Volume XVII, Issue 27 # July 2 - July 8, 2009 |
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Find mini reviews of all the year's movies at CINEMAN SYNDICATE. (outside link)
Bay Weekly Movie Reviews
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
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© Paramount PicturesHuman co-stars Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf take a backseat to the destruction let loose by the Autobots and Decepticons in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. |
Director Michael Bay chases the first flick with more: more battles, more destruction, more boom, more power. More “arg!”
reviewed by Mark Burns
Michael Bay was once asked to contain himself. This is what happened when he exploded.
Megatron is defeated. Optimus Prime and the victorious Autobots have allied with Army humans to exterminate the last of the evil Decepticons. Earth boy Sam (Shia LaBeouf, Indiana Jones), meanwhile, has ditched protector ’bot Bumblebee for college. But when Sam discovers one last shard of the Matrix and becomes the unwitting repository of Transformer history, he is hunted out of the quiet life by a resurgent Decepticon force. So he reunites with the Autobots both to save himself and fend off a new threat that means to destroy the planet.
This sequel swerves through a slew of new ’bots and battles, hitting hard with action from the outset. Director Michael Bay chases the first flick with more: more battles, more destruction, more boom, more power. More “arg!”
In fact, he has injected so much raw testosterone that the flick is in danger of pimples and blind rage.
So much emphasis is placed on battle that story is left skeletal. The few quiet points among the ruckus have been filled with generic one-liners and spastic overlapping dialogue. Moments that might have been better developed for suspense are shattered by still more violence; even the subterfuge of intrusion has been reduced to smash and grab. The climax is a letdown, as the major villain and key assist seem short-lived and unimpressive. It’s just a denser concentration of boom, and by then you’re desensitized.
Human characters are likewise desensitized by poor scripting. Among robots, the magnetic Bumblebee seems under-used. Jetfire, exceedingly popular among the toys’ and cartoon’s now-grown fans, has been warped unrecognizable by movie twists yet not significantly fleshed, if you will, for the sell. All characters, flesh and fake, seem like so many props in a shallow march to Armageddon.
Comic relief offers some personality with Wheelie, a Pesci-style trash-talking RC truck. But there are hiccups even in the comedy. Bumblebee’s radio-routed speech impediment seems rusty now, especially in light of his supposed cure. Perhaps the writers got lazy trying to infuse fresh wit in the character. And there is that controversial turn of questionable taste in the bantering gangsta-wannabe robo-twins Skids and Mudflap (one with a waggling gold tooth).
All said, it is a popcorn movie. You could do worse in your pick for a summer spectacle. Plus, fanboys will probably dig appearances by the Constructicons (Devastator!) and a smartly updated Soundwave. So it can be a decent way to pass a summer afternoon.
Fair sci-fi • PG-13 • 150 mins.
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© Columbia PicturesOlivia Wilde and Jack Black stumble their way through Year One. |
Year One
Save your cash for the coming blockbusters, because this one’s a timewaster.
reviewed by Mark Burns
A hunter and a gatherer stumble out of the woods and into Biblical history in this lame comedy.
Zed (Jack Black: Tropic Thunder) and Oh (Michael Cera: Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) are misfits in their dung-and-stick village: Hunter Zed is a Jack Black-esque overzealous twit, and gatherer Oh is a Michael Cera-like wisp of wishy-washy. When Zed’s nosh on the forbidden fruit gets him banished, the pair hike over the edge of the Earth (a mountain range) and discover a wider world, falling in with Cain (David Cross) — after witnessing his murder of Abel — and questing to Sodom to save their former tribe from slavery.
Writer/director Harold Ramis (Caddyshack) seems to be trying for an Americanized Old Testament counterpart to the cult classic Life of Brian. As in Monty Python’s faux messiah spoof, highlights of the Judeo-Christian back-story have been dragged down and demystified by earthy perspective shift, plainspeak revisionism and cheeky skepticism. In Year One this includes forbidden fruit as placebo; Abraham as a religious eccentric who’s overeager to establish the mohel tradition; and a Sodom twist on Vegas’ slogan. To make the movie’s underpinnings more obvious, Ramis draws a direct parallel to Brian by passing off Zed as a mistaken “chosen one” touting free thought.
Sadly, there is no flattery in this imitation.
The Monty Python troupe succeeded with Life of Brian by blending silliness with intelligent satire. This flick has its moments, and its slapstick is pretty fun up front. But ultimately the fun flops. Humor wears thin when gags are dwelled on with interminable, repetitive banter that’s hardly snappy enough to warrant the label. Jokes tend to be uninventive, sophomoric and/or predictable. Even some scenes that should have worked are executed so clumsily that the comic effect is lost. The Sodom portion especially is a giant failed joke, calling to mind Conan, Mel Brooks and Apocalypto all while introducing its own creepy, near-homophobic vibe. It’s not so great.
Even the straightforward story is choppily told. The quest is too much of a wandering shamble to hold interest, merely staggering from one Biblical figure/locale to the next and not doing much at the destinations. The questers fall prey to distraction at the drop of a hat, and the connective thread of Cain’s guiding influence is weak. Performances suffer as well. Black and Cera don’t seem to click, and the broader cast of comics, from Hank Azaria to that McLovin guy, seem to just be punching time cards.
Save your cash for the coming blockbusters, because this one’s a timewaster. Fans in love enough with Jack Black to claim Nacho Libre was good might have fun. Anybody else would do better to rent the poorly imitated Python opus.
Poor comedy • PG-13 • 97 mins.
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© Focus FeaturesJohn Krasinski and Maya Rudolph star in Away We Go. |
Away We Go
A touching and smart little quiet movie
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
A 30-something slacker couple expecting a child travel North America visiting friends and exploring what the rest of their lives might hold in the gentle comedy Away We Go. Written by novelist couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida and directed by Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road; American Beauty), this movie is heavy on intelligence and heart, even if its laughs and emotions are of the quieter variety.
Lovers Burt and Verona (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) aren’t married but are very much a couple. When hit with the enormity of the baby growing inside Verona and the fact that Burt’s parents are no longer a reason for staying where they live, they think it might be a good time to visit friends and family in different locales to see what their lives are like. Given no family or work restraints, they realize they could bring up this child almost anywhere. What they find as they travel is a series of dysfunctional and not-so-dysfunctional — and varyingly funny — family situations. None of which may be for them.
