced where we feel we’ve spent the whole week spinning our wheels and accomplishing nothing. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this feeling captured so well cinematically before, certainly not in a popular action/adventure series.

I imagine that many fans of the film franchise will be disappointed in this depressing entry into the series. It is, however, quite a treat to finally get into the heads of the characters. Harry and Hermione, especially, get some well-deserved screen time and emotional structuring here. At several points throughout the series Dumbledore has said to Harry that it’s unfair that so much responsibility be placed on the young man. The first part of “The Deathly Hallows” shows us exactly what Dumbledore meant with his empathetic words. I never had any doubt before that everything would turn out all right for Harry in the end. Now, I’m not so sure. Here’s hoping that somehow, the good guys can win again.

Penny Thoughts: Nov. 19-25

Shadows (1959) ***½

Director/Writer: John Casavetes

Starring: Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldino, Hugh Hurd, Anthony Ray, Dennis Sallas, Tom Allen, David Pikitolow, Rupert Crosse, Davey Jones

John Casavetes’s directorial debut “Shadows” is obviously a movie that was way ahead of its time. Embracing the ideals of the French New Wave, Casavetes made an improvised movie about young adults in New York that doesn’t really tell any particular story so much as just looks at the lifestyles of these beatniks. It also tackles some pretty strong racial issues ahead of the civil rights movement. Casavete’s work and this movie in particular seems to have had a great influence on the work of directing giant Martin Scorsese, whose own directorial debut “Who’s That Knocking at My Door” is made with the same spirit and even a very similar opening scene.

Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) **

Director: Barry Levinson

Writers: Chris Columbus, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (characters)

Starring: Nicholas Rowe, Alan Cox, Sophie Ward, Anthony Higgins, Susan Fleetwood, Freddie Jones

“Young Sherlock Holmes” was one of those many mid 80s movies that jumped on the bandwagon of depicting child adventurers, ala “The Goonies”. In this case, the child adventurers are the boarding school aged Sherlock Holmes and James Watson. This original story does a good job of capturing the same logical approach to slightly supernatural material that marked most of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s own writings about his famous detective. Unfortunately, the film is poorly paced. It never seems to find its stride as it runs on idle for far too long.

Barry Levinson, under the production guidance of Steven Spielberg, does not have the knack for compelling adventure like Spielberg. The young actors are obviously gifted, but they never really let themselves go in their characters. This drains much of the energy of the film. There are some good features, including some impressive special effects provided by the then unknown animation division of Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar. But beyond its technical achievements, there’s little of significance to be culled from this pack runner.

GlodenEye (1995) ***

Director: Martin Campbell

Writers: Jeffery Caine, Bruce Feirstein, Michael France, Ian Fleming (characters)

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Joe Don Baker, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Gottfried John, Alan Cumming, Tchéky Karyo, Desmond Llewelyn, Samantha Bond

The first mission for Pierce Brosnan as 007 (and for director Martin Campbell) is more impressive than I remembered, yet still not nearly as impressive as Campbell’s “Casino Royale”. I was shocked to realize how far into the movie you get before they give you any sort of exposition at all. The don’t even really tell you just who this James Bond guy is and they certainly don’t queue you in as to what’s going on. The film reaches the 36 minute mark before the audience is even told just what this guy is who shoots guns, explodes weapons compounds, races hot women in fast cars, plays baccarat, and runs onto naval vessels without so much as an identification. Certainly anyone familiar with the Bond character doesn’t question what is going on, but really, beyond Bond’s previous exploits there are no solid clues given as to just what is going on in this movie for a good 40 minutes. I liked that.

From Paris With Love (2010) *

Director: Pierre Morel

Writers: Adi Hasak, Luc Besson

Starring: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, John Travolta, Kasi Smutniak, Richard Durden

John Travolta sure is one crazy bald badasssss. Wow! What an absurdly stupid movie!

Crazed Fruit (1956) ****

Director: Kô Nakahira

Writer: Shintarô Ishihara

Starring: Masahiko Tsugawa, Yûjirô Ishihara, Mie Kitahara, Masumi Okada

“Crazed Fruit” is an overlooked gem that examines the disenfranchised youth of post-WWII Japan. There is some wonderful social commentary contained within this surprising thriller that tests the bounds of loyalty and betrayal in a love triangle involving two brothers. The disillusioned youth culture portrayed in the film can apply to many generations of youth that feel they know everything and nobody understands them. I suspect many of the characters here grew up a little in the years following this story to become the captains of industry that would lead Japan to the top of the technological industry that would mark the country’s electronic dominance in the 80s. Of course, a couple of them don’t.

