Review – Page 191 – We Are Movie Geeks

THE NICE GUYS – Review

Los Angeles is maybe known world-wide as an entertainment mecca, ground zero for all things that glitter, but it’s also the locale for thrillers and the “hard-boiled” mystery. Everybody from Bogie to Bob Mitchum threw on a trench coat, adjusted their fedoras, and strolled down those dark streets and alleys, looking for danger (and dangerous dames). This week’s new flick somewhat echoes those noir “programmers”. Being a big Summer release, we’ve got two “gumshoes” dodging bullets. And it’s not post WWII California, but rather post Vietnam War “la la land” circa 1977 (near Christmas-time). Now, with two bickering private eyes, you might consider this a variation of the standard “cop buddy” actioner. That’s appropriate since this movie is directed by the screenwriter who set the template for police team-up flicks back in 1987 with LETHAL WEAPON, Shane Black. It turns out that this movie’s heroes are just as lethal as Riggs and Murtaugh, although they refer to themselves as THE NICE GUYS.
The film’s story does commence in that year of the first STAR WARS adventure, as we witness the spectacular demise of porn actress Misty Mountains (Murielle Telio). But is she really gone? A wealthy relative, Mrs. Glenn (Lois Smith) swears she has seen her, and hires the somewhat disreputable but fully licensed PI Holland March (Ryan Gosling) to find her. During his work, Holland tries to locate another aspiring actress Amelia Kuttner (Margaret Qualley). But Ms. K has hired her own PI (sans said license), self-defense guru Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), to find out why some guys (plural) are asking her friends about her. Healy catches up to March, strongly advising him to back off during a beat down witnessed by March’s precocious 13 year-old daughter, (Mom’s out of the picture) Holly (Angourie Rice). Case closed, so thinks Healy until two very tough goons bust up his place demanding Amelia’s location. These brutal pros convince Healy that some very powerful folks must be interested in the lady. Reluctantly he teams with March to find her before they do. This pairing sends the miss-matched duo into the seedy world of adult films, ecology protesters, the US auto industry, and the department of justice as the evade a most deadly hit man named, of all things, John Boy (Matt Bomer).

The story’s main draw are indeed, the two “nice” guys at its center. The pleasant surprise may be Crowe, who seems more energetic and engaged than in many of his recent films (his Noah seemed just seemed to lumber and mope about his ship). His expanded physique (Healy is on the wagon, so he appears to be hitting the sweets, with a fondness for the chocolate soda elixer Yoo-Hoo), makes him a most dangerous bear (the grey goatee adds to it), who is surprisingly capable of swift, brutal force. But there’s also a sad, haunted quality to him as though the world has done much more damage to him than any hulking thug. Gosling’s March has a different kind of energy and attitude. He’s a deadly dimwit, always armed but completely clueless. The often somber, serious actor displays a knack for physical comedy, particularly when a bit of action goes awry (“Man, that’s a lotta’ blood!”). March is stubborn and surly, but he can also be a needy puppy, eager for respect from Healy. Rice is quite good as his daughter, often the “straight man” to Gosling. At times she even acts as the responsible parent in the family dynamic. Bomer tosses off his MAGIC MAN “eye candy” roles and makes an often frightening, high-caliber “boogey-man” (there’s a great glint in his eyes as he smiles before another bit of mayhem). Speaking of the bad guys, screen vet Keith David still packs a wallop as the less manic enforcer who tries to keep his younger cohort Beau Knapp in line, as a noir staple, the sniggering unhinged sadist. Plus Crowe’s Oscar-winning co-star from LA CONFIDENTIAL Kim Basinger pops up as a “John (…er Jane) Law” official who may or may not be helping the fellas’ (can it really be two decades since that classic?).
Director (and co-screenwriter) Black makes certain that the film is drenched in 1970’s kitsch (gas lines, record albums, fashions, cars, even an appearance from an iconic disco band), which is amusing, but often seems a distraction from the way too convoluted plot. With the hindsight of history, the big scheme elicits a laugh or two, similar to, but nowhere near as clever as, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (who owed a great deal to CHINATOWN). Plus the comedy bits take away much of the danger and urgency of the story, with the film hitting a pacing wall at the one hour mark (like many comedies). After his tenth foul-up, March’s antics truly try our patience with his Closeau-like bumbles and stumbles (he even mimics Lou Costello’s raspy-voiced panic bit). After his daughter is exposed to so much (violence and a porno party), we’re rooting for the authorities to step in (although she is generally more mature than her Pop). The flick truly earns its “R” with lots of random nudity (the beginning bit with Misty is pretty creepy) and plenty of gory gunplay (Black likes to show countless random bystanders going down during the many shoot-outs). Maybe this is to convey a wild “un-PC” vibe, but comes off as mean-spirited. The big auto show finale’ just drags on and on with a ludicrously limp payoff. The two main stars of THE NICE GUYS are indeed nicely paired, but it’s a shame their seventies shenanigans aren’t more interesting and entertaining. Nice try.
3 Out of 5

ANGRY BIRDS – Review

Review by Dane Marti

ANGRY BIRDS is a film experience of monumental proportions—if gauged by the excited kids in the theater. Basically, the story centers around an angry red bird living amidst a colorful array of other flightless birds on a small island somewhere in the world. The birds are all colorfully plumed and seem to be awfully well adjusted. Some might say, too well adjusted for their own good. I’m not exactly sure why the birds are unable to fly, but that must have been a major element of the original game that this film grew from.