Away We Go is really a romantic coming-of-age story, but with a twist. Often movies such as this are romantic wedding comedies. Someone is getting married, they’re not sure of their decision, they watch others around them, they learn, they grow, and they realize that everything is going to be okay. Away We Go follows much the same story arch, but instead of a couple realizing what it will be like for two people spending the rest of their lives together, it’s about three people spending the rest of their lives together.
Director Mendes and first-time screenwriters Eggers and Vida give the movie a unique feel, if not totally original concepts. Certainly, Eggers and Vida are taking from their own experiences as a 30-something couple (Verona has lost both her parents, as has Eggers, as we know from his book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), and Mendes handles the material with tone-perfect sensitivity.
Missing are big laughs and big tear-up moments. Mendes opts instead for subtleties. Meanwhile, Krasinski and Rudolph play their roles with mostly cool, unattached emotions. It’s clear our couple loves each other, but that doesn’t mean they have to break down and cry to get there, and they don’t. Away We Go is a touching and smart little quiet movie. Not much more than that, and that’s more than okay.
Good romantic comedy • R • 97 mins.
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© Warner Bros. PicturesThe day after a raucus bachelor party, Phil, Alan and Stu find themselves handcuffed together at the police station. |
The Hangover
Sure to tickle the funny bones of those who appreciate raucous comedy.
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
Four male friends go on a bachelor party trip that they’ll never forget and wake up the next morning wondering what happened in this bawdy and quite funny movie. Although far from being for everyone, Director Todd Phillips’ (Old School; Road Trip) surprise-filled buddy movie is sure to tickle the funny bones of those who appreciate raucous comedy.
Groom-to-be Doug (Justin Bartha) is taken to Las Vegas by his three pals for a bachelor party two nights before his wedding day. His friends include fat and odd brother-in-law-to-be Alan (Zach Galifianakis), spineless dentist Stu (Ed Helms) and charming wolf Phil (Bradley Cooper). But it’s not the bachelor party on which this movie focuses. It’s the next day, i.e. the hangover. Indeed, when our mates wake up, not only have they trashed their room beyond recognition, they have lost the groom-to-be. So begins a backtracking trail of trying to find Doug while discovering the out-of–control things they did the night before.
Working its way backwards is the film’s best trick, and quite an ingenious one at that. In the beginning, it’s hard not to be disappointed in what feels like a clichéd traditional set-up. The crazy bachelor party is turf that has been trod by countless TV shows and movies. But everything changes when we refreshingly skip right to the next day. Through this device, we see the truly crazy surprises as they’re revealed to the main characters.
Plus, these characters are better than most. The usual buddy comedy would have the actors predictably play out the very different kooky personalities of four seemingly unique individuals. Here, the characters are more real than that; only Galifianakis, as the way-out-there fat friend, comes off as totally fictional — though still funny. The sympathetic interaction among the three wayward friends gives the wackiness an odd sort of pathos. These guys aren’t just jerks blowing their way through Vegas. They actually care for each other and are concerned for their missing friend. As a result they act in believably funny ways.
Despite this intelligence, don’t be fooled. If you are not one for raunchy male buddy comedy (including full-frontal male nudity), then you should not see this to sample the genre. This one is for connoisseurs only — a whole lot of them.
Good comedy • R • 98 mins.
Up
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© Walt Disney PixarTrying to earn a merit badge for helping the elderly, Russell, voiced by Jordan Nagai, tags along with Carl Fredricksen, voiced by Edward Asner, on an adventure that drops them in the jungles of South America. |
Great in any dimension: Thrills are had, laughs are laughed, tears are shed and lessons are learned.
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
An old man and a young boy go on an amazing journey thanks to a house attached to inflatable balloons in the poignant and wildly entertaining animated adventure Up. Pixar has done it again, extending its string of not just excellent animated movies but quite simply some of the best movies being made today, period.
Carl Fredrickson (voice of Ed Asner) is an elderly man who has lived in the same house for most of his adult life. Instead of giving in to the modernization and changes all around him, he launches his house into the air by tying it to an inordinate amount of helium balloons. Along for the ride is overweight Boy Scout Russell (Jordan Nagai), who is trying to earn his merit badge for helping the elderly. They land their ballooned house in the jungles of South America. There, they … well, there they meet adventure.
It’s the gift of great storytelling and attention to detail that makes this movie — and so many of the Pixar movies — so exceptional. Most impressive of all is a magical five-minute vignette near the beginning of the film that introduces us to the character of Carl. His life is movingly told without one word of dialogue. (In my theater, filled with children, you could’ve heard a pin drop near the end of the sequence.) Not unlike last year’s Pixar hit WALL*E, this sequence captures the best of silent films and puts that into a very modern animated film. The simple fact that moviemaking is first and foremost telling a story through images seems to be the overarching rule at Pixar.
Up’s inventiveness never stops giving us new things to enjoy, no matter how big or how small. Example 1: Our adventure hero is an honest-to-goodness senior citizen, neither hiding his age nor limited by it (even if some of his heroic feats would be impossible even for the most athletic of James Bonds). Example 2: An invention for dogs that would dramatically alter the world in which we live.
Ultimately, this is a fantasy adventure that makes little logical sense but tons of emotional and intellectual sense. I saw it in 3-D, but this movie is great in any dimension. Thrills are had, laughs are laughed, tears are shed and lessons are learned. Some day the geniuses at Pixar have to flop. But for now, it seems like they have nowhere to go but up.
Great animated adventure • PG • 90 mins.
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© Twentieth Century Fox Film CorporationThe massive statue of Abraham Lincoln comes to life — and to the rescue during the epic Battle of the Smithsonian. |
Night at the Museum:
Battle of the Smithsonian
A convoluted mess designed to show off spectacular special effects and spin some history-inspired zingers
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
Ben Stiller returns as a museum night watchman, this time at Washington, D.C.’s, Smithsonian Institute, in the lackluster action-comedy Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Perhaps it’s cute enough for children, but with only a few good ideas and a story that never gets going, adults will be bored.
Former museum guard Larry Daley (Stiller) is now a successful TV pitchman for gimmicky inventions like the glow-in-the-dark flashlight. However, he still returns every so often to visit New York’s Museum of Natural History to see his old friends, the exhibitions that come alive at night. Seems the museum is getting a makeover, and the exhibits are being sent into archival storage at the Smithsonian. Alarmed by a call from cowboy miniature Jedediah (Owen Wilson), Larry goes to Washington to rescue his old friends from evil and ancient Egyptian pharaoh (Hank Azaria) who plans not only to take over the museum but perhaps the world.
