MOVIE REVIEW
Larry Crowne (2011)
Bruce Talamon/Universal Pictures
The pairing of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts warrants some kind of all-time rom-com classic. “Charlie Wilson’s War” wasn’t it. Unfortunately, neither is “Larry Crowne” — far from it, in fact. Co-written by Mr. Hanks and Nia Vardalos, the new film recalls the most pedestrian, episodic sitcomesque qualities of the latter’s claim to fame, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” It just leaves you wondering why Mr. Hanks — who also dons the director’s hat here — couldn’t at least call Nora Ephron in for a rewrite.
Continue reading “Set in Retrain” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011)
Barry Wetcher/20th Century Fox
“Mr. Popper’s Penguins” is one of the rather regrettable updated adaptations of classic children’s books that come around every so often. “Stuart Little” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” are among those that come to mind.
Richard and Florence Atwater, authors of the Newbery Honor-winning 1938 book upon which this film is based, would doubtfully be pleased with this standard-issue slapstick-with-sentimentality family production.
Continue reading “March Hare of the Penguins” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Friends With Benefits (2011)
David Giesbrecht/Screen Gems
Gawker declared “Friends With Benefits” its favorite movie throughout July and August 2010 during its filming in New York. Although one’s never sure if such a distinction comes with a side of sarcasm, it’s not difficult to figure why the finished product would cease to be on Gawker’s good side. At the beginning of the film, Justin Timberlake works at a TMZ-esque blog in Los Angeles as its art director. The fact that his job entails responsibilities generally dumped on some unpaid intern proficient in Photoshop notwithstanding, Mr. Timberlake uses a giant iPad-esque touch-screen content-management system that’s a thing of the future. What’s more, a recruiter played by Mila Kunis has spent some six months persuading him to interview in New York for the art director position at GQ. Not only does he get an offer despite wearing an off-the-rack outfit to the interview, but along with it a plush, spacious luxury apartment that rents for at least $5,000 a month to ease the sting of Condé Nast’s reputedly paltry wages.
Continue reading “Know the Strings Attached” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Double Hour (2009)
Samuel Goldwyn Films
A patron found himself rained in at New York’s Quad Cinema without an umbrella amid the unexpected showers on June 9, so he saw three films in a row that afternoon. Upon exiting “The Double Hour,” he asked if the usher had seen it. Much as he enjoyed the film, the patron said he didn’t get it. The usher concurred and referred him to photocopies of a write-up, saying he liked it but wasn’t much into reading (i.e. the subtitles) at the movies. If you feel the way they did, you’re in luck! Here’s a very service-y review complete with spoilers, so you can discuss the film in an educated way with your very cultured friends and feel infinitely superior.
In spite of its Italian origin, “The Double Hour” actually hails from the M. Night Shyamalan/Alejandro Amenábar school of unreliable narrators and if-you-blink-you-miss plots circa the 1990s. Thus, this review will divulge privileged information withheld from viewers during the first two-thirds of the movie and disseminate it in chronological order. If you haven’t seen the film, please consider yourself warned.
Continue reading “Add Head Injury to Insult Intelligence” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Viva Riva! (2011)
Music Box Films
It’s wonderful to see a movie that knows exactly what it is doing, and looks great while doing it. It’s fantastic to see a movie completely frank about sex, money and the violence people are willing to commit in pursuit of those two things. It’s brilliant to see a movie where the script is as smart as the staging, and where the staging doesn’t just make you wonder how much it has cost. And it’s so much fun to see a movie that takes its perfect setup and perfectly delivers.
Continue reading “Do That Congo Beat” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Super 8 (2011)
François Duhamel/Paramount Pictures
Paramount has engaged in a meticulous secrecy campaign with its marketing of “Super 8,” the latest directorial effort from writer-director-producer-all-around-mogul J. J. Abrams. Its trailers and other promotional spots reveal little beyond the promise of a nostalgic return to Amblin-style family entertainment.
It’s a smart, effective tactic for drumming up interest in the summer’s first major release that’s not a sequel, comic-book installment or the latest film off the lucrative Judd Apatow assembly line. It’s also a bit self-destructive, creating the promise and expectation of some sort of big, earth-shattering narrative with a major M. Night Shyamalan-at-his-best caliber surprise that’d have been frankly impossible for Mr. Abrams, given the tenor of what he was working on.
Continue reading “Close Encounters of the Amblin Kind” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Senna (2010)
2011 Sundance Film Festival
“The main motivation for us all is to compete for a victory.” In a simple, single phrase, Brazilian Formula One icon Ayrton Senna betrayed the unrelenting drive and intensity of his ambition that led him from junior karting in his homeland to become the most exciting racing driver of his generation and the multiple Formula One world championships that came with it. It was, too, this inherent sense of purpose and passion for his sport that led to his tragic death at the age of just 34 at the infamous Tamburello corner at San Marino’s Imola circuit on a fateful May Day weekend in 1994.
Continue reading “A Driving Force to Be Reckoned With” »
MOVIE REVIEW
X-Men: First Class (2011)
Murray Close/20th Century Fox
“X-Men: First Class” is the crowning achievement of the mutant-superhero franchise thus far, a rejuvenated enterprise with a new director and cast and a story worth telling. Matthew Vaughn (“Layer Cake,” “Kick-Ass”) takes over and makes a film all his own, an efficient and emotionally affecting character-driven spectacle that is enhanced but not overwhelmed by its elaborate action scenes.
Continue reading “A Mutant Admiration Society” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Mr. Nice (2010)
Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg
"How can you declare war on plants," muses Howard Marks, having become the biggest marijuana dealer in 1980s Britain without really trying and found himself squarely in the law's crosshair. "Ineffectually" turns out to be the answer, even when fighting someone born to be mild. Played by Rhys Ifans in full shaggy-dog mode in Bernard Rose's loose but very smart biopic "Mr. Nice," Mr. Marks appears to be as unhardened a criminal as they come, an amiable loafer who drifts into dope at Oxford University and never drifts out again.
Continue reading “Accidental Birth of an Anarchist” »
MOVIE REVIEW
A Serbian Film (2010)
Invincible Pictures
Caveat: This review assumes your awareness of “A Serbian Film” and its notoriety. Readers casually browsing through this site who’ve never heard of the title before should stop right here and move on to something else. The sole raison d’être for this review is to advance — rather than initiate — the discussion on the film, as all other write-ups so far have been polarizing yet uniformly prudish. In order to fully engage, this review will spare no graphic detail. So before going forward, please consider yourself warned.
Continue reading “Breaking Eastern Promises” »