Red bird is ANGRY. He’s hot under the feathers! Like many of us non-cartoon humans—at least I like to think I’m not a cartoon! –Red bird has seriously intense anger issues, and near the start of his amusing film, he finds himself in a class with other malcontents. It’s one of the funniest scenes in the film. These issues set him apart from the politically correct, self-obsessed and painfully unaware birds on the island. Of course, all the birds worship a legendary, mythic bald eagle.

The Angry Bird is definitely an outcast—at least until a bizarre ship full of gelatinous, surreal, neon-green pigs shows up on the island with supposedly benign intentions. No…they wouldn’t possibly want to steal bird eggs to take home for a massive omelet fest of monumental proportions!

Now, although the C.G. animated flick is a satire, I kept expecting the film to have a sweet, left-leaning message about being friends and brothers with all people, regardless of gender, species or color affiliation. That would have been just fine, albeit a bit predictable. Strangely, this doesn’t occur: and our bird (birds?) on the island must fight and defend their lives against the intentions of those evil, diabolical green pigs!

ANGRY BIRDS started as a video game franchise by a Finnish company, directed with flare by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly, written by Jon Vitti and featuring, among many excellent voices, by actors such as Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Maya Rudolf, Peter Dinklage and the legendary Sean Penn.

ANGRY BIRDS made me laugh out loud throughout its relatively short running time. In fact, I wasn’t the only kid laughing! As usual, there were many witty, clever adult jokes thrown in for the adults—including a rather amusing Shining scene reference. As someone who has a degree in digital animation, the design and movement of the Angry Birds universe is stellar – nicely created without going over the top—creating a nice balance of cartoon (especially old Warner Bros. Cartoons!), with more modern computer-generated imagery. While not a classic in its field, and definitely not on a par with THE JUNGLE BOOK, which came close to being perfect in my book, ANGRY BIRDS is a solid, zany, fun film for children and adults alike. See this film or get anger issues!

4 of 5 Stars

THE MEDDLER – Review

THE MEDDLER is writer/director Lorene Scafaria semi-biographical movie about her widowed mother, who moved across the country to build a new life around her grown daughter. The mother, played marvelously by Susan Sarandon, is indeed a meddler but despite the comic title, THE MEDDLER is more than a simple comedy about a meddlesome mother but a warm dramedy that explores a mother-daughter relationship as the mother copes with her new life as a widow.

Left financially secure after the death of her beloved husband, Marnie Minervini (Sarandon) decides it is time for a change in her life. The change she picks is to be closer to her daughter – literally. Marnie moves from her longtime home in New Jersey to Los Angeles, where her unmarried daughter Lori (Rose Byrne) is a successful television producer. With a new iPhone, a condo in the Grove neighborhood and plenty of free time and money, bubbly mom Marnie devotes herself to her daughter – calling or texting her daughter several times a day, letting herself in to her house unannounced, befriending her friends, involving herself in her daughter’s love life and even offering to advise her daughter’s psychotherapist. Meanwhile, daughter Lori, nursing a broken heart after breaking up with her boyfriend, an actor named Jason (Jason Ritter), is quickly overwhelmed by her mother’s loving but too-constant presence.

Lori sees a chance to escape her mother’s smothering attention when work takes her to New York. She tells her mom she needs for her to stay behind to take care of her dogs. Actually, Marnie is not eager to go back East, where her in-laws, a loving but overwhelming Italian family, and some unresolved issues from her husband’s death await. Instead, Marnie fills her time with new meddling projects – offering to provide a regular ride for a clerk she met at the Apple store so he can go back to college, offering to pay for a wedding for one of Lori’s friends (although she cannot seem to quite remember the friend’s name), volunteering at a hospital and playing a movie extra after stumbling into a shoot accidentally. Her meddling wins her friends but Marnie is still not ready to just start a completely new life. When a couple of very different men (Michael McKean and J.K. Simmons) are attracted to her, she cannot get away fast enough.

Sarandon is completely wonderful in this role, a real showcase for her considerable skill. Like last year’s “I’ll See You In My Dreams,” it is a rare meaty role for an older actress in a film with a bittersweet story that addresses some real issues of aging. Bryne is terrific as well, walking the thin line between something verging on callousness towards her mother’s buried pain (and guilt over that), and an impulse to self-preservation from a smothering by well-meaning mother love. And still keeping both the comedy and truth in that.

With a deft touch, Scafaria mixes comedy and truth, in a film that is both apology to her mother and warm, affectionate portrait of an unsinkable optimist, in an honest if comic exploration of the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship. While the film is mostly funny, it has a serious side. Despite Marnie’s bubbly personality, she is coping with grief in her own way, which means immersing herself in other people’s lives to avoid issues in her own.