The plot is a convoluted and nonsensical mess designed to show off spectacular special effects and throw some history-inspired puns and zingers our way. Unfortunately, these puns and zingers aren’t very effective. Azaria as the pharaoh feels the need to take on a speech impediment to seem funnier. Bringing Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Al Capone (Jon Bernthal) and Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabet) together in an evil scheme may seem inventive, but only Guest gets off anything resembling clever humor.
The film’s most inventive scenes have Larry and Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) finding famous paintings and sculptures coming to life. Art fans will find themselves identifying these now-moving works of art, from a Jeff Koons’ dog bouncing around the room to a watchful Roy Liechtenstein. But the intelligence ends there. Logic is missing, too.
Still, you might be entertained if the film could find a pace that didn’t set our minds to wandering. Every time we almost start to engage, it stops itself in its tracks, which won’t help with the kids, either. What the movie needs is a Cat in the Hat finale. These come-to-life exhibits have made quite a mess of the Smithsonian’s hallowed halls (disturbingly so), without explanation or consequences. Maybe that would make for an interesting sequel: Night at the Museum 3: The Aftermath.
Fair action-comedy • PG • 105 mins
Angels & Demons
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© Columbia PicturesTom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Thure Lindhart and Ewan McGregor in the DaVinci Code prequel Angels & Demons. |
The premise is flimsy but the fun is good
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
Tom Hanks returns as super-sleuthing symbologist Robert Langdon, this time recruited by the Vatican to solve a kidnapping case, in the ludicrous but entertaining action thriller Angels & Demons. As wildly unbelievable as its predecessor The Da Vinci Code, this one is more fun thanks to a less unwieldy story and more action.
Catholic cardinals from around the globe are meeting at the Vatican City to elect a new pope. Meanwhile, scientific experiments to discover antimatter have successfully taken place in Switzerland. The antimatter is stolen, the four leading cardinals to become pope are kidnapped and they all turn up together hidden somewhere in the Vatican on a live-video feed. Enter Harvard professor Langdon to solve what appears to be a mystery involving an ancient band of Catholic scientists known as the Illuminati. Langdon sets off to uncover the mystery, rescue the cardinals and save the world from the antimatter’s exploding and turning all of Rome inside out. There are only hours to spare.
Director Ron Howard (The Da Vinci Code; Apollo 13) brings together a host of ideas borrowed from other films and TV shows. The opening plays out like a James Bond film, with technological mumbo-jumbo and beeps and lights generated to dramatic effect. Professor Langdon is an updated Indiana Jones, casually throwing himself into harm’s way even if his real gift is symbology. The plot is set to a 24 Hours timetable, where many things can happen simultaneously and in such short time.
It’s hard to believe that Rome traffic alone wouldn’t ruin the entire plot in real life. Ahh, but to use one’s brain beyond the following of what Dr. Langdon is telling us is to use it far too much. The opening scene where antimatter is not only created but stolen, then transported across Europe without incident is itself an indication that if you are going to try to keep it real, you’ve walked into the wrong theater.
Langdon jumps to correct conclusions by getting from point A to point Z in less than 30 seconds; with the believable Hanks making the leap, it seems semi-plausible. Fortunately, after the opening, the story stays in Rome, so we can worry less about ponderous plot connections and kick back and enjoy the scenery, the fast-paced action — even laughing with pleasure at the over-the-top outcome.
Good action thriller • PG-13 • 138 mins.
Star Trek
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© Paramount PicturesThe crew of the Starship Enterprise includes Capt. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), McCoy (Karl Urban), an extra crew woman, Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Sulu (John Cho). |
Boldly go. Twice, even. This is the first blockbuster of the season to warrant repeat viewings.
reviewed by Mark Burns
The Federation starship Enterprise is sparked to life by original series verve in this bright reboot.
Rebellious (but genius) knucklehead James T. Kirk (Chris Pine: Bottle Shock) has yet to know the shine of legend. But it’s coming. The Starfleet Academy cadet is busy cementing his maverick reputation, much to the chagrin of instructor Spock (Zachary Quinto: Sylar on Heroes), when the cadets are called upon to mount an interplanetary rescue. It’s Kirk who senses the danger for what it truly is, and when they inevitably find the thick of it he will rise to the challenge and assemble his storied crew to save the day.
The 43-year-old Trek universe has accumulated a lot of baggage across five series, 10 prior films and countless fictions. By resetting to origin, Star Trek has managed to slough it all off. And, without such weight, the filmmakers have created an attitudinal antithesis to the starchy Next Generation fare. It’s evident in the brighter script, bolder (and more believable) acting, weirder aliens and Starfleet miniskirts. There’s even a consistent vein of levity (sometimes slapstick) as a nod to the camp fun of Gene Roddenberry’s series.
The story is built on a triple threat: Kirk’s journey to the Captain’s chair; the intertwining of his path with Spock’s; and the struggle against alien menace. These three aspects combine neatly and whirl through copious action — from swift chase to bruising fistfights to explosive starship battles — while picking up and developing the side players on the way.
However performances makes this Trek. Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov and Sulu are all icons defined by the original players. Yet the new cast manage to make the roles their own while offering a little homage. Pine in particular succeeds in interpreting William Shatner’s occasional odd facial expression and rarely inserting that trademark dramatic pause. Favorite catch phrases (“Dammit Jim! I’m a doctor.”) are nicely reintroduced.
Die-hard George Lucas devotees may grouse about a couple of parallels to the Star Wars universe — like a vaguely similar Hoth sequence — but it’s worth getting over. This film is a blast of happy escapist sci-fi fantasy. Boldly go. Twice, even. This is the first blockbuster of the season to warrant repeat viewings.
Great sci-fi action • PG-13 • 126 mins.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
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© Twentieth Century-Fox Film CorporationHugh Jackman reprises the role that made him a superstar, as the fierce fighting machine Wolverine, who possesses amazing healing powers, adamantium-coated claws and a primal fury known as berserker rage. |
No comic hero opus, but it’ll do for a distraction.
reviewed by Mark Burns
The scene-stealing X-mutant growls his way to legend and slices his way through fanboy complainants in the hunt for blockbuster status.