The Karate Kid (2010) ***

Director: Harald Zwart

Writers: Christopher Murphey, Robert Mark Kamen (1984 screenplay)

Starring: Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson, Wenwen Han, Zhenwei Wang

I watched the new version of “The Karate Kid” with my boys. I was just a boy when I saw the original. It’s a long movie with a lot more drama than action. I didn’t know how it would go over, especially with the youngest whose first question about any movie is, “Is there fighting in it?” If not, he’s generally not interested. The oldest will watch pretty much anything, but with all of Netflix streaming at the flick of his Wii remote, it can sometimes be difficult to convince him to watch something that isn’t animated.

To my joy, they were enthralled. I was too, for the most part. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a remake that seemed more natural than this one. It’s fairly true to the original, it just spans it’s scope a little further by displacing the single mother and her child from Detroit to China instead of New Jersey to California. This switch is fitting, as the world has grown more global in the past twenty years. Jackie Chan is a good choice for the mentor to the boy; and the truth is, it doesn’t really matter that it should be titled “The Kung Fu Kid”. The message is the same.

Merry Madagascar (2009) ***

Director: David Soren

Writers: Tom McGrath, Eric Darnell, David Soren

Starring: Ben Stiller, Crhis Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Carl Reiner, Danny Jacobs, Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Willow Smith, Nina Dobrev, Jim Cummings

So, we’ve eaten the turkey, and now, it’s time to start with the Holiday movies. Thanks to NBC, we got things rolling with a couple of animated specials. Like the new Halloween trend of turning popular feature film franchises into holiday specials, this has worked well for the Christmas season. This Madagascar special first aired last year, and despite the fact that my children have this on DVD, we couldn’t let it air on TV without watching it. It was cute last year. It’s cute this year. That’s really about all there is to say about it. Those penguins are still funny.

Kung Fu Panda Holiday (2010) ***

Director: Tim Johnson

Starring: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie

The first new entry to this year’s batch of holiday specials comes from the “Kung Fu Panda” franchise, which makes its second theatrical entry next summer. This ‘holiday special,’ which is not just a term of political correctness since the ancient Chinese setting really negates any sort of Christmas connection, does a good job of reminding audiences how charming the characters of the panda Po and his inexplicably duck father are. It’s a little surprising to see that big guns Dustin Huffman and Angelina Jolie returned their voices to the fairly small roles of their characters here. I was unable to obtain a full credits list, so I’m not sure how many original cast members returned; but they all sounded the same.

Penny Thoughts: Nov. 12-18

Alice in Wonderland (2010) ***

Director: Tim Burton

Writers: Linda Wooverton, Lewis Carroll (books)

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Barbara Windsor, Paul Whitehouse, Timothy Spall

A second viewing only confirms my original thoughts on Tim Burton’s vibrant adaptation/sequel of the classic Disney cartoon chronicling the Lewis Carol stories from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass”. The opening sequence in which Alice, at age 19, is asked for her hand in marriage seem much richer than the first time through because of my knowledge of the adventure on which she was about to embark. Wonderland, or Underland as it is called in this movie, is just as magical in two dimensions as it is in three. And the climactic battle, which inexplicably turns this metaphor of our transition from childhood into adulthood into an action flick for a few minutes, is still the weak point in the film.

Read my original review here.

The Swarm (1978) *

Director: Irwin Allen

Writers: Sterling Silliphant, Arthur Herzog Jr. (novel)

Starring: Michael Caine, Katherine Ross, Richard Widmark, Bradford Dillman, Richard Chamberlin, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, Jose Ferrer, Patty Duke Astin, Slim Pickens, Fred MacMurray, Henry Fonda

There’s this great video going around the web right now with British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon doing impersonations of Michael Caine. This inspired me to put as many of Caine’s movies in my instant queue at Netflix as they had available. There were surprisingly little available considering just how many movies Caine has done during his long and fruitful career.

Caine’s done his share of duds, and this Irwin Allen disaster flick is one of them.  The disaster flick was all the rage throughout the 70s, but as the decade came to an end, they seemed to be running out of disaster ideas, resulting in this bloated bomb about a swarm of killer bees that attack a Texas town. I don’t know how they got all the great actors they have here to agree to be in a movie this bad. There are complete storylines abandoned halfway through the movie and for all the great actors involved, the performances, Caine included, are terrible.

