Review – Page 198 – We Are Movie Geeks

DADDY’S HOME – The Review

Every holiday, millions of people make their way to the local movie theater for some fun, cinematic action, comedy, romance, or adventure. Unfortunately for DADDY’S HOME, it offers none of the above.

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg team up again for the all new broken family comedy. Brad Taggart is a mild-mannered executive at a jazz radio station who seems to have everything that he’s ever wanted… a great job, a loving wife, and two wonderful step-children. He’s living the daddy dream until the children’s biological father Dusty comes back into the picture. Now, Brad is in a battle for his family with a bad boy who seems to excel where he doesn’t. The result is chaos.

I get what they were trying to do here by bringing Ferrell and Wahlberg back together. They were trying to recreate the same comedic chemistry that THE OTHER GUYS had. True, Ferrell and Wahlberg are great together, but that isn’t enough to save this film. It all starts with the script. We’ve seen oddball pairings in film before. It gets boring unless there is some sort of direction or substance behind it. Unfortunately, none of that was offered in this script.

The whole film felt lost, and the comedy had no real direction. It felt like they couldn’t decide if they were making a family comedy, or going more gallows. That doesn’t really work for a movie like this. They needed to pick one or the other. Instead, it danced back and forth in a sad attempt to find middle ground. Forty-five minutes into this ninety-six minute snooze-fest I was completely bored and ready to leave. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Director and screenwriter Sean Anders doesn’t have a great track record with his films. His top two being WE’RE THE MILLERS and HOT TUB TIME MACHINE. I mean, DUMB AND DUMBER TO was embarrassingly bad.

My problem is not with the actors… especially the children. Owen Vaccaro and Scarlett Esteves were terrific. My problem is with the flow of the film and the script. Did none of the actors realize that the script had no direction? Were the actors not able to improvise? Something tells me that there are a ton of jokes that were left on the cutting room floor that could have greatly improved this film. I guess we’ll have to wait for the bonus features.

It’s a shame to have such a stink bomb in theaters for the holidays. This should have been a mid-January release.

Overall Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

DADDY’S HOME is in theaters December 25th

For more info: daddyshomemovie.tumblr.com

THE BIG SHORT – The Review

Making a comedy about a serious subject is a tricky thing. But it has been done – think DR. STRANGELOVE or THE GREAT DICTATOR. THE BIG SHORT is a dark comedy with biting wit about the real estate bubble and meltdown that triggered the Great Recession. Or at least it is funny to start, until remembering all that greed and misbehavior begins to make you angry all over again.

Many will find THE BIG SHORT a brilliant, intelligent, pointedly funny film. Whether you like “The Big Short” or not might depend on how you feel about those events and the fact that no major figures went to jail. The right-leaning media seems determined to call the film terrible, despite its appearance on many critics’ top-ten lists.

Christian Bale heads up a terrific ensemble cast that includes Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt. Director Adam McKay adapted the Michael Lewis book of the same name. The film opens with voice-over by Gosling and Michael Burry (Bale), a physician turned investor, uncovering what he thinks is an anomaly in the market, one he can exploit by “shorting” investments that are considered some of the safest, ones backed by home mortgages, long considered rock-solid reliable. Pitt’s character Ben Rickert, a former investor who has dropped out of the rat-race to live out in the woods, is based on Ben Hockett, Gosling portrays Jared Vennett, a character based on the real Gregg Lippman, one of several investors looking into mortgaged-backed securities and discovering the problems that will eventually crash the economy.

Among these high-powered, often eccentric individuals mining financial information for overlooked investment gold are Mark Baum (Carell), somewhat based on the real Steve Eisman. All these guys are strikingly unique but Baum’s foul-mouthed, high-stress character is among the most eccentric, as well as funny. Baum engages in a running back-and-forth with his wife (Marisa Tomei), in which she tells him he should quit his job because he hates it while Baum insists he loves it.

This story requires the use of some technical financial talk, which director McKay handles in a clever way. Margot Robbie soaks in a bubble bath, sipping champagne while explaining sub-prime mortgages, one of several interludes where unlikely celebrities, such as Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez, to provide definitions and brief explanations of financial terms. The effect is both humorous and informative, a far better solution than the usual one of stopping the dialog for some exposition by the characters…

The film is fast and funny, switching from person to person. As befits the irrational exuberance that proceeded the crash, the film has a breathless pace and driving energy. Gosling’s voice-over helps us keep track in this rapid-paced, cleverly presented story that sometimes plays a bit like an action thriller. But the comic tone starts to drop away as these clever people start to realize how far down the rabbit hole this problem goes, the chain of responsibility that runs all the way to the top, and its incendiary potential for the U.S and world economies and people’s individual lives. Coming at all that makes the revelations all the more chilling.

THE BIG SHORT is one of the year’s best films in a year that has seen some other great films about real-world subjects, such as SPOTLIGHT. Human folly and our capacity for short-sightedness as well as greed are major themes in this brilliant, worthy film. THE BIG SHORT starts out with comedy but ends with tragedy for those not in on the secret under the market.