Know them by their last names, because that’s cooler. Logan (Hugh Jackman: Australia), is a sickly lad born into the 19th century. By an early twist of mutation manifestation, he becomes a boy survivalist alongside elder brother figure Creed (Liev Schreiber: Defiance). The pair rumble forward through American history until sometime after Vietnam, when Logan grows weary and ditches their black ops gig. A quiet life in the Canadian Rockies is soon torn asunder by bloody rivalry, and so does Logan rage for revenge against Creed even as he challenges those who would exploit his power.
Comics themselves can’t be trusted for consistency, what with the tangle of alternate timelines and revisionist histories. But Wolverine, that antithetical avatar for closeted pudge, is one of the most sacred objects of comic geekdom. Here Hollywood has tinkered with his past, bringing into play questionable threads of connection that tripwire the greater X-universe. His grand rivalry with Creed (aka Sabretooth) has strange new underpinnings, and those in the know may cry fowl at portrayals of favorite characters Gambit (Taylor Kitsch: Friday Night Lights) and Deadpool.
So, for some, the popcorn won’t taste so good. But the story works for Hollywood’s purposes.
Connections to the prior X-Men movies — which have already gone askew — are drawn tidily enough. The redrawn Logan/Creed rivalry is surprisingly well developed and proves an efficient device to drive the plot. The movie is strongest in its early half, with tidy montage as summary and a stronger than expected emphasis on character to help offset such cliché ridiculousness as tragic love and a waterfall jumping escape. It’s when Wolverine meets with adamantium metallurgy that director Gavin Hood (Rendition) devolves his film toward blockbuster flash, overlaying cheesy dialogue and stale blockbuster conceits with hurried resolution.
Action is generally pretty solid and benefits from the new tricks of a fresh batch of heroes and villains. Gambit’s explosive kineticism is pretty nifty, to be true. And, despite ample violence, bloodshed is kept refreshingly minimal. Wolverine is given some room to play with his claws even if the filmmakers lack creativity for the possibilities and balk at embracing the character’s more vicious nature. Special effects border on corny, and some battle scenes are uninspired. The werewolf-ish introduction of a revolver loaded with adamantium bullets is just stupid.
The verdict? This is certainly no comic hero opus in the vein of Dark Knight or even Iron Man. But it’ll do for a distraction.
Fair action adventure • PG-13 • 107 min.
The Soloist
This predictable and hard-to-watch inspirer does nothing of the sort.
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© DreamWorks Pictures A homeless musical prodigy, Jamie Foxx, right, is discovered on the streets of downtown L.A. by newspaperman Robert Downey Jr. |
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
A newspaper reporter writes a column about a homeless classical musician and in the process becomes overly involved in his life in the mostly unpleasant and annoying drama The Soloist. Excellent performances by Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. can’t save this predictable and hard-to-watch inspirer that does nothing of the sort.
Steve Lopez (Downey) writes a slice-of-life column for the Los Angeles Times. On a coffee break, he happens upon homeless Nathaniel Ayers (Foxx) playing Beethoven on a two-stringed violin. In his rambling Rainman-like remarks, Nathaniel mentions that he once studied at Julliard. Steve does a little research and finds out that indeed it’s true. So Steve not only starts to write columns about the down-on-his-luck cellist with mental illness but also tries to help Nathaniel get back to playing. Lots of learning follows with typically loud and intense scenes and little honest emotional payoff.
Director Joe Wright (Atonement; Pride & Prejudice) tries in vain to bring us into Nathaniel’s mental state, using cinematic devices to simulate some of what is in his head. Whispering voices talking to Nathaniel are played at an obnoxious level with enough repetition that we, too, wish we had medication to make them go away. An elongated scene where colors burst on the screen during a performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic feels like an experimental film from the 1960s meant to be enjoyed on LSD.
The film scores some points for exposing us to the swept-under-the-rug world of homelessness. Wright features actual homeless people as background players in the film. Indeed, Steve’s journey into Skid Row is a jarring one for both him and us. It educates and reminds us of a world we try to ignore. And Downey and Foxx are expert and believable in their roles.
Message films shake us by the lapels to bring home their issues: homelessness is bad; mental illness is difficult. But delivering messages doesn’t excuse ignoring the dynamics of intriguing story.
Fair drama • PG-13 • 115 mins.
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© Universal PicturesHelen Mirren, Rachel McAdams and Russell Crowe in the political thriller State of Play. |
State of Play
This one won’t save journalism.
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
Russell Crowe stars as a Washington newspaper reporter investigating the death of a Congressional staffer in the convoluted and disappointing suspense thriller State of Play. Director Kevin Macdonald’s (The Last King of Scotland) attempt at an old-school political thriller falls mostly flat thanks to unthoughtful twists and wasted star power.
Crowe plays Cal McAffrey, an old-school newspaper reporter on the city beat who seems to know everyone: the police, the employees at the morgue, even up-and-coming Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), a college roommate. Taken under Cal’s wing is new-school political reporter/blogger Della Frye (Rachel McAdams). Their two investigations collide when a connection is discovered between a Georgetown double homicide and a suspicious suicide at a Metro station of a pretty Congressional staffer working for Collins. Cal and Della find themselves in deep waters, with a massive corporation involved, a gunman on their trail and a newspaper editor (Helen Mirren) barking at them the whole way.
The movie’s set-up is intriguing enough, and we are initially interested as we see the killings and start to speculate on how it might all connect. But as we meet the main characters, we start to think there might be less here than meets the eye. Each character is introduced as a cliché: Cal is a typical smartass, Della is typically Bambi-eyed but intelligent, the Congressman is typically handsome and full of himself, the editor is typically loud and demanding: On and on the cardboard cutout characters go.
As the movie goes on (and it does go on), the plot, which at first strings us along, unravels. As viewers, we become bored but feel that we should hang on for what must be a big climax. Maybe we’ll even get something about the changing role of newspaper journalism. No such luck.
The impressive cast is mostly wasted in trite roles, and one wonders why Robin Wright Penn’s character as Collins’ wife is in the film at all. The only one who stands out is Affleck, who is awful and not believable. It’s not just that he isn’t believable as a Congressman; he isn’t believable as a human being. We haven’t seen Affleck in anything in a while, which makes me wonder if this isn’t just the way he has aged ungracefully into his older roles. Not good.
Fair suspense thriller • PG-13 • 117 mins.
Observe and Report
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© Warner Bros. PicturesAs a buffoonish mall cop, Seth Rogen may have outstayed his welcome in the not-so-funny Observe and Report. |
Seth Rogen has overstayed his ubiquitous welcome.