Leaves of Grass (2010) **½

Director/Writer: Tim Blake Nelson

Starring: Edward Norton, Tim Blake Nelson, Susand Sarandon, Keri Russell, Melanie Lynskey, Josh Pais, Richard Dreyfuss

During my year-end wrap up last year, I said of “Adventureland”, that the filmmakers realized that a stoner movie needed to be laid back, intelligent, and funny. Well, Tim Blake Nelson’s “Leaves of Grass” is too intelligent for it’s own good, and too serious to allow the funny parts to breathe. It’s smart enough to understand that the criminal side of marijuana production can be dangerous, but not smart enough to realize that exploring that is more disturbing than entertaining.

I love how philosophical, and even theological, this movie is about our human nature, but the violence that pops up in the second half of the movie is too much for the comedy and intellectualism to survive. It isn’t brainless violence. It’s motivated and makes sense in the context of the story, but it’s just too much of a bummer, man.

Inglorious Bastards (1978) **½

Director: Enzo G. Castellari

Writers: Sandro Continenza, Sergio Grieco, Romano Migliorini, Laura Toscano, Franco Marotta

Starring: Bo Svenson, Peter Hooten, Fred Williamson, Michael Pergolani, Jackie Basehart, Michel Constantin, Debra Berger, Raimond Harmstorf, Ian Bannen

So before Quentin Tarantino made his masterpiece “Ingourious Basterds”, there was an Italian-made WWII flick about rouge American soldiers on a special mission called “Inglorious Bastards”. The two flicks aren’t really related beyond the fact that Tarantino was enough of a fan of the first film to steal its title with some slight spelling alterations. He also placed a couple of its stars in cameo roles in his film.

The 70s film is an odd take on the WWII special mission flick that follows a small group of court marshaled American soldiers who escape and plan on crossing the Swiss border before they get wrapped up in a French Resistance plot to steal a Nazi weapon being transported on a train. It’s made with stranger Italian filmmaking notions than most American WWII films, an idea that is best examplified during a scene where a group of skinny dipping female Germans attack the Americans with machine guns.

Much of the filmmaking is awkward and the acting is pretty poor, but I liked the way nothing went as planned for this rouges gallery of soldiers. Its unique take on the war flick is a refreshing change from the norm, but an acquired taste at best.

Out of Sight (2010) ****

Director: Ya-Ting Yu

Writers: Ya-Ting Yu, Ya-Hsuan Yeh, Ling Chung

There’s something just so fresh and free about Anime. Through Roger Ebert’s blog I discovered this wonderful five-minute animated short by three National Taiwan University of Arts students. It’s about a blind girl who loses her Seeing Eye dog and how she finds her way from there. The word ‘magical’ is so often associated with movies that it’s lost some of it’s power, but this movie takes that magical notion of movies quite literally. It will make you feel good.

Watch it here.

True Romance (1993) ***½

Director: Tony Scott

Writer: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, Bronson Pinochet, Saul Rubinek, Michael Rapaport, James Gandolfini, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Samuel L. Jackson

I’ve never been much of a fan of the films of Tony Scott, which is kind of interesting considering that his brother, Ridley, is one of my favorite directors. But Tony has made a few great films. “Unstoppable” is his most recent, and possibly his best. I contribute the success of his other two great movies mostly to the screenplays.

Quentin Tarantino wrote “True Romance” before his breakthrough success “Pulp Fiction”. Despite its glossy direction by Scott, it’s filled with signatures of Tarantino. It has Tarantino’s incredible knack for dialogue, exemplified best by the scene between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken, which happens to be one of my favorite scenes of all time. It has his obsession with pop culture and is filled with characters who constantly reference different areas of pop culture, including countless references to movies and comic books. Anytime there’s a TV in the background, it’s playing one of Tarantino’s favorite exploitation movies of the 70s and 80s. And, it includes Tarantino’s moral code of having even his heroes pay for their crimes to some degree. The original ending of the film had Christian Slater’s character dying in the big shootout. While this would’ve adhered to Tarantino’s moral code, Scott chose the right ending.

The submarine thriller “Crimson Tide” is Scott’s other noteworthy film. It should also be noted that Scott had a veritable who’s who of top Hollywood screenwriters contribute rewrites and punch ups for the mutiny flick, including pop culture dialogue added by Tarantino.

