MOVIE REVIEW
The Exploding Girl (2009)
Carolyn Drake/
The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival
Bradley Rust Gray’s latest collaboration with wife So Yong Kim is an intimate and quirky (albeit incredibly lightweight) portrayal of a developing relationship that lends credence to the adage that sometimes what’s left unsaid is more important than what actually is.
MOVIE REVIEW
St. Trinian's (2007)
NeoClassics Films
This sixth “St. Trinian’s" film, which opened in Britain in 2007 before finally earning its American release this week, attempts to reboot the franchise based on the work of Ronald Searle. Beginning with 1954’s “The Belles of St. Trinian’s” and culminating, or so it seemed, with “The Wildcats of St. Trinian’s” (1980), it’s a beloved comedy series in Britain, if only a semi-known one stateside.
MOVIE REVIEW
Adventures of Power (2009)
Variance Films
You can’t crush a man’s dreams, even if his is to be the best air drummer in the world. That’s the premise in this “Rocky”-meets-“Napoleon Dynamite” picture written, directed and starring Ari Gold as the titular Power. He looks like a dorky Spike Jonze with a Members Only jacket and a perpetual sweatband. For some inexplicable reason, the powers that be refuse to begin the film’s title with some sort of definite article. One might assume they were going for a play on words, but that feels a little high-minded for this film. This movie is so chock full of quirk that none of the characters are even remotely believable. It’s geared toward the youth — kids and teens who thought the aforementioned “Dynamite” was hilarious and quoted it incessantly.
MOVIE REVIEW
Trucker (2009)
Kevin Estrada/Trucker Productions
Set against the vast expanse of the American West, James Mottern’s “Trucker” tells the story of a lone wolf who’s an archetype in every way but these: She’s a woman and a mother. As played by Michelle Monaghan, Diane is as hard-nosed and rugged as the California dessert she inhabits, prone to spending weeks on the road driving her truck, aggressive random sexual encounters and some serious drinking.
The picture, which resists the pull of easy catharsis and obvious emotion, depicts the ways her personality modifies when circumstances find her caring for the adolescent son Peter (Jimmy Bennett) she abandoned more than a decade ago. The story of the reformation of a mother-son bond has been told many times before, while the relationship traverses the predictable range from mutual disgust and unease to powerful love.
MOVIE REVIEW
The Damned United (2009)
Laurie Sparham/Sony Pictures Classics
Sport at the highest levels can very often be boiled down to little more than a clash of egos. For proof, look no further than the me first attitudes of such N.F.L. players as Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, who take to the sidelines, the media and their Twitter accounts to let their favorable self-impressions be known. This fundamental principle applies to the political world as well, the behind-the-scenes complications of which have helped the screenwriter and playwright Peter Morgan make his name with his work on “The Deal,” “The Queen” and “Frost/Nixon.”
MOVIE REVIEW
Couples Retreat (2009)
John Johnson/Universal Studios
The cast and crew of “Couples Retreat” would most likely defend their lackluster production with a simple, collective “You had to be there.” And who could blame them? Set amidst the bright, postcard-come-to-life scenery of Bora Bora, the comedy about marital errors must have been all-inclusive for those involved. There’s fancy cocktails and spas employed with attractive masseuses, snorkeling in crystal-clear waters and private cabanas. What’s missing, though, is anything resembling sharp wit. Passable at best, “Couples Retreat” — directed by actor and now first-time director, Peter Billingsley — coasts on the likability of its agreeable cast, an enormous advantage to have when your script is content with pushing comedy to its bare minimum. Seemingly fine with (at least) amusing themselves, the folks behind this just-there effort have essentially turned their own group vacation into a feature film. Too bad there’s no free drinks for the ticket buyers.
MOVIE REVIEW
An Education (2009)
Kerry Brown/Sony Pictures Classics
The tenderness of Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig’s “An Education” is positively overpowering, to a degree that even underage-cavorting is easy to forgive — thematically, of course. For her 17th birthday, wise-beyond-her-years schoolgirl Jenny (played magnificently by newcomer Carey Mulligan) is taken to Paris by the much older David (Peter Saarsgard at his best). Full of worldly charm and sophistication, David represents all that Jenny strives for. Thus, resisting his persistent courtship is all the more difficult. In Paris, she succumbs to his gentleman's flirtation, and the scene — set in a small yet plush hotel room — is sublime. So sweet, that when the narrative butterflies cease to fly and reality sets in, the sight of what’s essentially uncomfortable cradle-rocking achieves the desirability of an enviable romance. By this point into the film, the simplistic beauty of “An Education” has reached the point of no return. An irresistible one-way ticket, it is.
DVDS
Trick ’r Treat (2009)
Joe Lederer/Warner Bros. Entertainment
Loyal to a genre constantly attacked for its dependency on remakes and generally uninspired fare, horror fans won’t hesitate to rally behind a good film when one is mistreated. The outcry process unfolds in three stages. The first takes places at film festivals, where too-hardcore foreign films and executive-worrying studio projects enthrall critics before beginning their flights under the commercial radar. Then, a waiting period (average duration: one year at least) leaves fans hungry and agitated, placing question marks on when they’ll see those festival darlings. The third and final stage can go two ways, either with an unceremonious dumping into a minor number of theaters or the straight-to-DVD dispatching of said films. Drivel such as “The Unborn” earn 2,000-plus-screen releases.
MOVIE REVIEW
Paranormal Activity (2009)
Fantastic Fest
The escalating phenomenon that is “Paranormal Activity” carries with it a double-edged sword that sharpens with each additional sold-out show. Made three years ago, writer-director Oren Peli’s debut — a cinema verité take on the old haunted-house motif — has been bubbling into a lava-pool full of hot and bothered horror critics since its initial 2007 film-festival rounds. After a year’s worth of grassroots buzz-building, the film was picked up by Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks this past January. Lame-brained plans to remake Mr. Peli’s product were wisely ditched, leading to an underground wave of midnight screenings that kicked off late September. Its extremely limited run of midnight-or-later screenings has already brought in upwards of $535,000 for the $15,000-costing film, prompting Paramount Pictures to formally open the the company’s scrappy little cash calf in more markets — and at all hours — this weekend.
MOVIE REVIEW
Broken Embraces (2009)
Emilio Pereda and Paola Ardizzoni/
Sony Pictures Classics
Since the triumphant “All About My Mother,” Pedro Almodóvar has spent the last 10 years making middlebrow melodramas and noirs. In other words, he hasn’t been making those sexy, hysterical and fun movies that first garnered him attention stateside two decades ago. Then again, having a male character in drag was bold and flamboyant in the 1980s. It’s cliché in 2009 — hello, Ang Lee — and even Mr. Almodóvar knows this.
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