While Marnie cheerfully interjects herself into her daughter’s life, suggesting ways she could patch things up with her ex-boyfriend, she is less eager to embrace her own life. The reason under all the meddling that gives the film its sad undercurrent: the mother working through her grief after the death of her beloved husband, and the hole his loss has left in her life. The film is more about different styles of working through grief. A visit to her in-laws, a loud, affectionate Italian family, reveals that Marnie was also running away when she moved from New Jersey, avoiding subjects she does not want to deal with, even two years after her husband’s death. Likewise, Marnie recoils and retreats when faced with the possibility of new romance, still not ready to let go of her grieving and take a step towards new love. Meanwhile, J.K. Simmons is funny and warm as one of those potential love interests, a quirky retired cop with a chicken coop in his backyard.

Hilarious as well as heart-tugging, Scafaria wisely passes on making THE MEDDLER a straight-forward comedy and opts for a more difficult task – making a film that honestly confronts the pain and love in a mother-daughter relationship, one that tackles all the messiness of real feelings in a warm film that avoids false sentimentality. It is also one funny yet touching expression of love from a daughter to her mom.

THE MEDDLER opens on May 13th, 2016

OVERALL RATING: 4 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY – Review

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY is a handsome, well-acted historical drama based on the unexpected true story of an India-born, self-taught mathematical genius. In 1913, the young genius was brought to England, by a mathematics professor at Trinity College in Cambridge, who recognized the young man’s gift despite the prejudices of the time.

Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire”) plays Srinavasa Ramanujan, a poor and poorly-educated Hindu man who is obsessed with mathematics, working out ground-breaking original theorems in the dust of his local temple floor. Jeremy Irons plays mathematics professor G.H. Hardy, a flinty fellow who counts among his friends and colleagues Bertrand Russell (Jeremy Northam). The story is set against the historical backdrop of World War I, and the colonialism and cultural prejudices of the era.

Even before traveling half way around the world to the foreign culture of Great Britain, Ramanujan was already a fish-out-of-water even in his home city of Madras, a young man who cares more about numbers than people. One of the few people he connects with is his beloved new wife Janaki (Devika Bhise), who is living with his mother while her husband looks for work. Despite his lack of a degree, Ramanujan secures a job as accounting clerk in a British colonial office, after a man in the office reads Ramanujan’s notebooks and recognizes the young man’s brilliance. The job allows Ramanujan to move his new wife and widowed mother into a home with him. Meanwhile, his supervisor encourages the young clerk to write a mathematics professor in England for help to get his work published, and his British employer picks Hardy as the academic to target. It turns out to be serendipity. Hardy responds and invites him to England but leaving India means Ramanujan must defy his mother, who fears he will not return, as well as leaving his beloved wife behind.

A low-level government clerk producing brilliant mathematical/scientific discoveries sounds like another early 20th genius – the young Albert Eisenstein. Ramanujan is not a famous name but as this intriguing film suggests, except for the intervention of chance, he might have been as well known as Eisenstein or even Newton. The interaction of genius and chance are running themes in this excellent film.

Making an involving drama about mathematics is no small feat, yet THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY succeeds brilliantly, thanks to fine acting by Patel and Irons, and a strong supporting cast that includes Toby Jones and Stephen Fry, and skillful direction by Mathew Brown. The director wisely focuses on the human story, particularly the relationship between Ramanujan and Hardy, instead of burying the audience in mathematical detail. Brown crafts a tale of hard-work, genius, and cross-cultural friendship that spotlights an important but little known gifted man who overcame remarkable odds to make a contribution upon which science and technology are still drawing even today.

The film features splendid photography and gets all the period details right, but the ideas it raises is what makes it so intriguing. THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY explores, deftly, how prejudices and assumptions can cloud our ability to see brilliance in unexpected places and people, and reminds us that genius can pop up anywhere. Not surprisingly, prejudice is a topic that crops up in this early-twentieth century story but it is not the whole story. Ramanujan is not only from a colonial country but he is an Asperger’s-like character whose social difficulties make it difficult for him to explain his intuitive insights and ground-breaking ideas. He resists doing the proofs needed for publication, with a mix of self-confident arrogance and basic cluelessness about why they are needed for the ideas to be accepted. The drama is as much about the central character’s difficult personality as the cultural differences between him and his mentor Hardy, or the knee-jerk prejudice against an Indian man who lacks formal education that they both encounter. As Patel plays him, there is a mix of sweetness and otherworldliness in this young genius.

Chance is a theme that runs through THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY. But this excellent historical drama also obliquely touches on other roles for chance in the recognition of genius. The story prompts one to wonder how often a Beethoven, a Van Gogh or an Einstein was simply born in the wrong time and place, or how often such a genius died before the gift could fully expressed. Once in a while, history uncovers such unrecognized or forgotten geniuses but how many more of them leave no trace to uncover?

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY is a surprisingly engrossing film about an unknown figure that offers great acting, an intriguing true story, a thought-provoking meditation on genius and an inspiring tale of courage and friendship.

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY opens on May 13th, 2016

OVERALL RATING: 4 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

MONEY MONSTER – Review

MONEY MONSTER has all the ingredients of a timely thriller: an explosive hostage situation, a critique of our current economic system, and major movie stars in the form of George Clooney and Julia Roberts. However, what unfolds onscreen is a simplistic and obvious expose about the manipulative power of both Wall Street and the media that by now is so familiar that its cynical perspective is unlikely to upset or provoke anyone. Perhaps a decade or two ago MONEY MONSTER would have been a compelling film experience but in this day and age it’s just picking obvious targets.