THE BIG SHORT opens in St. Louis on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2015.

OVERALL RATING: 5 OUT OF 5 STARS

CONCUSSION – The Review

CONCUSSION is the film that the NFL won’t want you to see. Not because it has new information about the link between football and a serious form of dementia called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) but because it serves as a reminder, particularly to young players and their parents, of the risk in playing the nation’s most popular sport. The film dramatizes the NFL’s hostile response to the news and its rough handling of the doctor who discovered the problem. The NFL does not look good in this film, and that is bound to trouble some fans.

Will Smith plays that doctor, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist originally from Nigeria who discovered CTE. A brilliant man with a string of degrees, Dr. Omalu was working for the Allegheny County Coroner’s office in Pittsburgh when he did an autopsy on former NFL star Mike Webster (David Morse), whose life had unraveled a decade after retirement amid erratic behavior. Omalu knew next to nothing about football but was unsatisfied with a pat explanation about cause of death of a man only in his 50s. The thorough Omalu decided to take a microscopic look at the ex-player’s brain. What he saw shocked him, and led to his discovery of a new disease.

CONCUSSION focuses on Omalu’s story and especially on how poorly the NFL treated him. The film’s title is a bit of a misnomer, as not just concussions but cumulative smaller shocks to the brain can cause CTE as well, although concussions are the most obvious indicator of brain trauma. However, the film is rather light on medical details and it leaves out the work of other researchers who took up the topic following Omalu’s discovery. Instead, the film focuses more on Omalu’s own story, his discovery, his immediate circle of supporters and their attempts to bring the risks to the attention of the NFL.

As Smith plays him, Omalu is a sweet, idealistic workaholic who does not allow himself much of a personal life in his pursuit of the classic immigrant’s American Dream. His boss, Dr. Cyril Wecht (Albert Brooks), is both his mentor and role-model for how to be an American. The one social outlet he allows himself is attending church, where his pastor asks him to help another new immigrant, a beautiful former nurse from Kenya named Prema (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). Inevitably, romance blooms.

This is one of Smith’s best roles in years, and the actor does a nice job with Omalu’s accent. It is a rare chance for Smith to play a heroic character but in a more subdued, even slightly nerdy way, which he pulls off with a great deal of charm.

In his quest to bring CTE to the attention of NFL officials, Omalu is joined by former league physician, Dr. Julian Bailes, played well by Alec Baldwin apart from a Southern accent that tends to come and go. The cast also includes Eddie Marsan as Dr. Steven DeKosky, a top neurologist who co-authored Omalu’s paper on CTE, Paul Reiser as Dr. Elliot Pellman, an NFL doctor who was a central figure in the concussion crisis, and Luke Wilson as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Not only is the NFL not interested in hearing that players are at risk of a serious brain syndrome, much less that potentially all or most players face that risk, the organization is actively hostile to that message. With a multimillion-dollar entertainment empire called into question, the NFL immediately seek to discredit and then silence Omalu. As it is presented in the film, this is done in an iron-fisted, chilling manner, more expected from organized crime than a respected sports organization. The film alludes to the fact that NFL may have been aware of brain-injury issues, and parallels are drawn with the way the tobacco industry tried to deny the health effects of smoking.

The film’s major flaw is that it cannot quite make up its mind what kind of film it wants to be – a medical procedural, corporate misbehavior expose, or an inspirational immigrant tale. It is mostly Omalu’s story, leaving out researchers who built on his discovery and how the NFL treated him. It is light on medical details of CTE and also on what the NFL might have known about players’ brain injuries. Omalu’s personal story is a classic immigrant tale, with a sweet romance to add to that appeal, but the immigrant love story doesn’t develop the emotional pull it should.

CONCUSSION does not make the NFL look good, but it also raises questions about the safety of football at any level, which might give parents pause about letting their kids participate. The film does not present any new information, but serves as a reminder of the headline revelations in a dramatic way. While it is not a perfect film, it is worth seeing for its potential to spark curiosity to dig further into the facts of CTE.

CONCUSSION opens in St. Louis on December 25th, 2015.

OVERALL RATING: 3 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS – The Review

A new hope has returned to theaters today. A hope for fans who have been clamoring for a new Star Wars film. A hope for the series to be in the right hands at Disney. A hope that fanboy director J.J. Abrams does not mess this up. And yet, there’s a literal meaning in me saying that “a new hope has returned” as well. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS was bound to be compared to the original film from 1977 since that film started this universe in the first place. But Abrams made it a whole lot easier for those familiar with that film to compare the two – which may or may not be a good thing.

By this point, you most likely have seen the trailers more times than you can count. I won’t go into the plot, because for one: you can gather as much as you need from those trailer; but two: everyone seems extra sensitive this time around regarding spoilers. Just know that the film is centered around the search for something that has been missing in the galaxy. That something is immediately revealed in the opening crawl, but I will save it for you to experience.