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
Seth Rogen stars as a pompous and buffoonish mall cop in the dark downer of a comedy Observe and Report. Writer-director Jody Hill (HBO’s Eastbound and Down) takes the Apatow-Rogen brand skidding off the tracks into unfunny, unchartered waters. Maybe it will all be for the best.
Rogen plays Ronnie Barnhardt, a shopping mall security guard enamored with his own authority over his team of nitwit mall cops. There is a flasher on the loose at the mall, and robberies have been occurring. Ronnie sees this as his big chance to make a big splash. Meanwhile, he dreams of dating the pretty young thing at the department store (Anna Faris), talks big to the girl where he gets his morning coffee (Collette Wolfe) and comes home each night to his drunken mother (Celia Weston). He’s on medication, presumably to help him with his delusions and violent tendencies. Ambition and mental problems spill over into a not-so-funny mess.
At its core, this is a movie about an unsympathetic guy with some serious mental problems. In other films, Rogen’s characters have often relied on marijuana as a generator for buffoonish behavior and some smart stoner comedic moments. Here, pot has been replaced by real mental problems. The comedy is not as funny when the buffoonery has such a serious and dangerous edge.
About the only enjoyable element is the inventive soundtrack. (Well, that and the fact that the movie clocks in at 86 minutes.) Mostly the music underscores the darker edges of this depressing film, but we also get some surprisingly uplifting gems courtesy of 1970s-era Queen.
As I sat in the theater, I couldn’t help but wonder if Rogen hasn’t overstayed his ubiquitous welcome. He seems to be in a new movie every month. Initially, he was quite charming: as the vulgar warehouse employee in The 40-Year Old Virgin or as the self-consciously unhandsome lug in Knocked Up. But in less-than-mediocre fare, Rogen is a less-than-mediocre comic leading man. Perhaps he would be better off sticking to writing clever screenplays and playing quirky character roles. At the very least, it would be a welcome respite not to see him in another lead role for a while.
Poor comedy • R • 86 mins.
Adventureland
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© Miramax FilmsJesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart star in Adventureland. |
A gem. Check it out.
reviewed by Mark Burns
A naïve romantic discovers love and life amid carnie stalls in this sharp coming-of-age film.
It’s 1987 and James (Jesse Eisenberg: The Education of Charlie Banks) dreams. College is just behind him, and the glimmering world beckons with Shakespearean romance, a European summer and further enlightenment amid the hallowed halls of Columbia U. Instead, his college squeeze dumps the virgin, and his parental gravy train goes dry. He winds up back home in Pittsburg, working to fund his trip with a summer gig at Adventureland. And it is there that he shall serve mole to the mallet of reality — even as he falls into an imperfect romance with fellow carnie Em (Kristen Stewart: Twilight).
Adventureland is a mellower film than you might expect from Superbad auteur Greg Motolla, who writes and directs this one. As in Superbad, Motolla dabbles in the transition between phases of growing up. But he abandons the comic extremes of McLovin for more introspective territory, exploring James’ transition out of naïvete with a more considered tale and a minimum of slapstick.
It’s a predictable trip. Even so, the tale is engaging and smart, finding its tone in the contrast between the lit major’s sheltered introversion and the surreal context of his first forage out of Eden. Em, jaded by unwholesome experience, makes the perfect offset to James; their yin-yang dynamic moves story along as they try to meet each other in the middle. This plays out against a scene of displaced humanities majors and eccentric souls finding camaraderie by serving idiots out of necessity.
Humor comes easily. James’ conflict with the real world meets regularly with a recurring — and crudely brilliant — metaphoric punchline, while the weirdness of a theme park in the 1980s makes its own fun. Idiocy, ruckus, stoner daze and amusingly tragic styles crop up regularly, but Motolla seems careful about keeping them contextual and relatable so as not to overwhelm the earnest story. Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig are especial treats in choice moments as the theme park’s dorky/cool owners.
Acting is top notch. Eisenberg excels at making his character both alien and sympathetic. Stewart delivers much depth in the role of Em. Even the bit characters are fleshed with interest.
In short, Adventureland is a gem. Check it out.
Great comedy drama • R • 107 min.
Monsters vs. Aliens
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© DreamWorksReese Witherspoon lends her voice to the leading role of Susan/Gigantica in Dreamworks’ Monsters vs. Aliens. |
Failing to do for sci-fi what Shrek did for storybooks
reviewed by Mark Burns
Strangeness wrestles strangeness in this half-baked, animated sci-fi farce.
Susan (voice of Reese Witherspoon) is all smiles on her wedding day — until a meteorite smashes her flat. In a few blinks she mushrooms to massive heights and is whisked to a military facility where she’s hidden away with a tiny menagerie of monsters: mad scientist Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie); blob B.O.B. (Seth Rogen); fish man The Missing Link (Will Arnett); and ginormous fuzzybug Insectosaurus. Renamed Ginormica. Susan seems sadly trapped until a gigantic alien robot crashes in California. Now she and her new friends are summoned to daylight to save the world.
The filmmakers are apparently trying to do for sci-fi what Shrek did for storybooks — without the ogre tale’s imaginative focus. Monsters vs. Aliens builds itself on comedic interpretations of characters from classic 1950s’ pulp flicks: here, for instance, the Creature from the Black Lagoon is a pudgy, middle-aged jock of a fish man. From these spoofs extends a more general lampoon of the sci-fi genre, with riffs on movies from Independence Day to Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
This combo becomes a whirl of easy material good for stealing a few laughs as one-liners, wordplay and slapstick are launched in rapid barrage amid endless sight gags Maybe you have to be in the mood for it, but the constant effort to coax a laugh is exhausting. And not in a sidesplitting way.
The flick amuses, but by and large there’s too little setup or context as leverage for landing more solid punch lines. Whoopee cushion novelty lurks as a deflating force near every novel twist, and some of the sharper moments have been dulled by previews. Much of the telling is so gag-heavy that, by the last third, you may be feeling wary of all the winky elbow nudging.
Pacing slows down enough for Susan/Gigantica to sort herself out along the way, but the other monsters are cheated of their own character development; Dr. Cockroach and The Missing Link are especially flat.
At least it looks pretty. Animation is aces, offering deep dimension, creative designs and realistic renderings. And the voice cast does all right for a bunch of comic all stars; Stephen Colbert as the president is fun.
Monsters vs. Aliens is okay, but just okay. Even the kids in the theater seemed dubious. As for adults, the trip is probably funnier at rental prices.