MONEY MONSTER stars Julia Roberts as Patty Fenn, a TV producer who spends the entire film in a control room full of consoles, monitors and engineers. Down on the studio floor Clooney plays Lee Gates, the hyperactive host of a show called Money Monster (based not-so-loosely on Jim Cramer’s CNN Mad Money show). Lee offers financial guidance and stock recommendations while behaving like a madman, hip-hopping with dancing girls and illustrating the treacherous labyrinth of Wall Street trading by running clips of Joan Crawford in STRAIGHT-JACKET. During a live broadcast Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell), a disgruntled working-class type, sneaks into the studio. He’s armed with a pistol, an explosives-packed vest he straps to Lee, and a list of demands. Kyle’s upset that he took advice from this TV host and lost his life savings. It’s a siege on live TV, and Patty, who can speak to Lee through a tiny earpiece that Kyle is unaware of, takes control. She not only continues to direct the situation, she fingers Walt Camby (Dominic West), a corrupt CEO, as the one who manipulated the financial crisis that screwed Kyle.

Directed by Jodie Foster, MONEY MONSTER is told in real time, which help its 95 minutes zip by but the film, obviously striving for a DOG DAY AFTERNOON-style atmosphere of anarchy and pandemonium, fails as both black comedy and drama. Foster’s attempt at a potent finale is embarrassingly heavy-handed as Kyle and Lee (still wearing his bomb vest) march down a busy Manhattan street while the crowds line up on the sidewalk to cheer them on. We’re supposed to believe the cops are going to let this armed and unhinged man have a sit down to confront evil Walt Camby a few blocks away from the TV station. MONEY MONSTER has nothing new to add to the many hostage films that Hollywood has given us over the years. The problem is that it’s revelations are never quite as shocking as the self-important screenplay, one that favors message over plausibility, holds them out to be. The assertion that the little guy can get bamboozled and that television panders to sensationalism is obvious to anyone who has merely glanced at cable news or their bank statement in the last eight years. I guess the audience is expected to sympathize with Kyle’s dilemma and his anger; you’d be hard put to find anyone who wouldn’t. But this man, who in a better movie might be drawn as a decent but deeply flawed and disturbed person, is shoved down our throats as a hero. MONEY MONSTER comes awfully close to saying that the answer to a personal grievance is, well, terrorism, when you get right down to it. My empathy for someone who loses the farm based on what some clown on cable TV says is limited. The acting by the stars is no more than adequate. Clooney acquits himself honorably in a part that’s not particularly challenging. It’s an indication of the script’s limitations that even a resourceful actor like Clooney has a hard time nailing down a character unlike one he’s played so many times before. Julia Roberts does little but furrow her brow and bark orders. Apparently she was never actually with Clooney on the set (except for an early scene and one at the end), and it shows as she never really seems to be in the same location as the action. British actor Jack O’Connell is intense enough, but his working class Noo Yauk accent, while consistent, is unconvincing. There is one great scene and performance in MONEY MONSTER and it doesn’t involve any of these three stars. Emily Meade shows up halfway through as Molly, Kyle’s pregnant girlfriend who is dragged into the studio supposedly to negotiate with her husband on behalf of the police, but instead of teary pleading, she goes off on him, cussing and screaming about what a loser he is before her mic is quickly yanked. It’s an uproarious moment, the only time the film goes in an unexpected direction and with this one sequence Ms Meade manages to steal the film from its cast of megastars. MONEY MONSTER is a wanna-be movie event that simply reinvents the wheel.

2 of 5 Stars

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR – Review

It’s finally time to pack away the bulky Winter coats and jackets, or at least regulate them to the far corners of the closet, because Summer has truly arrived. A new tradition heralding the seasonal start began eight years ago with the first major Marvel Studios release IRON MAN, and almost every first weekend of May since has seen another “box office buster” storm the nation’s, now the world’s, theatre screens. Like the “star-spangled man”, these exec do have a plan, mapping out groups of films as a “phase”. That 2008 classic marked the beginning of “phase one” that concluded with the first titanic team-up of heroes, MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS. “Phase two” finished up last Summer with ANT-MAN and the second Avengers epic. Who better to usher in the beginning of “phase three” than the first Avenger himself, Steve Rogers? But the good Captain now faces a challenge perhaps greater than the Hydra hordes that infested SHIELD in his second solo film. The sentinel of liberty is pitted against his friends and fellow Avengers in the globe spanning adventure CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR.