What works so well with this seventh chapter in the series are the new characters. Finn (John Boyega), Rey (Daisy Ridley), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), and BB-8 are all welcome additions to the galaxy far, far away. Boyega lends Finn a wide-eyed excitement with a dash of boyish charm. Driver is appropriately intimidating and handles the reason for his anger quite well. The other two steal the show, plain and simple. Rey and BB-8 are such a delight to watch. Ridley plays Rey as a quiet but natural warrior woman – a survivor who has lived on her own long enough that she can fend for herself. The true testament to the film for a fan like myself is if you can get as emotionally swept up in the stories of these new characters as you can for the returning characters that fans cherish. I can say, that there’s a moment towards the end of the film with Rey that gave me more chills and made me want to let out a high-pitched squeal than any other scene in the film.

It’s been 10 years since the last time fans saw the STAR WARS name on the big-screen, but it’s been three times as long since such popular characters as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia have graced the screen. Their return back is well welcomed, not to mention some of the highlights of THE FORCE AWAKENS. If your heart doesn’t swell to the size of a Death Star when Han and Leia see each other for the first time in the film, than you might be heartless… or just a Trekkie.

All kidding aside, the emotions are in the right place here. They are present but not manipulative of the audience. JJ Abrams and fellow scriptwriters Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasdan all have their heart in the right place – I may have gotten sand in my eyes a few times since they watered a bit – but the way they approach these new and exciting characters is anything but. In fact, it’s not hard to see the influences from the original trilogy. That being said, at least the trio are looking to the original trilogy for inspiration and not the prequels that followed.

If Kasdan, Arndt, and Abrams borrowed/stole/re-interrupted ideas from a diverse group of films, I wouldn’t have as much of a problem. It’s the fact that so much of the plot points stem from the original film which in turn waters down the excitement factor. Data is hidden in a droid which is then found by an orphan in the desert. There is a masked villain who is strong in the ways of the dark side of the Force. A hologram of a supreme evil leader guides the enemy in the shadows. An aeial attack on an enemy base that resembles the Death Star transpires, complete with a trench assault. If it wasn’t for the aged characters from the original trilogy, a solid argument could be made that THE FORCE AWAKENS is a remake of A NEW HOPE.

The Star Wars universe has always mirrored itself: Anakin and Luke both grew up without their fathers; Vader cuts off Luke’s hand in EMPIRE and then Luke does the same in RETURN. Having THE FORCE AWAKENS mirror A NEW HOPE soooo much will either make you adore this new return to a galaxy that’s free of midichlorian mumbo-jumbo and political meetings, or it might have you scratching your head and asking, “Haven’t we seen this before?” It’s a double-edged lightsaber for me. Sure, I love that this entry feels like a Star Wars film. It has the spirit of adventure. More importantly though, it has the sense of wonder and awe that hasn’t been felt in awhile.

Creatures stomp across the screen. Large ships have a tangibility and a weight to them. The world looks lived in. It all feels real and there. It’s as if you could go there. J.J. Abrams brought that back to Star Wars. He may have stumbled over the exact same problem many fans had with STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS – relying on past ideas in a form of misplaced fanservice – but what he gets right is igniting the excitement in old fans while giving new fans something to cheer for. Star Wars has always been about the search for hope – a search for the light amid the darkness. THE FORCE AWAKENS gives me hope that the Star Wars franchise is going in the right direction. There is a bright future ahead. As the trailer asks, “There’s been an awakening. Have you felt it?” It’s the sound of a once troubled series that was shunned by fans and critics alike being reborn from the ashes. That’s the true awakening.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS is now playing in theaters everywhere

YOUTH – The Review

Photo by Gianni Fiorito. © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

YOUTH centers on two life-long friends, both successful and famous, a film director and composer/orchestra conductor, who are vacationing together in a posh Swiss resort. Michael Caine plays the retired composer/conductor Fred Balinger and Harvey Keitel plays director Mick Boyle, who isn’t retired but is working on what he thinks may be his last important film.

This lushly beautiful, intelligent, and moving English-language film is directed and written by Paolo Sorrentino, who won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for “The Great Beauty” last year. Besides that Oscar winner, Sorrentino also directed “Il Divo,” a chilling look inside Italian politics, and the comic and strange road movie “This Must Be The Place,” with Sean Penn as an aging rocker honoring his Jewish grandfather’s last request. Sorrentino’s skill as a director is widely acknowledged but his complex, beautiful, strangely dreamlike films are not for everyone. In any language, YOUTH is an intriguing film, a mix of comedy and drama that explores friendship, life, memory, and choices. The film has a European sensibility, with thoughtful, intelligent dialog, a slower pace and twists and revelations that come near the end. It is a film about transformations, which can come even late in life.