Silver Streak (1976) ***

Director: Arthur Hiller

Writer: Colin Higgins

Starring: Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, Richard Pryor, Patrick McGoohan, Ned Beatty, Clifton James, Ray Walston, Richard Kiel, Scatman Cruthers, Lucille Benson

I’ve always been a big fan of “Silver Streak”. Of course, the pairing of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor is a thing of genius. It was always a big debate which of their collaborations was the best. “Silver Streak” was always my favorite. I understand why many people might choose “Stir Crazy”, since it funnier and Pryor doesn’t show up until about the halfway point of “Streak”. While “Streak” wasn’t the funniest of their films, it isn’t intended as a flat out comedy. I think that’s what I always liked about it. It encompasses more than one genre—comedy, mystery, romance, thriller. Heck, it even fits into the subgenre of the runaway train picture.

Sadly, this screening comes about a week after the passing of actress Jill Clayburgh. “Silver Streak” is the film I knew her best from, but her body of work spanned four decades. Her most impressive and memorable role, however, came just two years after “Streak” in Paul Mazursky’s celebrated film “An Unmarried Woman”, about a Manhattan divorcee who struggles with her new identity after her husband of 16 years leaves her for a younger woman.

The Secret in Their Eyes (2010) ****

Director: Juan José Campanella

Writers: Eduardo Sacheri (also novel), Juan José Capanella

Starring: Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil, Guillermo Fancella, Pablo Rago, Javier Godino, Carla Quevedo

What is the trick to a good twist ending? I think it might be a combination of two elements. First, the twist needs to be something the audience can’t see coming. All too often filmmakers believe this is all that is necessary. Second, it must be something fully supported, and even highlighted in retrospect, by major story elements that came before it. “The Secret in Their Eyes” is a movie that does the twist ending correctly. It even adds a third element, a false twist that doesn’t satisfy the first two elements coming immediately before the real twist is revealed.

But to categorize “The Secret in Their Eyes” as simply a movie with a twist is to do the movie an injustice. It exists as a great film even without it’s twist ending. It’s a wonderfully realized character drama about a close group of colleagues and how they depend on each other as saviors and unrequited lovers that each needs and is to one another. This is packaged in an engrossing legal drama with some thriller elements mixed in. I suppose being a great movie besides having a twist ending is another element necessary for a great twist ending.

Temple Grandin (2010) ****
Director: Mick Jackson

Writers: Christopher Monger, Merritt Johnson, Temple Grandin (books “Emergence” & “Thinking in Pictures”), Margaret Scarciano (book “Emergence”)

Starring: Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, David Strathairn, Catherine O’Hara

I want a squeeze machine of my own. If this movie weren’t so good, I might just leave the review at that one line, but the filmmakers deserve more praise than that.

I was absolutely fascinated by this movie. I’ve seen “Rainman”. Until now, that was the extent of my knowledge on autism. The notions in that film are probably just as misguided as the doctor’s who originally diagnosed Temple as autistic. Mick Jackson’s direction does an amazing job of visualizing how Temple’s autism works. The performances by Claire Danes and Julia Ormond, as Temple and her mother respectively, are powerful and perfect. The writing draws you in to everything this bold film has to cover. I even cared about how ranchers handle cows, something that’s never even crossed my mind in more than ten years living and working around cattle farms and feed houses. Just in terms of understanding people that seem different to the norm, this film is a must see. I hope it’s taught in schools. Understanding is the great gift we have as humans. It’s too bad we’re so bad at it as a herd. This is a movie that can teach us understanding of how we work, as well as how cattle work.

Agora (2010) ***

Director: Alejandro Amenábar

Writers: Alejandro Amenábar, Mateo Gill

Starring: Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella, Oscar Isaac, Ashraf Barhom, Rupert Evans, Sami Samir, Michael Lonsdale

“Agora” is a thinking man’s historical costume epic. It has more brains than your average sand and sandal picture. Throughout most of it those brains point out just how brainless man has been (and still is for the most part) when it comes to religious fanaticism. The violence all these people justify inflicting on others in the name of their Gods is sickening. Rachel Weisz’s librarian and scientist is a breath of fresh air amongst the growing religious animosity around her. Of course, they’re just going to have to victimize her for that. She’s so uninterested in the religion-based politics unfolding around her, it might be easy to say that she brings her fate upon herself. Easy for those who really are responsible for her fate to say, anyway. 