The story actually begins 25 years ago in Siberia, as James “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is awakened from his cryogenic slumber to complete another murder mission as the Winter Soldier. Jump forward to modern-day Lagos in Africa, as Captain America (Chris Evans) and Natasha Romanoff AKA the Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) team with Avengers “newbies” Wanda Maximoff AKA the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Sam Wilson AKA the Falcon (Anthony Mackie) to stop a gang led by an old enemy. Suddenly the battle takes an unplanned turn, leading to a unforeseeable tragedy. Meanwhile Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) has finished the presentation of a new simulator at MIT, when he is confronted by the relative of an innocent lost during an Avengers operation. Later the Avengers are summoned to a meeting with new Secretary of State, Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt), the former General who tried to take down the Hulk. He reminds them of the destruction left in the wake of the Avengers, then presents a thick book, the “Sokovian Accords”. He wants each Avenger to review the tome then sign an agreement to only assemble after approval by members of the United Nations. Steve has reservations about such restrictions, while Tony believes that they should be “put in check”. But as the debate rages, Steve and Sam continue their search for Bucky. Days later an attack occurs in Vienna during a special address to the UN by the king of the secretive African nation of Wakanda. The country’s Prince T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) swears revenge. Police security footage reveals the Winter Soldier at the scene. Can Steve find his old friend before the authorities and T’Challa, who is also the fierce warrior the Black Panther, do? And what will happen if Steve and his supporters refuse to sign those Accords? Will the Avengers “dis-assemble”?

With such a large cast it comes as a great surprise, joyous really, that each actor really gets a chance to shine (this is something that the Star Trek and X-Men films struggle with). The story anchor is, of course, the title hero. Evans slips into Steve Rogers just as you may slip into a warm, comfy sweater. After five features, Evans has made Cap a truly human hero, a man who always rises to the occasion, despite the odds or his own doubts. Yes, he’s an iconic symbol, but he’s still a guy from Brooklyn. You might say that the film has an equal co-anchor in the always entertaining Mr. Downey. He’s still a master of the devastating quip or insult (and there’s plenty here), but we see Tony’s darker self, a man dealing with past regrets while having great trepidation about the road he’s taken. Mackie’s a superb soldier who still has time for a wisecrack or three. Of all the heroes, Johansson as the Widow is perhaps the most conflicted. She has great loyalty to both Tony and Steve, but she wants no more innocent blood on her hands. Stan as Bucky still seems to be a fog, struggling to find his own humanity, but unable to quell the beast that has been placed inside him. Olsen’s Wanda also struggles as she tries to control her powers and not be consumed by guilt when those powers are not enough to avert catastrophe. She shares great screen chemistry with Paul Bettany as the aloof, otherworldly android, the Vision. He begins a hesitant friendship with Wanda, one that seems in conflict with his programming (wow, he’s got a cooking app). Emily VanCamp finally opens up to Cap, sharing the truth about her connection to him. Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Don Cheadle as James “War Machine” Rhodes are solid as the world-weary soldiers on opposite sides (the archer is most worried about leaving his family). Hurt, reprising his role from 2008’s THE INCREDIBLE HULK, adds an air of stern gravitas as he tries to reign in the group. And Paul Rudd’s starstruck Scott Lang brings some much-needed levity to the high stakes showdown while his Ant-Man more than proves his value.

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016 — Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) © Marvel 2016

Hey, they even added a few new folks into the mix. Martin Freeman is quite engaging in his brief role as VanCamp’s arrogant new boss, Everett Ross. Daniel Bruhl adds an air of menace as the mysterious Zemo, a shadowy figure with an unexplained (until the final act) agenda. Boseman has a dignified regal bearing as T’Challa until loss unlocks the Black Panther’s rage, making us look forward to his upcoming solo feature film. But the breakout new addition to the Marvel movie universe may be Tom Holland as Peter Parker, the amazing Spider-Man. “But, we’ve seen the wall-crawler on screen before!”, you say. Well, not in the hands of Marvel Studios. After five features, Sony Pictures has finally joined forces with them to relaunch the franchise. Spidey will be able to guest in the other films and vice versa. Holland (so great in the 2012 disaster drama THE IMPOSSIBLE), brings a vulnerable charm to Pete while exuding boyish enthusiasm (and lots of “smack talk” chatter) to ole'”webhead”, stealing every scene, and leaving us anxiously awaiting his screen return in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING. Now this is our Spidey!

The brothers Russo (Anthony and Joe) prove that their tag-team triumph on CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER was truly no fluke. They masterfully juggle the myriad of “super folk”, while never making the film feel bloated. There’s a lean vitality to their action set pieces, from the flawed opener, to the traffic chase, and the apartment assault. But the most remarkable action sequence, setting a high water mark for future super hero flicks, is the big airport showdown, the “tumult on the tarmac” you might say (hey, I just did). It’s a visual stunner with over a dozen heroes giving a new meaning to the old Astaire standard as they suddenly “change partners and dance”, making for many astounding match-ups. There’s an infectious sense of fun (so lacking in another recent comics-inspired face off). While this would be the big finale for most flicks, the Russos opt for a more intimate last confrontation that packs an emotional wallop thanks to the great script by Marvel movie vets Christopher Markus and Stephan McFeely. Besides the physical battles, this is a story that deals with important issues, very relevant to our times with the enhanced heroes echoing real-life concerns over security and international boundaries. elaborating on the excellent recent comics mini-series written by Mark Millar. Neither Tony or Steve is 100% right or wrong. Plus the city-wide mass destruction is kept to a minimum, never becoming another tiresome bit of “disaster porn”. Many fans felt that the Marvel films may have lost their way with the last Avengers film. Now the Russos has gotten the train back on the track, making the Marvel Universe a welcome vacation spot at the multiplex (in the words of Liz Lemmon on TV’s “30 Rock”, “I want to go to there”). When we look back on these “phase” sets of films, CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR will shine as one of the best. At ease, Cap!