These two characters certainly are not young but YOUTH looks at how they think about their future as well as how they remember their youth. The odd title might be partly inspired by the old saying “youth is wasted on the young,” as these two accomplished men look back on their life choices and regrets, in light of what they know now. Fred is determinedly retired, and even seems to have given up on life. At the film’s start, Fred is determinately resisting pressure to leave retirement for a special concert request by the Queen of England, and particularly her request to play his most famous piece, which he has vowed to never perform again since his soprano wife can no longer sing it. Mick, on the other hand, is firmly resisting any thought of retiring, although he feels his best work is behind him. Working on a film he hopes will be his masterpiece, he is struggling with the script despite the help of a team of young scriptwriters he has brought along to the Swiss resort. The film is set to feature his longtime star, Brenda Morel, a fading beauty whose career he helped launch.

Although these two old friends are the main characters, the film also explores the idea of youth from the viewpoint of some younger characters in the film, primarily the ones played by Rachel Weisz and Paul Dano.

Music figures heavily in this film – Fred is a composer after all – and the music is provided by renowned composer David Lang. Much of the film’s appeal rests with the interaction between Caine and Keitel as the longtime best friends. They play around, prank, kid, lie, tell stories, reminisce and generally talk, as only long-time friends can. Both are master storytellers and competitive, as they remember the past and look back on choices of their youth. Caine, an acclaimed 82-year-old Englishman, plays another acclaimed 82-year-old Englishman which adds a curious twist to his scenes. As the actor notes, the film is less about the conventional anguish of growing old as being in the more-unexpected place of having grown old.

But YOUTH is not just about remembered youth but those who have lives ahead. The film weaves in the stories of younger people, reflecting on what they have done and trying to figure out where they are going. Accompanying Fred is his daughter/assistant Lena (Rachel Weisz), who is trying to recover from the collapse of her marriage, and a famous actor Jimmy Tree (Paul Dano) preparing for his latest role, which is a secret at this point. Jimmy is trying to establish himself as a serious actor but a silly but iconic action movie role that first brought him fame continues to dog him. Also at this exclusive mountain resort are the recent winner of the Miss Universe beauty pageant, a once-legendary soccer star now overweight and barely able to move, numerous other wealthy and famous people, and a host of supporting characters. Jane Fonda plays Mick’s star and muse Brenda, once a movie star beauty who still holds onto her fame if not her legendary looks. In the course of the film, all these people work out their various fears and ambitions. Despite the difference in their age, Jimmy and Fred form a bond.

The gorgeous Swiss mountain views and historic hotel give a timelessness and sense of contemplation to these discussions. The dialog is intriguing as the two friends spare verbally, contemplative in their moments of solitude and touching when it focuses on the younger characters. The landscape sets the mood but also is the setting for solitary fantasy sequences where Fred and Mick recall their long careers.

Towards the end of this dreamy, languid, beautiful film in an insular world, it takes a sharp turn with the arrival of Jane Fonda as aging movie goddess Brenda Morel. Heavily made-up and dressed in a tight, over-the-top outfit, Fonda’s Brenda is a tiger, a tough survivor of Hollywood. Fonda and Keitel have a riveting scene that strips all the otherworldly dreaminess and delivers a lightning bolt. It is a part of a series of transformations and revelations that break the cocoon that has surrounded everyone at the resort.

Sorrentino’s attention to detail and skill as a filmmaker are unquestioned but YOUTH is not a film for every taste. Whether you like YOUTH might depend on how you feel about the director’s previous films, or this kind of visually lush, contemplative film where the characters seem trapped in their own purgatories. For some, it is a wonderful experience but for others, it will not suit.

YOUTH opens in St. Louis on Friday, December 18th, 2015.

OVERALL RATING: 5 OUT OF 5 STARS

THE DANISH GIRL – The Review

THE DANISH GIRL is a film about a transsexual pioneer, played by Eddie Redmayne and directed by Tom Hooper. Hooper has demonstrated his skill with lush period drama in THE KING’S SPEECH and Redmayne’s performance as Stephen Hawking in THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING impressed but THE DANISH GIRL is as much a story of the power of love, with Alicia Vikander delivering a strong performance as the wife facing a difficult change.

The story opens in the 1920s with a happily married couple, a pair of Danish artists, Einar (Redmayne) and Gerda (Vikander) Wegener, who seem like soul mates. Einar having some success with his landscape paintings, while Gerda is still struggling for recognition for her portraits. One day, Gerda’s model does not show up, and in order to complete the commissioned work by deadline, she asks her husband to dress up as a woman and take the model’s place. He resists at first, but then relents. The feel of women’s clothing awakens something in Einar. Their actress friend Ulla (Amber Heard) dubs Einar’s female alter ego “Lili.” As Einar feels the pull of being Lili, everything changes for both artists.

The film is based on a novel that was inspired by the first transgender person to undergo sex-reassignment surgery. While a lot of attention will be focused on Redmayne, who does a fine job, the really impressive performance, the one that might grab audiences, is Vikander’s heartbreaking one as Gerda Wegener. Gerda truly loves the husband she is losing as she helps him through this transition. This may be Vikander’s year, following up her striking performance in EX MACHINA with this moving one.