Megamind / *** (PG)

Featuring the voice talents of:

Megamind: Will Ferrell

Roxanne Ritchi: Tina Fey

Minion: David Cross

Tighten: Jonah Hill

Metro Man: Brad Pitt

DreamWorks Animation SKG presents a film directed by Tom McGrath. Written by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons. Running time: 96 min. Rated PG (for action and some language).

Earlier this year I reviewed the movie “Despicable Me”. It was about a super villain who ended up being pretty good at heart. I enjoyed it, but I may have been too easy on it. It was cute. It was fun. But, it really seemed to just be going through the CGI family animation motions. Now, comes “Megamind” in that Hollywood tradition of giving audiences two tastes—from a different studio, of course—of the same basic premise. However, “Megamind” seems to tap into something that “Despicable Me” was lacking. They both have heart, but “Megamind” also seems to contain a big heaping dollop of humanity.

The titular Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell, “The Other Guys”) is a super villain to Metro City’s champion Metro Man (Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”). This is his story. Much like Superman, Megamind is sent by his parents to Earth from another planet when he is an infant. Along the way, another baby, who will grow up to be Metro Man, knocks him off course, and their destinies as arch rivals are set. It is during their budding rivalry when we see the film’s first hints of its humanity. Megamind’s failures in childhood are funny, but they’re also a little sad. This element of depth brings the material closer to the audience and allows us to connect more with Megamind’s story.

In adulthood, Megamind’s rivalry with Metro Man has blossomed into all the typical superhero/villain patterns that are well known to us through countless movies and comic books. Megamind kidnaps the same victim every time—hapless reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tine Fey, “30 Rock”). Roxanne has gotten so used to the routine that she feels no fear in any of Megamind’s overly complex traps. She takes great pleasure in pointing out to the not-so-master villain that Metro Man always thwarts his schemes. But what would happen if somehow Megamind won, just once?

The crux of Megamind’s story is the answer to that question, because if the villain ever defeats the hero, then their story is over. The villain fights to the death while the hero always lets the villain live to return another day. Right? The success of the movie lies with that one broken rule of the superhero/villain dichotomy. If the villain wins, then he’s got nothing left to live for. Since Megamind has no one to try to defeat anymore, he begins to feel and yearn for other things again.

After his inadvertent win, Megamind is lost without a nemesis. His lifelong sidekick, Minion (David Cross, “Kung Fu Panda”), a fish for whom Megamind has constructed a robot gorilla body, tries desperately to keep his friend in the criminal mind. The two concoct a plan to make their own superhero by injecting Roxanne’s cameraman with Metro Man’s DNA transforming him into Tighten (Jonah Hill, “Horton Hears a Who”). Like all of Megamind’s plans, this one backfires, as Tighten seems more inclined to evil than good. Meanwhile, Megamind slides further from villainy as he begins to fall in love with Roxanne.

Director Tom McGrath (“Madagascar”) and his screenwriters have a great deal of fun flipping the notions of good guys and bad guys. It appears as if Megamind was possibly never meant to be a criminal, which might explain why he was so terrible at being bad in the first place. They also add a lot of little comedy details that are never explained, such as Megamind’s habit of mispronouncing certain words. They poke fun at many superhero movie icons and conventions, including Marlon Brando’s role as Superman’s father in “Superman: The Movie”.

Like “Despicable Me”, “Megamind” doesn’t reach much higher than flip-flopping the conventions of the “bad guy” to turn him into a good guy. It does, however, reach much deeper and is a better movie because of it. My wife actually turned to me at one point during the movie and said, “How could I have known I’d need tissues at this movie?” That’s a good sign, even with a cartoon comedy.

Special Note: I’ve noticed a disturbing trend with a good deal of CGI “family films” of late. In an effort to appeal to children’s parents, filmmakers are including more and more classic rock songs in movies that are clearly aimed at children. This one has several heavy metal songs that were popular when I was in high school, including songs by artists like AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, and Guns N’ Roses. While I do appreciate the use of popular music in these films, sometimes the lyrics of these songs are not appropriate for children. The inclusion of these songs might be intriguing for the parents, but I’m not sure a five-year-old should really go around singing about the virtues of being on the “Highway to Hell”. I’m not trying to be a prude, but prudence is generally a good thing, especially where children are concerned.