5 out of 5

ELSTREE 1976 – Review

The fact that the documentary doesn’t mention STAR WARS in the title is a telling indication of the kind of film Jon Spira has made. With the focus on the people behind the masks and costumes, Spira deliberately has focused his lens on the lives of these actors and not the characters that they became famous for. Fans of STAR WARS might be disappointed by this decision, but the result is a film that is more thoughtful than just another look at the legacy of the iconic series.

Minor characters and some that really aren’t even considered characters (sorry, stormtrooper who knocked his noggin against a blast door) step into the spotlight in ELSTREE 1976. While some of these actors or actresses may not mean much to the casual STAR WARS filmgoer, the super fans will delight in watching the guy who play Greedo, the former bodybuilder who filled out the Darth Vader suit, and even a woman who played a random character in the background of the Mos Eisley cantina scene, share stories from their time on set and watching them now attend conventions.

The STAR WARS stories are only a part of the focus of ELSTREE 1976, though. Spira is more interested in seeing how the experience affected their lives after the film’s release. While some of these post-film “Where are they now?” stories are compelling, it’s hard not to feel like the film doesn’t quite deliver the goods. The most memorable moments in the documentary come from when the actors talk about stories on set.

One of the main take-aways from listening to these actors is the level of uncertainty that everyone felt while making the film. No one knew if this was going to be a B, C, or D movie. In fact, even one person assumed it was going to be a made for TV flick. Even George Lucas seemed to be uncertain or unsure at times. George’s advice to actor Paul Blake (who plays Greedo) when asked how to play a particular scene, “Play it like they do in the movies.”

An hour into the film, an actor emerges who didn’t play a big role in the STAR WARS series, but an iconic one. Jeremy Bulloch is the man who portrayed the famous bounty hunter Boba Fett. Many fans, such as myself, adore the character and have analyzed the few phrases the character has spoken on screen. Like so many of the individuals interviewed in ELSTREE, even listening to him so unenthusiastically recount his story lends the film a somewhat sullen tone. However, some of these bitter remarks are quite funny, as is the case with the actor who was in the suit as Darth Vader. David Prowse is a former English bodybuilder who also appeared in a couple of Hammer Horror features and the classic Stanley Kubrick film A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. “They don’t call you one take Kubrick do they?” David Prowse fired back after Stanley Kubrick asked too much of him during filming. Behind the scenes stories such as this is one of the main draws of the documentary.

The opening moments of ELSTREE 1976 features stunning camerawork of the action figures of these characters – the fictional and goofy looking creatures and villains than fans obsess over. The STAR WARS fandom is a fascinating universe where the die-hard fans think there is intention behind every character or decision made in the film. It’s a rude awakening then to hear some of these actors speak so dispassionately about their characters, while others let their ego get the most of them as they hang on to every frame they were featured. Spira’s documentary proves that STAR WARS was just a film – it was a gig for paid actors who then went on with their normal lives (for better or for worse). It’s not some magical universe in a galaxy far, far away. In fact, it’s very much a collaborative effort of thousands of workers, extras, artists, and actors, who worked together on a job very much grounded on Earth. Life is more than a few lines or 10 seconds on-screen in a sci-fi film, even if some don’t want to accept that.

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5

ELSTREE 1976 is now playing in select theaters

MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS – Review

If you are looking for a movie to celebrate with Mom this Mother’s Day, the warm-hearted MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS offers a better option that the Garry Marshall comedy named for the holiday. Both films feature a star-studded ensemble cast but MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS features stories that actually deal with motherhood, unlike Marshall’s unfunny comedy.

While it is the better movie, MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS is not without flaws. It has so many characters that is hard to keep them all straight, much less get to know them, and the dramatic, heart-tugging stories also could have benefited from a little sprinkling of humor.

The film stars Susan Sarandon, Sharon Stone, Christina Ricci, Courteney Cox, Selma Blair and Mira Sorvino, among others, in a series of stories that overlap or connect in various ways. The interlocking stories are generally built around a photographer named Rigby Gray (Selma Blair).

The indie film opens May 6 in theaters in select cities but is also available on video-on-demand. Paul Duddridge directs and provides the idea on which Paige Cameron’s script is based. As the title suggests, the film’s stories generally follow pairs of mothers and daughters coping with various relationship challenges. Mother-daughter conflict, separation and establishing identity, and career pressures are themes that run throughout the stories.

Mikael Levin’s photography well-done and often pretty, but director Duddridge really keeps the focus on the acting and multiple plot lines. In one story, Susan Sarandon plays the estranged mother of her real daughter, Eva Amurri Martino, who is struggling to establish herself after marrying against her mother’s wishes. The real connection adds a little special touch for the audience, enhancing the efforts of the pair. Overall, the acting is good but the excessive number of story lines does not leave the performers much room for character development. Pairing the stories down would have left more room to develop character depth and maybe add more backstory for them. As is, the actors bring as much as they can to the touching scenes and situations but there is a sense of rushing off to the next story-line to make sure everything is wrapped up by the film’s end. Scenes that could have had more emotional depth are reduced to sentiment, although several still succeed purely on the strength of performances.