THE DANISH GIRL is one of the season’s two Oscar-bait period dramas focused on persons with a sexual nature that were taboo in their era. The other, CAROL, an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel, is set in the repressive 1950s and is a love story about lesbian couple. THE DANISH GIRL is set in the free-wheeling 1920s and is based on a novel inspired by real people and events, about a married pair of artists whose lives are transformed when the husband comes out as a transgender person. It too is a love story, as the wife’s devotion to her husband transcend the changes that are causing her heartbreak. Both films are gorgeous and filled with fine period details and costumes but CAROL is garnering higher critical praise. This is due in part to strong performances but also perhaps because it is set in the repressive 1950s, a time period once called the “little Victorian Age.” “The Mad Men” ’50s seems to speak more to current tastes than the Roaring Twenties, a period of rebellion, experimentation and artistic creativity that followed the actual Victorian Age and the devastation of World War I. Or maybe it is because THE DANISH GIRL is a different kind of tragic love story.

THE DANISH GIRL is lushly beautiful, of course. Hooper is known for the visual beauty and stylishness of his films. THE DANISH GIRL is no exception – quite the contrary. Set in the European art world of the ’20s and ’30s, when gorgeous fashions and decor abounded – and at the film’s height, in Paris no less – gives Hooper an abundance of riches with which to work. But all that visual beauty might work against the very serious, tragic drama unfolding.

The assumption one might make is that the title “The Danish Girl” refers to Redmayne’s character but a line of dialog actually links it to Gerda Wegener, whose heartbreak is mixed with a tireless devotion to her husband as he pursues his dream of transitioning into a woman, the first to attempt sex reassignment surgery. Vikander’s performance is moving and strong, providing such a powerful presence that the film seems diminished when she is not on screen. Redmayne makes a valiant effort but his freckled, masculine face and lanky frame are never fully convincing as a woman, although that works in a way.

Redmayne and Vikander are wonderful together, and the film has nice supporting roles played by Ben Whishaw, Sebastian Koch, Amber Heard and Matthias Schoenaerts. While the look is entrancing and the acting moving, the film suffers a bit from lack of focus. Primarily, the story is about the marriage but occasionally it wants to be about transgender issues, and even hints at the possibility that Einar was intersex. The film deviates from the historical facts for dramatic purposes, which might displease some. Regardless, a clearer focus might have helped lift the film, particularly in its later scenes.

Still, THE DANISH GIRL is a visually beautiful film, with fine, moving performances and a little-known historical story, which will make it a winner for its story of transcendent love.

THE DANISH GIRL opens in St. Louis on Friday, December 18th, 2015.

OVERALL RATING: 4 OUT OF 5 STARS

SISTERS (2015) – The Review

This new comedy questions an old adage, since it ponders whether you truly cannot “go home again”. It further wonders if you can party “hearty” back at said home. Then you could put another spin on a saying by staggering and weaving down “the road not taken”. The protagonists of this film are not middle-aged “lost boys” usually played by the likes of Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen, and Adam Sandler. They flail about in flick after flick as stumbling, bumbling examples of the “man-child”, often with wives mortified at their antics. But what about flipping that comic trope? Can’t these farces feature a “women-child”, or two? Ladies regressing back to simpler times? Well, here’s two actresses that are more than ready for this challenge. Hard to believe that over seven years has passed since they were an on-screen team in BABY MAMA. But happily they’ve been deflating Hollywood egos as an impressive award-show tag team in the meantime. In their return to the multiplex, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are now very different, but very devoted SISTERS.

Maura Ellis (Poehler) is a divorced nurse in Atlanta whose attempts at helping folks (mistaking workers on the street as the homeless) ends in disaster and derision. But, she’s pretty responsible and mature which seems to be the opposite of sister Kate (Fey). She’s a beautician and single mother whose teenage daughter Haley (Madison Davenport) tends to go AWOL after being frustrated with Mom’s exploits. When Kate is booted out of another pal’s apartment (she’s truly homeless, crashing on couches until her hosts have had enough), she contacts Maura. But she’s still reeling after getting a bombshell phone call (Skype actually) from their folks (James Brolin and Dianne Wiest) down in Orlando Florida. They’re living in a retirement village condo after putting the family home on the market,so their daughters need to clean out their old bedrooms. When Maura and Kate converge at their old domicile they’re stunned to see a sold sign on the front lawn. After meeting the obnoxious, snooty new owners, the sisters decide that there’s only one thing to do. And no, they don’t just pack up their stuff and clear out. The Ellis girls decide that they must host the wildest party ever before bidding adieu to the ole’ homestead. And Maura decides to finally “sow her wild oats” with the hunky new neighbor across the street, James (Ike Barinholtz), so Kate agrees to be the “party mom”, staying sober to oversee everyone. So, what could go wrong, besides their old high school nemesis Brinda (Maya Rudolph) getting wind of her “non-invite”? What could happen, since they’re all adults? Right?

