MOVIE REVIEW
We Bought a Zoo (2011)
Neal Preston/20th Century Fox
With “We Bought a Zoo,” Cameron Crowe has more or less remade “Jerry Maguire” with cuddly wuddly animals in place of memorable one-liners. The new film is about that same foolhardy idealism that drives a man to stake everything he has.
Although based on a true story, the film has inexplicably transported the Dartmoor Zoological Park from the county of Devon in southwest England to southern California. After his son Dylan (Colin Ford) is expelled from school for various antisocial transgressions, widower Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) decides it’s time for a change of scenery. So he quits his job at the Los Angeles Times and squanders an inheritance on a decrepit countryside zoo. While Mr. Crowe and co-writer Aline Brosh McKenna have preserved many details in the trans-Atlantic migration, they are seemingly oblivious to the fact that real-life Mr. Mee’s former employer, the Guardian, has just launched an American edition.
Continue reading “Show Me the Monkey” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Hugo (2011)
Jaap Buitendijk/Paramount Pictures
One would expect any hardcore Scorsese fan to greet “Hugo” with some measure of trepidation: Has Martin Scorsese finally lost it? Could this PG-rated 3-D fantasy-adventure in fact be his equivalent of Francis Ford Coppola’s Robin Williams-Jennifer Lopez flick, “Jack”? Happily, such is not the case. In essence, “Hugo” the family-friendly extravaganza is only a pretext for Mr. Scorsese’s big-budget love letter to Georges Méliès and for his propaganda film championing moving-image archiving and preservation. You can pretty much tell the auteur was sleepwalking through all the C.G.I.-laden set pieces. But when the movie ventures into his passion-project territories, it comes more alive than any 3-D gimmickry.
Continue reading “The Ageless Innocence” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Three Musketeers (2011)
Rolf Konow/Summit Entertainment
Not sure what Alexandre Dumas père ever did to deserve having “The Three Musketeers” defiled for the big screen more than 20 times. With the exception of the 1921 Douglas Fairbanks and the 1948 George Sidney versions, few are even remotely watchable. It seems that with each new stab at upping the ante, the story’s quality takes another hit. If you don’t think it can possibly get worse than the one with Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O’Donnell and Oliver Platt from 1993, just wait until you see the new 3-D treatment.
Continue reading “It Takes More Than a Good Man to Prevent a Catastrophe” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Descendants (2011)
Fox Searchlight Pictures
“The Descendants” is at a serious disadvantage when held up against other films by Alexander Payne. But that’s only because Jim Taylor’s whip-smart dialogue is noticeably absent this time (although he is still onboard as a producer). Once you get past the screenplay’s higgledy-piggledy treatment of Kaui Hart Hemmings’s source novel, the film ultimately proves another success for Mr. Payne. To wit, he convincingly pulls off the central conceit that a woman in her right mind would actually cheat on George Clooney with Matthew Lillard, which is no small feat if you really think about it.
Continue reading “Pupukahi I Holomua” »
MOVIE REVIEW
A Dangerous Method (2011)
Liam Daniel/Sony Pictures Classics
Many of those who have seen “A Dangerous Method” have complained about it not being Cronenbergian enough. Although it revolves around two titans in the field of psychology, the film isn’t that psycho-thriller you’re expecting and doesn’t showcase anything nearly as spectacular as Miranda Richardson juggling three roles. Think of it instead as the David Cronenberg equivalent of David Lynch’s “The Straight Story.” Essentially, “A Dangerous Method” is a deeply political cautionary tale from a staunch atheist about the price of conformity and repression.
Continue reading “A History of Conformance” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Johnny English Reborn (2011)
Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
Rowan Atkinson is synonymous with Mr. Bean, which could mean either that he has taken the character to an art form or that he is a one-trick pony. “Johnny English Reborn” would suggest the latter. Although Mr. Atkinson might in fact be capable of much more, makers of this film seem intent on preserving the winning “Mr. Bean” formula — which also means not alienating the “Mr. Bean” audience. There are only so many moves you can bust comedy-wise to the inoffensive, family-friendly, PG-rated tune, and “Johnny English Reborn” just about exhausts the entire repertoire. Yes, there’s a poop joke in the form of a soiled diaper.
Continue reading “Diapers Are Forever” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Kid With a Bike (2011)
Christine Plenus/Sundance Selects
Brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have a real talent for creating unpleasant characters. Their latest enfant terrible is 13-year-old Cyril Catoul (Thomas Doret), protagonist of “The Kid With a Bike.” He’s been throwing fits nonstop ever since his father Guy (Jérémie Renier, naturellement) dropped him off at an orphanage and then disappeared without a trace. Master cinematographer Ed Lachman grumbled privately after the New York Film Festival press screening that the portrayal of the father isn’t believable. But who really can blame Guy for being so heartless when Cyril is evidently some kind of demon spawn with a case of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder from hell?
Continue reading “Child’s Play Hell” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Shame (2011)
MK2
British artist Steve McQueen has garnered much attention in the film world, and one has to wonder whether his meteoric rise to fame has more to do with ignorant moviegoers finding his name vaguely familiar and ergo deserving attention. Because to be frank, what critics initially interpreted as abstractionist about “Hunger” now seems like inarticulacy in retrospect.
Continue reading “Par for the Intercourse” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Le Havre (2011)
Marja-Leena Hukkanen/Janus Films
The illegal-immigration theme has reenergized the careers of several master filmmakers of late, Ken Loach and the Dardennes among them. It’s like adding a new ingredient to a proven recipe and presto. Aki Kaurismäki is the most recent to try his hand, mixing the illegals with his usual ragtag crew of lovable outcasts. While such an experiment hasn’t proven successful for all auteurs, it has definitely worked to Mr. Kaurismäki’s advantage. “Le Havre” is easily the most humanist, generous and hopeful movie in recent memory.
Continue reading “The Man Without a Passport” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Miss Bala (2011)
Eniac Martínez/Fox International Productions
“Miss Bala” is an endlessly grim anecdote about the vicious Mexican drug cartels as seen from the perspective of a beauty queen loosely based on Miss Sinaloa 2008, Laura Elena Zúñiga. Whereas the real-life Ms. Zúñiga was allegedly dating a high-ranking leader of the Juárez Cartel, her movie counterpart, Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman), seems decidedly less complicit.
Continue reading “Beauty Is Only Skinned Deep” »