Fair animated comedy • PG • 94 min.
Duplicity
No one — as illustrated to us in the opening set-up — should or can be trusted.
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star as former government secret agents trying to game the corporate big boys in the smart and enjoyable suspense comedy Duplicity. Writer-director Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) keeps us guessing and intrigued as the twists and turns come around every corner — even if the romantic comedy mainly fizzles.
We meet our star agents at their first encounter five years ago. American CIA agent Claire (Roberts) and British MI-6 agent Ray (Owen) hook up at a high-falutin embassy party in the Middle East. He scores the girl, and she scores the secret plans he was carrying.
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© Universal Pictures Julia Roberts and Clive Owen play opposing spies whose paths cross outside of work. |
So begins a complicated relationship with the two expert spies meeting up, sometimes on purpose and sometimes not, at notable locales around the globe. Meanwhile, in the modern day, they’ve gone private. They’re on the payroll for competing pharmaceutical corporate kingpins (Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti), who are trying to get each other’s secrets. Claire and Ray concoct their own scheme in the process.
This spy movie relies on plot twists and intrigue instead of action and danger. Indeed, nary a shot from a gun is fired, and there’s no big explosion or car chase. Instead, writer-director Gilroy uses the film vehicles of flashbacks and, well, duplicity. The movie jumps back and forth between present and past, leading up to today’s corporate goings on.
Gilroy reveals the Claire-Ray relationship to us only in pieces, so as not to ruin too much of the surprise of how they reached their current states. At the same time, we’re never quite sure who is working for whom. No one, as illustrated in the opening set-up, should or can be trusted.
Unfortunately, Roberts and Owen don’t exude lots of on-screen chemistry. Yes, they look great and have clever lines to spew at each other and others. In their own individual ways, each exudes that charm we expect in our leading ladies and men. It’s just that together they seem forced.
Then again, that is the problem with their characters’ relationship too: It is indeed forced. After all, how do two top-rate international spies get together? Better than trying to kill each other and shooting up their suburban house in the process, i.e. Brangelina in 2005’s lackluster Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Heck, maybe it can’t work at all. Lucky for us, the not working is fun to watch.
Good suspense comedy • PG-13 • 125 mins.
Race to Witch Mountain
Kudos to The Rock for reaching the mountain
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reviewed by Jonathan Parker
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson stars as a Las Vegas cabdriver who helps a couple of alien kids get back to their spaceship in the fun-filled family action comedy Race to Witch Mountain. This update of the 1975 Disney Escape to Witch Mountain doesn’t have a lot of original ideas, but director Andy Fickman (The Game Plan; She’s the Man) keeps the movie cruising along with the right blend of action, humor and adventure.
Jack Bruno (Johnson) is a down-on-his-luck taxi driver, who, after doing prison time and some muscle-work for the mob, is trying to go the straight and narrow. One day what should he find in the back of his moving cab but two blond teenagers on the run — who we all come to find out are aliens (AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig). It seems these aliens need to recover some science gadgets from our planet and return home with them. It’s very important that these kids get to their spaceship and get home. Standing in their way and in hot pursuit are the federal government, mob tough guys and, worst of all, an alien killing machine.
This movie scores points in two ways: One, by keeping the chase — and subsequently the movie — going full throttle with hardly a pause. Two, by managing to keep its far-fetched premises and plot points working just fine along the way.
Wouldn’t these alien kids stick out like sore thumbs? Not if there was a UFO convention in town, bringing a whole host of wackos to Sin City. Shouldn’t the kids be able to use their alien powers to get what they want? Not if they’re being chased by an alien even stronger then they.We are provided with just the right amount of explanation for most every little twist and turn. Sure, at the end, it makes no sense that they could penetrate the government-guarded Witch Mountain. But by that time, we’ve already given the movie an A for effort and are enjoying the ride.
Johnson is fast becoming one of the best action heroes in Hollywood. He’s that sort that never thinks about even sniffing an Oscar but gives action-ready moviegoers precisely what they want from an action hero: muscle, toughness, good-looks and humor — without overdoing it.
Despite Fickman’s nimble direction, this ultimately lightweight movie would fall on its face if it weren’t for the powers of the leading man. Kudos to The Rock for reaching the mountain.
Good family action comedy • PG • 99 mins.
Confessions of a Shopaholic
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© Touchstone PicturesIsla Fisher has the red hair, but she is no Lucy.
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
A 20-something who loves to shop sets her sights on a career in fashion journalism in the feeble-minded piece of fluff Confessions of a Shopaholic. Isla Fisher gets her first chance at Hollywood leading lady, and, while she shows potential, this time she pretty much falls flat on her face.
Rebecca Bloomwood (Fisher) is living the made-for-the-movies New York career girl dream: she works for a gardening magazine, shares an apartment with her best friend, fantasizes of better things … and, yes, shops like crazy. Her tastes lean mostly to designer clothes and accessories (as opposed to say stereo equipment or boats).
She hopes to move up at fashion titan Alette magazine, but she ends up with a job at a smaller financial magazine. It’s there that she captivates her handsome boss (Hugh Dancy), and not only does her career take off but so does her love life. One problem: She is writing about how to be thrifty and spend money wisely while her shopping habits have her under mounds of debt.
Plot-wise, this movie is about as cookie-cutter as any career-girl-in-New York-Cinderella story can be. I suppose a film in this genre doesn’t need to be original as much as it needs to entertain us … or make us laugh … or make us in some way, shape or form interested in the goings on. This film does none of the above. Instead, what we get is a series of one I Love Lucy-inspired episode after another: that type of cringe-inducing situational comedy that depends almost entirely on the talents of the actor responding to whatever unique pickle he or she is in. Fisher has the red hair, but she is no Lucy.
Fisher was the psycho little sister in 2005’s raucously fun Wedding Crashers. She isn’t a total disaster here, in her big spotlight debut. The kid’s got spunk — enough to maybe even be a successful leading comedic actress down the road. But in this vehicle, she crashes.
Plus, she gets little help from her supporting cast, especially not from love interest Dancy, doing a third-rate Hugh Grant impersonation. This, despite the fact that the rest of the cast includes top-notch talent like Kristin Scott Thomas, John Lithgow and Julie Hagerty. Director P.J. Hogan (Peter Pan, Muriel’s Wedding) just can’t make this mess into anything worthwhile.
Poor romantic comedy • PG • 100 mins.