Here’s a different part for Ms. Fey. Kate is almost the “anti-Liz Lemon” (her role from the sitcom she created and headlined “30 Rock”), or perhaps the old TV “soap opera” cliché, the “evil” twin. In her tight-fitting animal prints, she’s a free-wheeling, wild spirit, an unrestrained id sporting high heels (a less disturbed version of the title character from the early 2015 film MOMMY). Fey is looser, more feisty, and energetic than we’ve ever seen her. She’s the electric charge that powers the plot. Ms. Poehler doesn’t veer too far away from Leslie Knope (her role on TV’s much-missed “Parks and Recreation”) in a character that’s very sweet and very awkward (her attempts at “sexy banter” are a scream). Mind you, she’s just as hysterical as Fey, but Poehler gives Maura a real vulnerability that helps propel her character’s romance. Most of all, she’s not merely the “straight” woman for Fey’s fireball. Poehler has a terrific “love match” with the gifted Barinholtz who’s playing a real “guy’s guy” and a nice change from his manic nurse on TV’s “The Mindy Project”. But he still cranks up the funny, particularly in an often painful stunt involving a ballerina. Brolin and Wiest (currently playing a couple on TV’s ” Life in Pieces”) score big laughs as the bewildered parents while providing a wake-up call to their offspring. Rudolph is an endearing rival and holds her own during the verbal, and eventual, physical smackdowns with Fey. Oh, and Fey gets to flirt with a very deadpan John Cena (so good recently in TRAINWRECK) as the mucho-muscled, stoic drug dealer Pazuzu (love when he lists his stock). The party-goers are filled with comedians, comic actors, and SNL vets (alumni and current) with Bobby Moynihan (“Drunk Uncle”) stealing scenes as a pathetic former class clown. Oh, and I should mention Greta Lee who shares one of the film’s funniest scenes with Poehler as she tries to teach Maura the proper way to say her Korean name Hae-Won. Stick around for the end credits to see Poehler fail to keep a straight face while contorting her mouth for the exact pronunciation.

As I mentioned earlier, this is the second screen pairing of these two talented women (both were in MEAN GIRLS, but had no scenes together), unfortunately a real rarity. Male comedy teams have been part of cinema for decades. Some are true partners (as Leonard Maltin points out in his superb book on the subject) as with Laurel and Hardy all the way to Cheech and Chong. While other male comedy stars work together frequently, from Bob Hope and Bing Crosby to Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, to the current duos like Seth Rogen and Jamed Franco. There was an attempt by producer Hal Roach to establish a female 1930’s comedy team with Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts (replaced by Patsy Kelly), but woman duos were a fixture of TV, from Lucy and Ethel to Laverne and Shirley, and recently those “Two Broke Girls”. Fey and Poehler have such an easy rapport and expert timing, so hopefully this comic collaboration will continue for several more features. It’s a shame that this entry is not on par with their impressive skill set. The script by former SNL scribe, and comic actress, Paula Pell is chocked full of great bits for the duo, but like many screen comedies it seems to lose its momentum at around the one hour mark, settling into an all too common, deadly “lull”. This may be the fault of PITCH PERFECT director Jason Moore, who needed to make the film a good 15 to 20 minutes shorter (as I’ve said in the past, comedies really shouldn’t be over 100 minutes unless the word “mad” is in the title four times). These are funny people, true, but not everything’s gold. The party montages, just as in the teen comedies, become tiresome and with adults, kinda’ desperate. And the drug stuff danger takes away from the humor (really, these aging swingers would be headed to the ER). Plus the massive property damage final act doesn’t have the desired payoff. If you’re fans of this Golden Globes super team, then the film is a must see. Let’s see if they kind find a better showcase in the near future, because the scenes when they’re together is the only time that SISTERS soars.

3.5 Out of 5

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: ROAD CHIP – The Review

Unless you’re under the age of five, you’ll find nothing to like about the generic cash-grab ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: ROAD CHIP. The first ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS, back in ’07, wasn’t bad. Jason Lee, who plays Alvin, Simon, and Theodore’s guardian David Seville, had some fun reactions and chemistry with the furry CGI critters. In the sequels, including this new one, Lee shows up at the beginning for some large-scale comedic disaster sequence, screams “Alvin!!!” a couple of times, then sits the trio down and tells them he must travel for the rest of the film so they’d better behave while he’s gone. Then some young Disney Channel star is brought in to team up with The Chipmunks for the remainder of the movie until Lee returns at the end to collect his paycheck.

In ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: ROAD CHIP David is off to propose to his girlfriend Shira (Kimberly Williams). Her teenage son Miles (Josh Green) mildly bullies the rodents, so they travel to Florida to stop the engagement so they won’t have to put up with an obnoxious new stepbrother (whom they inexplicably bring along with them on their trip….I mean chip). At first they sneak aboard an airplane, but it’s grounded when they release a cargo hold full of animals into coach (it’s never explained why there’s a goat and flock of pigeons on board). The plane’s bumbling Air Marshall (Harlan Williams), then follows the boys across country to Miami so they can all reunite with David.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: ROAD CHIP stops cold for several headache-inducing music numbers, padding the slim script with helium-voiced versions of pop songs. If you’ve always wanted to see The Chipmunks march with a seasoned jazz band down Bourbon Street (on a set that looks nothing like New Orleans) for a high-pitched rendition of Uptown Funk in its entirety (!), this is your film. The script leans heavily on the pranks and big-eyed cuteness of the li’l guys and leaves the live actors stuck with tiresome dialogue and nothing to do as they have to pretend to know what’s going on as the CG effects take place beside and around them. They do their best. Jennifer Coolidge shows up in one scene reprising her Stiffler’s Mom floozy but is given nothing funny to say. John Waters insults Alvin on an airplane to which the rodent replies “Don’t judge me. I’ve seen PINK FLAMINGOS” (who’s that gag aimed at?). Christina Applegate, Anna Ferris, and Kaley Cuoco voice The Chippettes, who are barely in the film. Their vocals (like Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney as The Chipmunks) are sped up, which makes one wonder why they bother casting celebrity voices if they’re going to be made unrecognizable.

Toddlers might appreciate Harlan Williams’ enthusiastic mugging, and will scream in delight when the Chipmunks fart and pee, but for any adult this will be a long 85 minutes. So you might say: “But this new installment of Alvin and the Chipmunks is a movie for kids. It’s not made for a pretentious high-minded film critic like yourself”. True, but that’s a crutch. Children also would enjoy Tootsie Rolls for breakfast, which is why parents need to step in and help them make better movie choices. Take them to see PEANUTS or THE GOOD DINOSAUR. If they’ve seen those, see them again. ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: ROAD CHIP is a terrible movie, a soul-crushing free-fall into total plastic. Kids deserve better.

1 of 5 Stars

CHRISTMAS, AGAIN – The Review

Selling Christmas trees is one of those seasonal jobs, much like setting up a fireworks stand for the Fourth of July or a pumpkin patch around Halloween, that is done by people in transition. Christmas tree selling is not a life time career option, a temporary job until something else comes along.

Noel (Kentucker Audley) is on his fifth year selling Christmas trees on a lot in the middle of New York City, despite the time of year it does not look like a cheerful job. Noel actually lives on the lot in a tiny camper, he has to use the local YMCA to get a shower, his shift is all night long, for 12 hours, sitting outside, sometimes in freezing rain, trying to stay awake.

There is a day shift, a young man and his girl friend, they are not the most reliable people but they do run the stand while Noel tries to get some sleep in the middle of a busy metropolitan area with all the traffic noise that comes with it. Dude, I would so cover those windows and keep the sun out!

Noel used to have a girl friend that helped him run the stand, repeat customers ask about her, we never find out what happened exactly but Noel is obviously lonely and unhappy and exhausted most of the time.

We see all the work day routine that goes into selling Christmas trees, showing the trees to customers, wrapping them so they can be transported, delivering them and setting them up for customers. Since it is New York a lot of the customers are very picky about the trees, the wreaths, the lights, they take their time picking out a tree while Noel shivers in the cold.

One night Noel finds a young woman passed out on a bus stop bench, a homeless man sitting next to her has no idea who she is or how she got there. Noel puts her in the camper, gets gum out of her hair, and retrieves her cell phone from the homeless man. She wakes up and leaves while Noel is outside with a customer. This is Robin (Hannah Gross), she will return to talk with Noel and try to figure out how she ended up on the bench, passed out.

She will return again with a home baked pie for Noel. Her boyfriend shows up later, first as a customer, he gets suspicious seeing the pie in Noel’s tiny camper, returns and causes trouble. Robin returns and accompanies Noel on Christmas Eve as he delivers and sets up a couple of trees for customers. They spend the night together but not much happens.

And that is about it, but describing the “action” in CHRISTMAS, AGAIN doesn’t begin to tell how powerful, how moving this movie really is. This is the kind of character study that used to be made regularly in the 1970s. Kentucker Audley is on camera for almost the whole running time, we see everything through his eyes and we see exactly what he is thinking and how he is feeling, every minute. The performance is spot on and powerful. And there is very little dialog, Audley tells us everything with looks, gestures, body language. I have never seen this actor before but I sincerely hope he gets to work regularly after this film. And Hannah Gross matches him, scene for scene.

Movies about loneliness are hard to do without getting maudlin. One of the great science fiction writers, Theodore Sturgeon, once said that loneliness is hard to write about because we are all experts at it.

CHRISTMAS, AGAIN nails it, we feel for Noel every step of the way. A big event for him is getting a sandwich and an energy drink at an all night quick mart. He has an Advent calendar that has pills for each day instead of candy. We never find out what the pills are but he does nod off on the job after taking two instead of one, later he flushes the remaining pills and seems to be feeling better.

He misses his girlfriend who used to keep him company at the tree stand and eyeballs every woman who comes to look at trees. We hold our breath hoping that he and Robin might make a go of it. Both are lonely, damaged people trying to find some hope and cheer and happiness on what many have called the worst night of the year to be alone, Christmas Eve.

