MOVIE REVIEW
Easy Virtue (2008)
Giles Keyte/Sony Pictures Classics
Noel Coward was best known for imbuing his work with incisive wit, even in plays regarded far less fondly than “Private Lives” or “Hay Fever.” It’s that spirit most closely preserved by director Stephan Elliott in his adaptation of “Easy Virtue,” which most experts consider a lesser entrant in the playwright’s oeuvre. Unfortunately, the combination of cleverly-constructed, snappy dialogue and the filmmaker’s concerted effort to fill the film with broad, audience-friendly comedy cannot compensate for the narrative thinness at its core.
Continue reading “Bride’s Head on a Platter, Revisited” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Angels & Demons (2009)
Zade Rosenthal/Columbia Pictures
“Angels & Demons” is a serviceable bit of nonsense from the Dan Brown pipeline. As a Ron Howard-directed film, it’s tighter and more exciting than “The Da Vinci Code,” but still hampered by a rather thorough ridiculousness. So much can be made of the insular, mysterious inner workings of the Roman Catholic Church, that it’s a shame such a ripe milieu has, for the second time, been reduced to common thriller fodder.
Continue reading “Vatican in the Spotlight, Losing Its Religion” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Adoration (2009)
Sophie Giraud/Sony Pictures Classics
Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration” takes a powerful, simple subject and mucks up its exploration with elaborate stylistic complications and moments of pure over direction. At its core is the grief-stricken story tinged with guilt, of a teenager learning to cope with the accidental death of his parents years earlier. Mr. Egoyan transforms that narrative into a murky rendition of the seedier side of the Web, and hampers it through the high-concept development of a premise centered on a convoluted role-playing assignment taken on with gusto by the main character and a central figure in his life.
Continue reading “Caught in the Web, Where the Truth Lies” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Star Trek (2009)
Industrial Light & Magic/Paramount Pictures
Few cinematic ventures could be more fraught with peril than a revamping of the “Star Trek” franchise. No single pop phenomenon of the last half of the 20th century has amassed a more expansive, devoted following, and most ardent Trekkies tend to react to any changes to the canon as one might respond to the murder of a family member. Couple that with the fact that the most recent movies and TV spinoffs suffered a precipitous drop in quality and director J. J. Abrams can truly be said to have had his work cut out for him.
Continue reading “Boldly Revisit Where No Man Has Gone Before” »
MOVIE REVIEW
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Michael Muller/20th Century Fox
It’s fair to question whether the “X-Men” cinematic franchise would be remotely viable were it not for the presence of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, its bad-ass centerpiece and seemingly the only mutant more prone to kicking butt than moping. He oozes charisma in the role, snarling and pounding away at his enemies with gusto while projecting wells of anger sprung forth from deep, hidden pain.
So it’s perfectly logical that he’d serve as the focal point of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” the first spin-off. The film, directed by Gavin Hood from a screenplay by David Benioff and Skip Woods, reveals the tumultuous, century-spanning back story that led Wolverine (née James Logan) to Prof. Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his team. It begins with the defining traumatic event of his childhood, spans the major American wars, incorporates his brief time working on an illicit operation spearheaded by William Stryker (Danny Huston) and culminates with his quest for blood years later, after Victor Creed/Sabertooth (Liev Schreiber) murders Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins).
Continue reading “Stalked in the Forest, Too Close to Hide” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Serious Moonlight (2009)
Will McGarry/Serious Moonlight, LLC
“Serious Moonlight” reaffirms what “Waitress” proved: The murder of Adrienne Shelly not only robbed the world of a mother, wife and talented actress, but an incredibly gifted and incisive filmmaking mind. Here Cheryl Hines directs one of Shelly’s unproduced screenplays, using the sort of elaborate battle-of-the-sexes setup intrinsic to the films of classic verbal stylists like Howard Hawks to arrive at some heartfelt human truths.
Continue reading “Duct-Taping the Knot” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Limits of Control (2009)
Teresa Isasi-Isasmendi/Focus Features
In “The Limits of Control,” Jim Jarmusch disappears so thoroughly into his elliptical style that he’s made an impossibly obtuse, arid film. It’s a vague abstraction of images, albeit ones framed with dreamlike, painterly gusto by rock-star DP Christopher Doyle. An exercise in gaudy self-indulgence, the film plods along through a series of cumbersome encounters, testing not the limits of control, but of patience.
Continue reading “Hit Man of La Mancha” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Tyson (2009)
Larry McConkey/Sony Pictures Classics
Love him or hate him – and at this point most people probably opt for the latter – there’s no doubting the imprint Mike Tyson has left on the past two-and-a-half decades of popular culture. From his dominant run as undisputed heavyweight champion in the 1980s to the precipitous fall from grace surrounding his rape conviction and his resurrection as an ear-biting, heart-munching sideshow, he’s never been far from the spotlight.
That profound link between Mr. Tyson’s public identity and the zeitgeist at large makes him a worthy subject for a documentary, but only one made by a filmmaker willing to resist hagiography and ask the tough questions. James Toback has done that with “Tyson,” a film that presents the entire arc of Mr. Tyson’s life in his own words, without the armchair psychological diagnoses of talking head experts. Whatever the reason – probably their longstanding personal relationship – Mr. Tyson deeply trusts Mr. Toback and opens up about his failings as honestly as could ever be expected.
Continue reading “Fighting the Raging Bull” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Tell Tale (2009)
Eric Lee/Tribeca Film Festival
The world premiere screening of Michael Cuesta’s “Tell Tale,” held Friday night as part of the Tribeca Film Festival, was interrupted with calls for EMS as a man slumped over in his seat, possibly fainting or suffering a seizure. Without making light of the occurrence or improbably speculating about it, it’s not inconceivable that Mr. Cuesta’s film could have such an intensely visceral effect on an audience member.
Continue reading “Total Eclipse of the Heart” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Soloist (2009)
Francois Duhamel/Paramount Pictures
“The Soloist” is an impressive technical achievement, a unique visual portrait of Los Angeles and a creative evocation of the orgiastic power of Beethoven and Bach. Still, although the film features many elements conducive to a compelling human drama, it never quite gets there. With a premise that relies heavily on dynamic characters whose dynamism is never tangibly felt, irreparable discordance develops between the high caliber craft and a narrative that’s frankly less affecting than it should be.
Continue reading “Homeless Schizophrenic Easier to Save Than L.A. Times” »