Watchmen
Good enough as a popcorn flick, but not near as good as its graphic novel source.
reviewed by Mark Burns
Masked adventurers skim through a complex tale in this flawed adaptation.
It’s 1985. Nixon reigns on in his third term, and the doomsday clock nears midnight. Costumed heroes are relics of history, America having hounded the second generation of adventurers into the shadows via public outcry and a federal ban. When one of the original heroes, The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan: Grey’s Anatomy), turns up murdered, it’s clear that someone’s really got it in for the masks.
It’s left to vigilante detective Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley: Semi-Pro) — the lone hero to stick it out — to warn and rally the fraternity to its own defense. But as the plot against them unfolds, it seems the truth may be direr still.
The film is derived from Alan Moore’s graphic novel, arguably the most esteemed title in that popular genre. His heroes are imperfect, sometimes even despicable mortals, as well as one superhuman suffering a dissolve of empathy. Their noble intent has shaped this dark and deep alternate reality.
On film, director Jack Snyder (300) validates Moore’s disgust with filmic adaptations of his work.
There are good points, mind you. Like costuming, scenery and special effects. Loyalty to the source is thorough and works well enough to engage with an original, intelligent tale.
But much of this distillation is hard to swallow. Most unforgivably, Snyder tips his hand early and often with obvious foreshadowing, and mystery dies accordingly. In condensing the massive original into just under three hours, the filmmaker opts for Cliffs Notes summation.
Scenes of violence in the book are severe to begin with, but Snyder seems intent on trumping Moore’s gore. Moore might have shocked, but he measured the doses. Snyder runs with dumb aggression.
There’s enough here to make Watchmen enjoyable as a popcorn flick. But come seeking the substance of Moore’s creation, and you’ll be disappointed.
Fair sci-fi adventure • R • 163 min.
Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail
It’s certainly not the first comedy to push a message. But it might have the biggest mood swings.
reviewed by Mark Burns
Drag banter and Dickensian drama jostle for the fore in this imbalanced dramedy.
Madea (Tyler Perry: The Family That Preys) is a liberated, rumble-grumble matriarch with a penchant for meting out indignant rants and karmic comeuppance in equal portions. But her own unique sense of personal vigilantism has crossed the popo (police) one time too many. She must tread lightly lest she wear out the system’s patience and wind up in jail. Of course, as the title divulges, her impulses win out.
Simultaneously, prosecutor Josh (Derek Luke: Miracle at St. Anna) is preparing to wed his debutante coworker when he crosses paths anew with a ghost of his past. Candy (Keshia Knight Pulliam: House of Payne), a friend of mysterious origin, reemerges as a streetwalker Josh is compelled to rescue. She’s bound for jail, too, where Madea just might set her straight with some wise/wisecracking candor.
So emerges the film’s dual life, as writer/director Tyler Perry’s Medea shtick plays out in stark contrast to a very heavy dramatic counterpoint. It’s certainly not the first comedy to push a message. But it just might have the biggest mood swings.
Perry reprises his costumed roles as eccentric elderfolk with Medea holding center. Comedy swings wild with zingers, hyperbolic characters and the general silliness of elders gone wrong. Sometimes jokes connect for solid slapstick; others comprise a whiffle bat of lame juvenilia (see: Madea’s therapy session with Dr. Phil). Madea holds her certain feisty edge, but her mischief is inconsistent and too often seems uninspired rehash.
Perry may well have one foot out of the old lady fat suit, for his dramatic delve smacks of more serious ambition. Madea is increasingly squeezed out by a redemption story that seems to draw energy from the African American class debate fueled by Bill Cosby et. al. There is relevance in the tale and a strong dramatic drive as Perry pursues a harsh, if summary, depiction of addiction and prostitution.
The auteur deserves credit for his effort, but it isn’t very neatly executed. Drama here is so heavy that Madea’s comedic arc seems mismatched. She only intersects by happenstance and is operating on such a foreign plane that she never knits into the dominant dramatic story. Plot circles and dwells unto monotony as if Perry is stalling. The expected convictions arrive late in the movie, and the transformative prison experience and exercise in justice are reduced to a cheat of montage.
There is enough fun and food for thought to yield worthy moments. But Perry might have done better to divide the moments into different movies.
Poor comedy • PG-13 • 103 mins.
He’s Just Not That Into You
This filmic version of a best-selling relationship guide is moderate, cute and unremarkable.
reviewed by Mark Burns
Twenty-somethings and elder-somethings wend their ways through the myths of relationships in this best-selling relationship guide gone filmic.
Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin: Big Love) is a fool for love, or at least the possibility of love. By accepting the words of men at face value and misinterpreting the strange flappings of masculine signals, she has seen her dreams of romantic fulfillment trampled time and again. But one remarkably candid man, Alex (Justin Long: Zack and Miri Make a Porno), has pulled her aside from the latest cold shoulder to enlighten her with hitherto classified masculine insights. By way of friendly but direct instruction, he peels back Gigi’s naiveté and awakens her to the games men play, kindling empowerment and … perhaps something more.
Ooo-OOO-ooo …
So plays the central strand of this ladies’ night out, an ensemble piece about the foolish misconceptions and bad decisions people make in relationships and dating. For thoroughness’ sake there is also a married couple, a frustrated Internet dater, an unmarried committed couple, a frustrated suitor and a would-be other woman — all interconnected in the narrative weave. Add a gaggle of pithy/playful gay men, and you have yourself a rollick.
Director Ken Kwapis (License to Wed) keeps the intertwining angles neatly ordered and evenly paced as the three stories unfold cleanly, broken up by surprise intersections, smaller side story interludes and real world interviews à la When Harry Met Sally.
Indeed, the filmmakers seem after a 21st century version of the Harry/Sally dynamic, offering a play on the revised rules of engagement. Their attempt is nifty enough, but by dissipating the rules across ensemble and eliminating character acting they’ve softened punchline, bringing the film nowhere near Harry’s & Sally’s heights.
He’s Just Not That Into You is moderate, cute, airy and just empowering enough to qualify for children’s programming on the We network. It’s breezy, fun and, oh, maybe a little misty. But it’s also unremarkable. Not to mention emasculating.
Good romance • PG-13 • 129 mins.
The Reader
The romance is painfully slow and obvious — and not especially erotic.
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
A teenage boy has an affair with an older woman in post-World War II Germany with unusual consequences later in life in the intriguing but mostly flat romantic drama The Reader. Working from the best-selling 1995 novel, director Stephen Daldry (The Hours; Billy Elliot) paints a meticulous picture unfortunately filled with too many clichés. That is until we get to the dramatic twist more than halfway through the movie.