I do not like to give out spoilers so I will just say the ending is heartbreaking, and exhilarating, at the same time. We come in alone and we go out alone and in between we try our best to get by and, hopefully, help each other instead of hurting.

CHRISTMAS, AGAIN is a masterpiece.

This time of year always brings out the big Christmas movies, Christmas Carol (pick your favorite version), It’s a Wonderful Life, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Earnest Saves Christmas.

Add CHRISTMAS, AGAIN to that list, especially if you want to feel good about life and the holidays.

And a Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

And, the soundtrack is incredible, I want the CD!

5 Out Of 5 Stars

FACTORY 25 will release CHRISTMAS, AGAIN at the MoMA in New York (and exclusive SVOD on Fandor) on Thursday, December 3rd, and at the Laemmle Noho 7 in Los Angeles on Friday, December 11th.
Also available on iTunes and select digital / cable platforms

MACBETH (2015) – The Review

Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard deliver gripping performances in a dark, atmospheric and bloody MACBETH. While this dark, bloody film is powerful, this film should not be one’s first introduction to Shakespeare’s classic, as a significant amount of the play itself is missing. No boiling cauldron and “double, double toil and trouble” open this version of the Scottish play, although the three “weird sisters” appear after a battle with their prophetic pronouncements. It is more an updated interpretation than the definitive screen adaption but still a must-see for fans of the Bard, as well as a worthy addition to the film canon of his works.

Brooding, bloody and filled with ghosts, director Justin Kurzel’s MACBETH takes place in a ruggedly beautiful landscape, creating a film that is visually striking. As the film unfolds, the screen often suffused with red, and landscapes take on increasingly darker tones. Battle scenes, reveling in muddy and blood in a way that recalls BRAVEHEART, and memories of battle figure heavily in this version, set in foggy Scottish moors and a mountainous, windswept landscape.

The script by Jacob Koskoff, Todd Louiso and Michael Lesslie captures the gritty violence in the tragedy thoroughly but the opening cauldron scene is not the only familiar one left out or significantly changed, making this a film more based on the play than a more pure film version. The film focuses most strongly on scenes with MacBeth himself, played powerfully by Fassbender. More than anything, this is Fassbender’s film. MacBeth’s own ambition figures more heavily in driving events than magic from the three witches or influence from politically-scheming allies or even Lady MacBeth. Still, the scenes between Fassbender and Cotillard are gripping, fiery stuff, and Cotillard in particular delivers a riveting performance.

A brief screen of text at the start sets the stage for the story, and replaces some information from missing scenes. It tells us how General MacBeth (Fassbender), Thane of Glamis, leads the army of the beleaguered King Duncan (David Thewlis) against rebellious forces in a last-stand battle and emerges with a surprise victory. The overjoyed king comes to visit his general, bestowing on MacBeth the title Thane of Cawdor, fulfilling the witches’ prophecy that MacBeth and his ally and kinsman Banquo (Paddy Considine), who also predict MacBeth will be king and, MacBeth being childless, Banquo’s descendents there after.

In this dark film, dead children are a reoccurring presence. The films opens with a Highland funeral, with blond-haired toddler on a pyre and the couple mourning, presumably, the death of their child. Shakespeare’s play presents the couple as childless but makes clear that Lady MacBeth has given birth to at least one, in the chilling speech in which she urges on to carry through in their plan to kill King Duncan. There is another child who figures heavily, a teen boy lost in battle. Both children return as visions, in some of the most haunting scenes of the film.

Among the most dramatically striking scenes is one between MacBeth and Lady MacBeth, shortly after they have been crowned king and queen. In their high-vaulted royal bedroom, MacBeth speaks in threatening manner to his wife about their childless state, a startlingly different interpretation of the scene. Both Fassbender and Cotillard are electrifying in this scene. Fassbender frequently is praised for his outstanding work, even in lesser films, but hopefully this complex, moving performance will give Cotillard more of the recognition she deserves. Her final scene is presented in an even more unusual fashion but she brings layers of despair and loss to the scene that adds immensely to its power.

While the acting is marvelous, the missing scenes and frequent dream-like sequences of ghosts and battlefields gives the film a kind of fitful feel, rather than one of sustained drama. Still, one cannot fault the outstanding cinematic style of this MACBETH, which succeeds admirably in creating mood. While its truncated version means it should be no one’s introduction to the play, this re-imagining offers some powerful scenes and dramatically gripping performances, making it worth the trip to the theater.

MACBETH opens in St. Louis on Friday, December 11th, 2015.

Overall Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

DADDY’S HOME is in theaters December 25th

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OVERALL RATING: 5 OUT OF 5 STARS

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CONCUSSION opens in St. Louis on December 25th, 2015.

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OVERALL RATING: 5 OUT OF 5 STARS

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OVERALL RATING: 4 OUT OF 5 STARS

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5 Out Of 5 Stars

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OVERALL RATING: 4 OUT OF 5 STARS

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