While not perfect, MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS does deliver a warm meditation on some themes of motherhood that mothers and daughters can enjoy together, a pretty enjoyable “chick flick” for their special day.

“PG-13” by the MPAA for some mature thematic elements and brief drug use.

MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS opens on May 6th, 2016

OVERALL RATING: 3 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

DOUGH – Review

DOUGH is a warm-hearted little British dramedy starring Jonathan Pryce (“Pirates of the Caribbean”) as an old Orthodox Jewish baker who is struggling to keep his family’s bakery going, in a tough East End London neighborhood. When his assistant quits, Nat agrees to hire the teen-aged son of the bakery’s African immigrant cleaning lady, not realizing his new assistant is a Muslim.

While this is not a film for serious cinephiles, it has found an audience on the film festival circuit and is now making the leap to wider distribution. The gentle little cross-cultural comedic drama draws its appeal more from its likable characters and their believable relationships rather than its overly familiar plot or comedy, some of which is summed up in the film’s tagline “Dough: It’s not the only thing getting baked.” The charm of this crowd-pleaser is not the contrived humor or stiff subplots that motivate the characters but those surprisingly well-drawn characters, fine acting (by Pryce in particular), its gentle exploration of religious and cultural differences, and its underlying message about friendship and tolerance.

Widower Nat Dayan (Pryce) is worn down from trying to keep the Kosher bakery he inherited from his father afloat. The bakery is in a neighborhood people often describe as “changing” but really, this one has already changed. Customers from the once mostly-Jewish neighborhood have moved away, and business is dwindling. Still, Nat can’t let go of the family tradition, going in early in the morning to make the bread and cleaning up litter in front of his tidy, modest shop.

Still bitter that his son Stephen (Daniel Caltigirone), a successful lawyer, chose not to continue in the business the family had run for over 100 years, Nat still cannot just let it go. When his apprentice baker leaves for another job, Nat is forced to quickly find a replacement. His hard-working cleaning lady Safa (Natasha Gordon) brings her son Ayyash (Jerome Holder) in to apply for the job. They immigrated from Darfur without Ayyash’s father, and she worries about the teen growing up without his guidance. Desperate, Nat hires they boy, even though he will have to teach him everything. Ayyash wants work but is leering of working for a Jewish baker, harboring misconceptions. In fact, the teen is selling marijuana – and continues to do so while working at the bakery. Predictably, some pot accidentally gets in the dough and, suddenly, the bread is flying off the shelves.

DOUGH has been playing film festivals, particularly Jewish ones, to sell-out crowds and building strong word-of-mouth. To be clear, this is no high-brow, art house cinema film (something its director John Goldschmidt acknowledged in a recent interview with this writer). It also is not a typical Hollywood film. In fact, it is the kind of film Hollywood no longer makes, and as such, it fill a niche for a certain audience, with its simple, human story.

The film pairs Pryce, a well-respected British stage and screen actor, with newcomer Jerome Holder. Pryce is marvelous, and the characters form a convincing father-son relationship, something they both need. The relationship is warm and even often funny, as they two play off each other beautifully, and explores how getting to know a person can change hearts and minds. Nat discovers his new assistant is Muslim early on his first day, when the baker comes out from the back room (where he has been praying) and finds the boy praying too. Nat is surprised, even unsettled – it never occurred to him the African family was Muslim – but quickly his thoughts shift to business, saying “Well, do that in the back – customers might see you.” It is a gentle kind of humor, and the film is often at its best when it taps into that cross-cultural theme, showing similarities between Muslim and Jewish traditions, such as hand-washing and praying at the beginning of the day, as the two get to know each other. Word gets out about the Muslim assistant, and both Nat and Ayyash have to confront some racism and religious intolerance.

Pryce, who is not Jewish, really does looks the part of the old baker in his full beard, and his strong performance really holds the film together. Holder works well with him, and has plenty of youthful appeal as a teen still finding his place in the world. Additional human relationships and characters sweeten the mix, with adorable Melanie Freeman as Nat’s young granddaughter Olivia, Andy de la Tour as Nat’s longtime pal Saul, and Pauline Collins as wealthy widow Joanna Silverman, who has her eye on Nat. All the actors craft charming, believable characters and relationships.

The story is set in Ilford, an East London neighborhood that actually underwent the kind of changes depicted. The film set replicated exactly the interior an real London Kosher bakery, and Pryce learned bread-making at a famous London Jewish family bakery, Grodzinski’s. Consultants from Darfur and a rabbi were also on hand to ensure the film’s details were authentic.

The dramatic part is warm and charming but the same cannot be said for the comedy plot, which is sometimes staler than three-day-old-bread. Where the film’s characters are just talking, and even when they are tossing off a few zingers, the film is believable and even funny. When it goes off into contrived plot, it seems forced and awkward. Besides the standard “old folks getting stoned” humor, the overloaded plot also adds in a couple of one-note villains, a competitor wanting buy up the property (Philip Davis) and an sinister drug dealer (Ian Hart). The thing is, the characters and they way they interact, particularly the leads played by Pryce and Holder, actually feel very real and down-to-earth, when not weighed down by the too-familiar plot devices. One wishes the film had a better, more believable story for these appealing characters to inhabit.