Set as flashback, awkward but handsome schoolboy Michael Berg (David Kross) meets a kind and mysterious 30-something woman, Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), who aids him on a rainy day. When he returns to thank her, something clicks, and a romance emerges. For the next few months, his days are spent ditching his school chums, making love to Hanna and reading books to her in bed. As summer ends, Hanna moves away, leaving only a lifelong impression. (This is made evident in the film’s opening as the adult Michael — Ralph Fiennes — flashes back.) Yet Michael and Hanna will meet again.
I must confess that this is not my kind of movie. Just because this romance is set in a period 50 years ago and directed with a delicate hand doesn’t mean it is any less clichéd than your pick of any bad teen dramas currently on TV. On their first romantic meeting, she leaves her door ajar; he peers through; he sees her adjusting her stocking; she sees him seeing her adjusting her stocking: Give me a break. I found the whole romance painfully slow and obvious, and not especially erotic. Even if the plot points are not predictable, the emotional content is.
The movie takes a change for the better when we fast forward to Michael’s life in law school. It’s here that events catch us off balance and intrigue us. To tell much more than the fact that Hanna reenters Michael’s life in a surprising way would be telling too much.
Fair romance drama • R • 123 mins.
Gran Torino
Vintage Eastwood: Thoughtful, involving and fast moving
reviewed by Jonathan Parker
Clint Eastwood stars as a crotchety widower unhappy with the changing world around him until he meets his new Asian-American neighbors in the impressively thoughtful and involving drama Gran Torino. Eastwood’s direction, more than his acting, gives this movie flight, with many of the film’s themes harkening back to other Eastwood pictures. Some will resonate, and some will ruffle feathers.
Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a Korean War vet who lives in a working-class neighborhood of Detroit. It’s a neighborhood once Polish but now dominated by Hmong immigrants. Retired, without his wife and with no regard for the families of his two suburban-residing sons, Walt and his conservative ways seem content to sit it out and grumble his life away on the front porch.
That comes to an end when, through events playing out on his front lawn, he is drawn in to help his teenage neighbor fend off gang members. Soon enough, despite Walt’s attempts to go his own way, he is involved with the neighbor family and subsequently much of the neighborhood. As the gang activity persists, Walt is drawn into action.
As a tale unto itself, the film is both original and, thanks to Eastwood’s typically straightforward fast-moving directorial style, engaging. In some ways, a tale of gang members in an ethnically changing neighborhood is the stuff of the 1980s. Yet Detroit hasn’t followed the same urban renewal path as a New York or an L.A. It’s a perfect setting for Eastwood’s topics and themes.
Indeed, what makes this film shine brighter than only-solid fare are the allusions to Eastwood’s past. Much has been made of the fact that Walt is in many ways an aging Dirty Harry. He certainly has Harry’s do-it-yourself vengeful attitude. But we also see strains of other Eastwood pictures, like his western swan song Unforgiven and his interest in Asian cultures in Letters from Iwo Jima.
Undoubtedly, Walt’s vengeful and bigoted sides will not sit well with some filmgoers, and frankly Eastwood the actor sometimes plays out his role to nearly cartoonish extremes (his grumbling in the movie’s funeral opening gives us quick notice). But we’re not supposed to treat Walt like a role model; he has real flaws and problems. The question: Can he overcome those to do the right thing? And is there even a right thing to do? Here’s arguing that Eastwood the director does it right.
Very good drama • R • 116 mins.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
This moody fantasy is not perfect, but it’s a thoroughly enjoyable escape.
reviewed by Mark Burns
A man-boy moonwalks through his personal timeline in this curious drama.
Age, as you might have gathered, is moving against the grain of time for Benjamin (Brad Pitt: Burn Before Reading). He emerges into the world ancient — a puggish gnarl of cataracts and ossified joints — and is abandoned as a
newborn on the steps of a New Orleans old folks’ home. There he is taken in by the adoring Queenie (Taraji P. Henson: Boston Legal) and raised among the elderly, slowly tottering to his feet and shedding the burdens of years as he matures. His lonely path of self discovery is brightened by Daisy (Cate Blanchett: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), the radiant granddaughter of one of the housemates. But their opportunity for love is fleeting as they grasp for each other while passing through life in opposite directions.
The movie springboards from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, published in 1921. In this loosely loyal imagining Button’s trip is subtle Gump, in that a gentle Southern soul trails the heels of fate across a 20th century backdrop. Rather than stumbling into the fore of history, however, Benjamin skirts the edges as a man detached from the flow. Introspective walkabouts, musings on mortality and romantic yearning color this intimate tale as Benjamin discovers life backwards from 1917 into the ’80s.
The tale unfolds tidily via flashback from the hospital bed of an aged Daisy, circa 2005, as Daisy’s daughter Caroline reads aloud from Benjamin’s journal. This format isn’t perfect: Flashback occasionally devolves toward exploitive Hallmark schlock, goading empathy by way of the on-screen reader’s teary reactions.
But it’s not all cornball. Current scenes remain unobtrusive, and the interspersing of past and present works to mix up perspective, fill in story gaps and deliver momentum.
Occasional digressions pepper the mix, with the colorful gothic tale of Monsieur Gateau serving prelude and one old-timer’s running gag flashbacks delivering blips of levity.
Said blips help bring welcome energy to the piece, which is otherwise a zen-like meander as Benjamin gazes out on his life as spectator. It’s interesting, mind you. But his subtlety and evenness is such that he teeters between enigma and tofu. Fortunately the film fleshes out the journey with colorful supporting characters.
Visuals are vivid enough that they might just outdo the characters. Director David Fincher composes the tale in rich hues and sepia tones that verge on dream and reflect the romance of the southern gothic tale, but without going overboard. And the effects crew turns in a sharp performance as well, guiding Pitt and Blanchett through filmic aging with a deft, seamless touch. In the slide toward adolescence Pitt looks younger than in his Thelma and Louise debut.
All told, it’s a good flick. Not perfect, but a nice escape. It may be a little melodramatic for some tastes, and it is chock-full of vittles for film geeks who like metaphor and symbol. It’s worth noting, for instance, which way a hurricane spends. While going its own way the film stays true to Fitzgerald’s southern gothic roots and makes for a thoroughly enjoyable moody fantasy.