Still, the film’s success on the festival circuit signals that it is striking a chord with those audiences willing to overlook its flaws for its genuine warmth. Credit for that goes to the actors, and a director, John Goldschmidt, for giving them the space to work. “Dough” is not a film for serious cinephiles but it is feeding a need for an audience hungry for this kind of warmhearted, hopeful story.

DOUGH opens on April 29th, 2016 at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac

OVERALL RATING: 3 OUT OF 5 STARS

PAPA: HEMINGWAY IN CUBA – Review

The fact-inspired film PAPA: HEMINGWAY IN CUBA is a prime example of why a good director matters. As some sage once said, “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

The film is first American film shot in Cuba since Castro’s 1959 revolution, and there is so degree of thrill in seeing Hemingway’s home and the actual locations he frequented. In fact, the story takes place in 1959, with true-story basis loaded with dramatic potential. Sadly, producer-turned -director Bob Yari fails to put to good use to those elements, along with a strong cast. Only the most determined Hemingway devotees will get much out of Yari’s dull, pedestrian film.

Giovanni Ribisi plays young newspaperman Ed Myers (a stand-in for the real journalist Denne Bart Petitclerc, on whose memoir of his friendship with Hemingway the story is based). Ed writes a fan letter of sorts to his idol Hemingway, whom he credits with inspiring him as a writer, but loses nerve about sending it. His co-worker girlfriend Deb (Minka Kelly) finds the discarded letter and mails it to the author anyway. Shockingly, Hemingway (Adrian Sparks) calls the young writer at work – which Myers at first assumes is a prank. Once convinced the call is genuine, Myers accepts Hemingway’s invitation to visit him in Cuba for some fishing. A friendship is launched, as the legendary author begins to mentor the young journalist he calls Eddie or just “kid,” and Myers, who grew up in an orphanage, finds a father figure in the man everyone calls Papa.

Adrian Sparks, who also played Hemingway on stage, has an amazing resemblance to the author and does an uncanny job impersonating him. Ribisi is a bit old to play the young journalist but still manages to capture the right sense of youthful awe anyway. In fact, all the acting is good. Joely Richardson is also fine as Hemingway’s wife Mary, a former journalist who harbors a bit of resentment at being overshadowed by her famous husband. Minka Kelly has a rather thankless role as Myer’s girlfriend, stuck in the 1950s gender role of quietly pining for marriage, a part that reminds one a bit of Grace Kelly’s role in Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.”

The true story-based subject offered a wealth of material for an interesting, though-provoking film, all of which Yari leaves unused. The Hemingway that the young journalist finds fulfills his best and worst expectations of the legend’s masculine image. The film briefly, obliquely, raises the idea of famous people adopting the persona expected of them as a public mask behind which the real person hides – but then never pursues it. In hard-drinking scenes, hostility and ego surface between husband and wife, again a subject skimmed but never explored in depth.

As a long-time producer, Yari worked on such projects as “Crash,” “The Painted Veil” and “The Illusionist.” This is only his second directorial effort, the first being a 1989 thriller titled “Mind Games.” Yari also served as producer on “Papa” but clearly should have hired a more experienced, and skilled, director to helm the film. Set in a remarkable time and place, and story involving striking historic figures – not just Hemingway, but FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, mobster Santo Trafficante, and Cuba dictator Batista (to say nothing of revolutionaries Fidel Castro and Che Guevara), how could this not be an interesting film? In other hands, this could have been an excellent exploration of fame or its unique time, an insightful drama or even a taut thriller. Instead, it is mostly just dull.

As the first Hollywood film shot in Cuba in over 50 years, the locations shots could have been the saving grace of this movie. There is a certain thrill in seeing exterior and interior scenes shot at Hemingway’s actual home, now a museum, and famous Havana locations. The film does look gorgeous, and seeing the Havana streets and all those ’50s cars is a treat. The Cuban locations should at least have given the film an authentic sense of time and place, but again Yari fails to impart that. Instead, the film looks like it could have been shot in Florida or even California. After a brief teaser scene early on, the Cuban revolution is reduced to a backdrop for Hemingway’s personal story and a plot device to get him out of Cuba. Every scene looks a bit too bright, a bit too pretty and color-drenched, for the dramatic events unfolding. The actors do their best, but the plodding, unimaginative direction reduces the film to a dull docu-drama, instead of the searing, insightful drama of a unique time, place, and iconic individuals that it could have been.

The source material is so good, that one has to wish a real director will give it another shot, especially with Adrian Sparks in the Hemingway role again. That’s unlikely, especially with the same access to Cuban locations, but one can always dream.

PAPA: HEMINGWAY IN CUBA opens on April 29th, 2016

Share this:

Share this:

OVERALL RATING: 4 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

Share this:

OVERALL RATING: 4 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

OVERALL RATING: 3 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

Share this:

OVERALL RATING: 3 OUT OF 5 STARS

Share this:

OVERALL RATING: 3 OUT OF 5 STARS

Share this: