DVD Roundup: Extraordinary Measures and Adam

I've been spending a lot of time writing my dissertation, and one of the techniques I often use to stay organized is to outline a paper I've already written to be sure it says what I want it to say.  I think Hollywood could learn a lot from this technique - particularly in marketing films.  The trailer is basically an outline for a movie after the movie's been made - hopefully without giving the ending away.  However, trailers often tell a story that has nothing (or very little) to do with the movie they're describing.  I would really have liked to see the movie that the trailer for Extraordinary Measures advertised.  It seemed like somewhere between Medicine Man and Lorenzo's Oil.  Nothing remarkable, but I liked both of those so I figured I'd enjoy this.  However, Extraordinary Measures is a bit more like a fictionalized Sicko, bemoaning the problems of creating new drugs and testing those drugs and ultimately bringing them to market.  Now I'm all for the privately funded research - competition for the big bucks often means drugs can get produced faster, but if it's not for an ailment that will happen to millions of people, it's hardly profitable, and will likely never get far beyond research.  This movie does a pretty good job of explaining that dilemma - how to get research into the medicine cabinet for the highest profit.  Harrison Ford is the curmudgeonly (but surprisingly greedy) researcher and Brendan Fraser is the Harvard Business grad who starts a biotech company to get Ford's drugs to market so his kids can be treated.  That was what I thought a lot of the movie would be about - his kids and what they were going through.  That was kind of a red herring - it's really about the drug industry.  It was not terrible, but fairly boring, none of the characters are well developed or particularly interesting.  Keri Russell as Fraser's wife does the best job of actually acting, and we never even learn the name of the couple's third kid, he's just around.  2 of 5 stars/lambs

The other movie, Adam, was better than advertised.  I read a review in the New York Times quite a long time ago, and when Netflix sent it I'd nearly forgotten about it.  The movie stars Hugh Dancy as the title character, a high functioning man with Asperger's Syndrome in New York City whose life and rigid routine have been upset when his father dies.  He meets Beth (Damages' Rose Byrne) when she moves in upstairs.  Adam is able to work, take care of himself, and interact with people for the most part.  Disruptions from his routine or loud places or people who don't say exactly what they mean make things difficult for him.  However, Rose finds herself falling for his kind nature and intensity.  Beth's life is slowly falling apart - her father's been indicted for business tax fraud and that doesn't end well, and crushes her image of her father.  Adams loses his job, and is forced to find another so he won't have to move out of his apartment.  Beth helps him practice all the skills he lacks due to the Asperger's for having a good interview - eye contact, hand shakes and greetings, not to talk too much, when to recognize when people aren't interested anymore, etc.  Asperger's means he cannot interpret other people's emotions - he lacks empathy, though if a situation is explained to him, he can have lots of sympathy, he just can't put himself in other people's shoes (nor understand what the idiom means in the first place - why would you want to put on someone else's shoes?).  I thought the storytelling was really similar to last year's (500) Days of Summer in that things work out differently than you expect they might, it's not a happy ending, but it's not sad either.  Though, also like Summer, the indie vibe it gives off isn't boring or pretentious.   Great acting by both Dancy and Byrne (though she occasionally falls into her droopy-eyed moments that she milks in Damages).  Peter Gallagher is perfectly cast as her smarmy father too.  3.5 of 5 stars/lambs

A Serious Man: Review

I was raised Catholic, and have a strong understanding of my own faith (if not a belief in it all). Similarly, I have a Jewish godmother, many Jewish friends, and dated a Jewish guy for a long time. So I didn't have the same problems with all the Jewish inside jokes that many reviewers seem to have had with the movie. Many assumed that if they understood all the inside references, they would have liked the movie better. I doubt it. Perhaps they were saying all the jokes in Hebrew or Yiddish, so I didn't get any of those, but I doubt that too. As a movie, it has certain good qualities, the story has many different characters that are likeable and unlikeable. I liked the antihero - Larry Gropnik, and thought the actor did a terrific job avoiding falling into the insane depths of despair his character had the right to do given the hardships he's going through. The story doesn't actually tell a very interesting story, though it has some themes that resonated with me. The story is basically, Gropnik's wife wants a divorce, his daughter's stealing from him, his son's a moron about to be bar mitzfahed, one of his student's is bribing him, one of his neighbor's a jerk, the other is a sexpot. Basically, nothing particularly original or interesting. The theme that I liked was the idea of "doing nothing". His marriage fell apart because he didn't do anything. He won't get tenure because he didn't do anything. He is slowly losing his land to his neighbor because he doesn't do anything. Basically, the movie seems to be saying that it's important to take an interest in your life and that just coasting through won't get you the life you'd like. As with most Coen Brothers movies, they don't hit you in the face with anything in particular, and this movie does very little as well. I didn't like it, and think the people who thought it was hilarious are crazy. Okay, there were a few moments when Gropnik is seeking advice from an odd assortment of rabbis that were humorous. Hardly redeeming. 2 of 5 stars/lambs
However, if you'd like to read a funny review of this movie, check out Fletch's at Blog Cabins

DVD Round up: The Informant! and The September Issue

I've been accused many times of being a soft critic. Yes, it's true, I can usually find something to like in most movies. However, the real reason is that I tend to see movies I think I will like (particularly if I have to pay for the ticket). And second, I often don't bother to review movies I didn't like. And even less often do I bother reviewing movies I find meh. But to round out my reviewing a bit, here are two that had things to like, but overall didn't rise to the level of review-worthy.

The Informant! was the Matt Damon vehicle last fall that got him quite a few nominations or at least attention. And he was worthy of attention. He spent the whole movie spinning his heels trying to drive the thing forward. It is "based on a true story" and not having heard of the scandal they discuss throughout the film, it was as much fiction as fact to me. Damon works for a chemical company that he knows has been fixing prices with the Japanese. He reaches out to the FBI (Scott Bakula and Joel McHale) who has him tape conversations about the illegal activity. However, after the whistle is blown, Damon thinks he'll get to run the company once the bad guys are taken away. Then they find out he's been taking kick-backs and bribes. Damon is an odd, odd character. He's delusional about how the FBI will work for his benefit, obviously smart enough to make lots of money and hide most of it. He forges signatures and gets caught, so the original FBI agents get in trouble for not properly checking into the guy they're basing their whole case upon. It's a movie that you hope will provide dividends once you figure out what's really going on, but you never do. Directed by Steven Soderburgh, you can feel the same clouded mystery and humor as the Ocean's movies, but as nothing actually develops and Damon's character isn't nearly as charming or compelling as Danny Ocean, this movie doesn't really go anywhere. It can't seem to decide if it's a drama or a comedy and doesn't really do a good job at either. I did like Melanie Lynsky as Damon's wife, always agreeing with his crazy ideas and helping him keep it together. 2 lambs/stars

The September Issue is a documentary about the biggest issue of Vogue ever produced, September 2007. It follows editor in chief Anna Wintour and creative director Grace Coddington as they put together a huge issue. Grace sets up photo shoots, designs the look of each, puts together the fashion within each, and then Anna cuts out tons of her hard work deciding what actually goes into the issue. There are a few fun scenes to watch as they go to fashion shows and help Sienna Miller do the cover shoot in Rome. But overall, it wasn't anything particularly innovative. It does show Anna Wintour as a real person who doesn't usually wear dark glasses, who has children who are proud of her, and she can smile and laugh, but that she's really good at her job for a reason, she's got skills. Grace Coddington was fun to watch prepping all of her things. She showed real pride in her work, and also worked from an incredibly creative point of view (though, for someone who used to be a model and works in fashion, her hair was a disaster). However, if you've seen The Devil Wears Prada, Ugly Betty or Project Runway, it didn't really tell you anything new about how they work, minus the drama of course. What do they do with designers, how they think up some of their ideas, what they use for inspiration, what it all costs, where they get to go for work, etc. A very cut and dry documentary following around people who work really hard. 2 stars

The Edge of Love: Review

I don't recall having seen this movie advertised in theaters or publicized much, and that really should have been a clue that it wasn't for me. Also, I'm not a big fan of Kiera Knightly (though she's becoming a better actress, slowly) and don't like Sienna Miller at all. The reason I saw it is because of the guys: Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys (from Brothers & Sisters). Rhys plays poet Dylan Thomas and is married to Miller, but lost his virginity to Knightly back in Wales. They're all in London now trying to survive the Blitz, and Knightly meets soldier-boy Murphy and they "fall in love and get married". That's in quotes because it's what is supposed to happen, but Knightly's only marrying him to spite Rhys whom she can't have. There's lots of drama. Rhys has been put to work, because he's a poet, making propaganda films for the military. He hates his job and makes it clear to everyone around him that it's beneath his talent (which hasn't really become too famous yet). Miller is a nut-job crazy woman who is jealous and mean but then totally loving, and cheats with other men. Since Rhys is in love with Knightly anyway, he doesn't much care that his wife is skanky. However, once Knightly gets pregnant (on her wedding night) she returns with the crazy Thomases to Wales. They wait out the war barely scrapping by, but Miller is making money off being skanky now, and since everyone gets to eat no one pays attention. We see glimpses of the atrocities Murphy is going through, that make him crazy when he gets home. Lots more fighting ensues, with some crazy violence, but all ends fine as we know it must because Dylan Thomas is a famous poet. Apparently the war gave him lots of things to write about later. The movie is not good. All except Murphy are supposed to have Welsh accents, and only Rhys (because he actually is Welsh by birth) can carry it off. Knightly can't about 80% of the time, you totally forget she's supposed to be a childhood friend of Rhys because she has a British accent and he doesn't. And Miller brings in her odd American twang from time to time, but she does a better job maintaining the Welsh. The acting is fine, but the script really just goes in circles of odd love pairings to the point where you're sure the writers just wanted Knightly and Miller to get it on. Not worth your time. If you're surfing the Netflix Watch Instantly, check out Botany of Desire instead and you'll have a more pleasant 90 minutes. 2 of 5 stars/lambs

Jane Campion: Bright Star

The latest movie from Jane Campion, the Oscar-winning screenwriter and director of The Piano, has created another similarly dour period piece with moments of terrific acting, but not a particularly interesting love story that has all the complexity of its hero's Wikipedia page. John Keats is a penniless poet who falls in love with an emerging fashionista Fanny Brawne who cannot considering marrying such a poor person, but wants to learn from him about poetry. Campion assumes everyone watching has mind-reading capabilities as she spends long scenes just letting us look at the characters looking at each other. There's a terrific scene when Keats' roommate, Mr. Brown, sends Fanny a valentine as an insulting joke, and proves that Fanny has no skills at anything but flirting and sewing. I found it hard to believe the love story that ensues. Many movies that describe an artist and his muse often rely on the fact that the woman is as in love with the art as with the man. This is not true, though Fanny seems to appreciate parts of Keats' poetry, she constantly talks about how she isn't an expert in poetry. The movie fails to give another reason for their love affair, though they do make it seem extremely tragic that it never develops as Keats dies at 25 of tuberculosis. Overall, I wasn't impressed with Bright Star. Almost Famous makes the love story and struggles of artists more believeable and interesting and Pride and Prejudice does a better job with a period piece. 2 of 5 stars/lambs

DVD Round up: Comedies

Having close access to movie rentals is just one of those things that makes life a tiny bit eacier if you're a movie lover from a small town. I expect to have quite a few DVD reviews in the next few weeks thanks to a new Blockbuster kiosk only 2 minutes from my place. I've seen one I enjoyed more than I thought I would and one I enjoyed less than I expected.

Couples Retreat is a comedy with a stellar cast that actually uses them to great advantage, even if the story is very contrived, it still comes out ahead with very funny moments. The Invention of Lying also has a terrific cast, many all-star cameos, but uses a one-trick pony and explores it beyond all necessity.

Couples Retreat stars Vince Vaughn, Malin Ackerman, Jon Favreau, Kristin Davis, Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell, Faizon Love, and Kali Hawk as the couples who go on retreat. They're all starting from a different point in their marriage. Bateman/Bell have been trying to conceive a child but want to figure out if they should keep going by going to this couples therapy retreat. Vaughn and Ackerman are hoping for the honeymoon they never had due to early kids and jobs. Favreau and Davis are planning a divorce but keeping it secret until their daughter goes to college. And Love/Hawk have only been dating 2 weeks (she's 20 and his old and fat). The trademark rapid dialogue Vaughn brings to all his movies, but is in terrific company with Favreau and Bateman. The women more than hold their own by managing to avoid the stereotypical "wife" characters as fun rather than shrew. There's quite a bit of really funny bits, mostly with the various requirements the therapy puts them through. The small roles of the therapists played by John Michael Higgins, Ken Jeong, Charlotte Cornwall and Amy Hill. They're some of the more ridiculous therapists I've ever seen, but of course make all the couples look more closely at their relationships. The other people running the retreat are also sources of laughs, though definitely the low-brow variety. My only major problem with the movie was the odd pairings. Most of the couples are more than 10 years different in age (an exception is Favreau/Davis who were actually the most interesting couple). It just took away from the idea that these marriages had been going on very long or that this group of people would all be friends - a completely unexplained plot point. Still, funny if you enjoy the Vaughn/Favreau humor. 3 of 5 stars/lambs.

The Invention of Lying is also funny if you enjoy Ricky Gervais brand of humor. Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey and Rob Lowe do offer some assistance in diversifying the humor, but it's basically Gervais all the way. They live in a world where its not possible to lie or pretend or do anything that isn't true or real. So movies are just a person dramatically reading actual historical stories. Every statement someone says is assumed to be the absolute truth. One day Gervais develops the ability to lie and takes full advantage of it. He can get away with it because every just assumes everything everyone says is true, so when he tells a woman that they must have sex or the world will end, she believes him without question. The crux of the story comes when Gervais mother is dying and to relieve her fear, he makes up a story about the afterlife being a wonderful place. Several people overhear him (including Jason Bateman as her doctor) and Gervais makes up all this rules about a man in the sky who causes all the good and bad in the world and that everyone will get a mansion after death. The whole thing causes problems, and he still finds that he can't make Jennifer Garner fall in love with him even by lying. It's entertaining for the first 25 minutes or so, and then becomes a satire (or mockery) of religion that wasn't particularly funny. 2 of 5 stars/lambs

Bad Romantic Comedies, not much worse

I've been re-reading some of my oldest posts to see if what I suspected was true: I like most movies. What I found out was that I usually just don't review movies I really dislike. They don't make enough of an impact if they're less than 2 stars or so. Also, I don't tend to go to movies that don't interest me - most horror movies and almost all scary thrillers (I won't be seeing Shutter Island in the theater). So like most bloggers, my opinion of movies is not always based on their intrinsic or historical value to cinema, but whether or not I enjoyed them. Usually I wouldn't bother reviewing either of these movies, but since I saw them so close together, I'll go ahead and add them to my list at the low end of the scale. I'm sure no one will be surprised that these weren't particularly good movies, one was a romantic comedy release in January and the other is a straight to DVD romantic comedy. I guess it also proves I'm a sucker for my favorite actors and a romantic comedy.
Leap Year stars Amy Adams and Matthew Goode. Amy plays a real estate stager (she arranges apartments to improve their sellability) dating a doctor who hasn't bothered to propose after several years. He goes to Ireland for a conference, and she meets up with her dad (a disappointingly underused John Lithgow) who reminds her how her grandparents got engaged: On February 29, there's an Irish tradition that allows women to propose to their boyfriends. This was the first place the movie went off the rails for me - what is stopping women from proposing any day they want if that's what it takes. It's not like men aren't allowed to say no on Leap Day any more than other day so the pressure is the same. So Adams goes running off to Dublin, but is diverted to Wales, and takes a boat across to Dingle in Ireland. Second place this movie lost me - Dingle is on the opposite side of Ireland from Wales. Dublin is close to Wales, so how the heck did she end up in Dingle? Then she tries to get someone to drive her to Dublin, which is crazy. There's a huge airport in Shannon that would have been an hour drive rather than driving across the country to Dublin. I've been to Ireland and driven myself across it - less than 6 hours. It takes them 3 days! Anyway, Matthew Goode owns what looks like the ONLY building in Dingle and is losing it to a money collector so he agrees to drive Adams in exchange for a lot of money. The rest of Leap Year follows the standard path of most romantic comedies. Their personalities clash, to humorous effect. They lose their transportation and are forced to stay in one room at a hotel and sexual tension increases to humorous effect. And finally, she has to decide between her previous boyfriend and the new guy who has changed her life in just a few days. It was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, but unlikely I'll watch it again. Not worth the $10. 2 stars/5 stars.

An Accidental Husband is a direct to DVD movie with Uma Thurman, Colin Firth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Thurman plays a radio love doctor who gives advice to Morgan's fiancee that convinces her to stop the wedding. To get back at Thurman, Morgan uses his tech savy friend to create a marriage license so when Thurman and her actual fiancee Firth go to get theirs, she finds out she's already married to Morgan (whom she's never met). Again, the standard fair of romantic comedies ensues. She ends up spending time with Morgan (a fireman from Astoria) trying to get the annulment papers signed and realizes he's a pretty great guy. Morgan meanwhile realizes his prank might have been a good idea as now he's married to a pretty great guy. Hijinks ensue and Firth gets to be the stand up guy (after all he's British) and lets Thurman out of their engagement. The one cliche that always bothers me in movies like these is the woman's hair. It's true in almost every romantic comedy of late - a tightly wound woman also ALWAYS wears her hair tied up, a bun or something that demonstrates visually how uptight she is. After the guy convinces her to relax and fall for the new guy suddenly she's wearing her hair down all the time. Now she's all flowy and relaxed, and so is her hair. Just an odd gimmick that I'm sick of watching. Note the change in the two leap year photos above. 2 stars/5 stars.

Movies rarely live up to or deserve the hype: Reviews of The Soloist and State of Play

I've been wanting to see The Soloist since I found out Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx would be staring. However, I'd barely noticed the appearance (and disappearance) of State of Play until it was recommended on my Netflix queue. I was sadly disappointed by The Soloist and very pleasantly surprised by State of Play.

The Soloist is based on a true story about LA Times columnist Steve Lopez (Downey), who would write about all kinds of issues, shining light on issues around LA. One day he's looking for a topic for his next column and meets Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Foxx) playing a two-string violin and rambling about his love for Beethoven. He writes a column about Ayers, which starts an uneven, often dangerous friendship. One of Lopez' readers, upon reading about his former excellence as a cellist at Julliard, donates a cello for Ayers. However, Ayers is homeless, and owning something as valuable as a cello on the streets of LA could get him killed, so Lopez arranges for the cello to be kept at the LA homeless center (LAMP). Lopez continues to attempt to restore some of Ayers' talent and sanity by getting him housing, and exposing him to concerts in the city. However, the movies doesn't want to be a story of redemption, and there's no happy ending, or even a very good ending. The director, Joe Wright, also directed Atonement, which I loved, and his style permeates both films. While Atonement's story could benefit from a more artistic style of movie making - long takes of the beach at Dunkirk, swirling floods of the tube station, bombings with music in the background, the snap of the typewriter as music - The Soloist, while a story about a musician, does not. The story is slow, with very little character development. Somehow, it's supposed to be enough that Ayers is schizophrenic and homeless and Lopez is a wry columnist, and thus we know everything we need to know about them. While I LOVE Robert Downey, Jr. he was the only reason I even watched it to the end. 2 lambs/stars
This movie did not live up to the hopeful hype surrounding it.

In contrast, I hadn't heard much hype, good or bad, about State of Play, except that Ben Affleck was in a political thriller and he played a congressman. For the past few years, Affleck's movies haven't always been received very well (though his directorial effort, Gone Baby Gone, is a masterpiece). State of Play really stars Russell Crowe as a Washington Globe reporter, seeking a story about two murders in downtown DC. His old-school reporting style is in conflict with his fellow reporter, Rachel McAdams, online blogging style, but he needs another reporter to help him when he finds the story connects to the recent death of Congressman Collins' (Affleck) aide on a subway platform. Crowe's reporter and Affleck's congressman were college roommates. High political drama ensues with corruption, congressional hearings on private military contractors, affairs, marital intrigue, murder, and high-pressure reporting. Helen Mirren plays Crowe's editor, Robin Wright plays Affleck's put upon wife. It's a great film to see on your comfy couch as it does take a little while to build up the story, but once it gets going, it also helps to have someone to watch with, so you can confirm what you think has been going on, and what the big twist at the end really means. Crowe does a terrific job trying to maintain his integrity getting at the truth without destroying his friend's career, and McAdams does his precocious assistant perfectly. 4 of 5 lambs/stars

Random collection of viewings

I've seen a few good and a few not too good movies lately, but none deserved a full review nor brought me to the reviewing table/page. But now I'm getting behind and want to keep up. So below are a few comments about Sunshine Cleaning, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Adventureland, and Knowing.

Sunshine Cleaning was a big deal at Sundance last year, but didn't really pan out to be as big a success when it opened widely this spring. It's not fantastic, but it's not bad either. Personally, I thought it was a lot of substance with no flash. You really need both to make a fantastic little movie. The movie deals with a lot of issues, every character leans towards cliche - Amy Adams as the high school cheerleader whose life didn't amount to more than being a maid, Emily Blunt as the sister who can't be bothered to get out of her sister's shadow, and Alan Arkin as the single father who is constantly trying to make get rich quick schemes turn into something big - but luckily they're all such good actors that I never thought they were locked into a characterization rather than a person. It follows the travails of opening a new business - cleaning up after death and violence, and becoming an adult. I liked it, and a better soundtrack might have upped the flash factor, but a stronger script would have put it over the top. 3 of 5 Lambs/stars, good but not great.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas shows a single sliver of the Holocaust through the eyes of the son of a high ranking Nazi officer. When the family is moved to the country when the father (a remarkably dark David Thewlis) is promoted to manage a work camp (possibly Auschwitz), his children have to find a new life. Our hero, Bruno (Asa Butterfield) just wants to play with the forbidden children who live on the "farm" behind their house, while his older sister becomes enthralled with the Nazi party and starts preaching its messages. However, Bruno is just a child, and sneaks away to find other children to play with. One day he meets Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), another 10-year-old who doesn't understand much about the camp he's in. Through their conversations, the picture of the Holocaust is painted with broad strokes, revealing the horror as a child might understand it - which is to say, not at all. They meet regularly in secret until one day Shmuel's father can't be found, and they figure out a way to sneak Bruno INTO the camp to help look for him. As all Holocaust films are sad, and terrible, and yet need to be made from every perspective, this was a unique and ultimately good film. 3 of 5 stars/lambs

Adventureland, however, had lots going for it, but never delivered. It has lots of comedy - working at an amusement park, great comedic actors - but nothing interesting to say. Our hero needs to save money for graduate school (yes, this is post-college group, making much of what they do seem more than a little idiotic), and works at an amusement park with the girl from Twilight (yes, Kristin Stewart, you'll be tagged with that forever) who he falls for. However she's sleeping with a sleazeball married guy (Ryan Reynolds completely wasted). Nothing happens and then it ends. 2 stars/lambs

And finally, yes, I saw Knowing. While Nicholas Cage has made lots of bad movies, I did like the National Treasure movies a lot, so I figured maybe Knowing wouldn't be so bad. I was wrong. The movie teaches us that aliens implanted numbers into special people that predicted all the various catastrophes throughout history and their casualties. When Nick Cage figures out the pattern, they're near the end of the list and now everyone will die as the sunbursts get bigger. But fear not, two children and two rabbits will be saved and thus humankind will continue. Yes, I kid you not, this is the plot. No stars or lambs.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: Review

This could have been a good, holiday movie. It has the classic Dickensian story behind it, and even had a good update concept, however, it falls pretty short, due in large part to the bland supporting cast. While I recognized most of them, I couldn't name any of them, and in their stereotypical roles, there was a lot of room for stand-out performances. The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is the story of Connor Meade (Matthew McConaughey), a womanizing photographer who is attending his brother's (Breckin Meyer?) wedding at their late uncle's (Michael Douglas) estate. The maid of honor, Jenny (Jennifer Garner) is the childhood love of Connor, though she tries to keep him in line, he rants against marriage at the rehersal dinner. He is visited by his deceased uncle (in the Jacob Marley role) who tells him he'll be visited by 3 ghosts that night, and that his life is not one to emulate as he died sad and alone. The first ghost (from his high school past, in all her '80s glory, including braces), the second, his current assistant, and then the silent ghost who shows him how awful his future will look. He realizes, of course, he loves Jenny and thinks love and marriage is wonderful. It's a funny movie most of the way through, but it would have been better had it been released at Christmas (it's set in winter) and possibly with a stronger cast. McConaughey and Garner are very good, but without much fun around them, it's hard to keep watching. 2/5 stars/Lambs

Watchmen: Review

I've never really read comics or graphic novels, but I really like most of the movies based on either. The characters are usually really complex, trying to do good things, but struggling with their identity or personal demons and attempting to make the world a better place. I understand Watchmen changed the face of graphic novels, and from the movie I can see how it would have done that really well. The characters all work to preserve society when traditional methods seem to be failing, but they're not actually superhuman (except Dr. Manhattan, obviously) - they age, can be killed, but do have skills at fighting crime. However, they're not all perfect either. The movie starts with the death of the aged "Comedian" (Jeffrey Dean Morgan - so cute and pretty awesome) as they figure out that someone is killing off the remaining Watchmen. The original Watchmen all started up before WWII and as some aged, younger people took their places. The movie goes on to showcase the back stories of how the remaining Watchmen became who they are, but overall, I didn't care for the movie. It was much too long, and in specific scenes much too violent compared to the dark nature of the rest of the movie. However, the soundtrack was lots of fun, and I appreciated the alternate time, with Nixon in his 5th term. The individual characters were uneven in the story and there wasn't a real leader or hero to care about, except perhaps "Comedian" who we know is dead, see only in flashbacks, and doesn't turn out to be a great guy. There's a moment when Dr. Manhattan disappears where the movie seems to be gaining plot, but Billy Crudup is so unconvincing, that it barely returns to any sort of story. The visual effects were good, but if it doesn't result in a story worth remembering, I wouldn't bother seeing it again. 2 Stars/Lambs

DVD Round up: Eagle Eye Encounters

I'm getting better slowly, but still watching mostly DVDs at this point, so you'll have to wait a bit for new reviews, but they should appear in a week or so. For now, I'll just warn you about two movies I didn't like, but really thought I would: the Oscar nominated documentary Encounters at the End of the World and the action flick Eagle Eye.

This year Man on Wire and Encounters at the End of the World were the two nominated documentary features available on DVD before the Oscars so I made an effort to see them. Man on Wire was terrific and fully deserved its win. I can't actually understand why Encounters was nominated except that people saw that Werner Herzog was the director. He narrates his trip to Antarctica to explore who lives there, what they do, and what they study. Now I'm all for science documentaries (Planet Earth, Life of Birds, etc. I've seen them dozens of times) but this was not that at all. He mocks the scientists (who I admit are a motley crew, I've been one of them (in Kenya, not Antarctica) and they're a strange bunch), and tries to explain the usefulness of their science (rarely anything beyond exploration). Herzog also tries to understand what brought them to McMurdo Station and the South Pole. They're not very interesting stories. Herzog also mocks the Station itself rather than his own misconception of what it will look like. It's minimalist and resembles a airport, with metal structures and construction vehicles and, since it's spring, lots of mud. When describing the town that has arisen to support the Station, he laughs that the town has a bowling alley and a yoga studio. I won't bore you with the rest that annoyed me about this movie, but will sum up by saying I didn't care for his style of directing or narrating his own views about the topic as if they were everyone's. Most of the nature images he photographed were beautiful and worthy of being included in an actual documentary on Antartica's beauty. 2 Stars/Lambs

The other movie that I don't think is worth renting is Eagle Eye. Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, and Billy Bob Thornton all feature prominently and all did a terrific job with very little plot. From the commercials it's a fun movie with Shia being told what to do by a woman on a phone who can obviously see everything he does. It takes more than 80 minutes before there's any more plot than that. We see "Her" controlling LaBeouf and Monaghan by having them drive through cities while "she" changes the traffic lights and controls cranes. "She" sends them to other cities and has them rob armored cars. However, not until the last 20 minutes to we find out who "she" is and why this story is taking place. In case you do choose to see it, I won't reveal the mystery, as there's no other reason to watch this movie. Too much action with very little to have any of it make sense. Shia LaBeouf is a good action star but watch Transformers again rather than renting this. 2 Stars/Lambs

Men are jerks and women are crazy...

The theme of He's Just Not That Into You is pretty clear and straightforward - if a guy wants to date you, he'll try to date you. If a married couple isn't sleeping together, one or both of them are sleeping with someone else. Most guys, or all guys, don't plan every detail of their interactions with a woman, thus women shouldn't pay that much attention to the details. This movie is a crazy amalgam of stories of twenty to thirty somethings in various stages of relationships and how men and women react differently to relationships. There were no revelations about the modern status of relationships, though they tried to say something about how new technologies makes us always available and yet there are hidden meanings (supposedly) to all the different types of interactions (e-mail vs voicemail, eharmony vs myspace vs facebook). The acting was pretty good by everyone, particularly Ginnifer Goodwin (Walk the Line and "Big Love") and Justin Long. I didn't like Bradley Cooper's character at all (though he was REALLY funny on Saturday Night Live last week) and Scarlett Johanssen was just annoying. Overall, not a great reflection on society, dating or men or women. 2 Lambs/stars

Leatherheads, another marketing failure

So George Clooney's Leatherheads is many things. It's a one-minute buddy comedy, a one-minute screwball comedy, a one-minute romantic comedy, with one-minute about the old rules of the NFL, two minutes about the new rules of the NFL, and two minutes about being a war hero. By my calculation that means the movie should be about eight minutes long. The other 90 minutes don't seem to do much. This movie was marketed, right in the title, as a story about football. The original profession football players and how they became legitimate. This is NOT a sports movie. And then it was supposed to be about the love triangle with Clooney, Renee Zellwegger and John Krasinski (totally inappropriate for this role, still channelling Jim rather than this character). That doesn't happen, except for the lipstick scene shown repeatedly in the commercials. The war-hero story line was interesting, but kept losing it's focus between other non-plot points. So basically, this is a terrific 8-minute movie, but I wouldn't bother with the rest. 2 LAMBS/stars

My Best Friend's Girl is Raunchy

The new movie with Dane Cook, Jason Biggs, and Kate Hudson, My Best Friend's Girl, is not good. Even as a romantic comedy it fails. The weird thing is, most of the acting is actually good, even Dane Cook, really. So the premise is that Dane Cook has a side profession as an asshole. He gets hired by guys who screwed up their relationships, got dumped, and now want the girl back. Cook fits in by being so awful, any guy will look good by comparison. Jason Biggs is in love with his co-worker, Kate Hudson, a monogamy junkie who needs to date around before settling down with nice guy Biggs. So she dates Dane Cook. Fairly obviously from all the commercials, she ends up with Cook. However, you get to watch him be as awful as any human being really can be. Some of it's deliberate, and some is just the writers trying to show off how disgusting and stupid they can be. I actually think this movie could be remade in a way that wasn't disgusting (and I liked the raunchiness of the American Pie series). This movie is over the top and really poorly written. 2 of 5 stars/LAMBS.

Tropic Thunder has no spark

I was really excited to see Tropic Thunder. I love Robert Downey, Jr. and thought watching him for a while would always be worth it. And if this movie had cut Jack Black and Ben Stiller from the cast, the movie almost would have been worth sitting in the theater. Mostly the movie just never gets going, and Matthew McConaughey and Tom Cruise are the best things about the movie, particularly Cruise's over-the-top office boss. The main story is that diva-like actors are filming a movie about a rescue attempt in Vietnam. The director can't get control, so he puts his main 5 actors (Black, Stiller, Downey, Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson) into the forest and plans to film them in real situations out of reach of their agents, managers, and assistants. Downey, a full method actor, thinks it's great, Black starts coming off his heroine high and acts crazy, and Stiller decides he needs to lead with no one to follow. Lots of crazy mishaps occur and finally they have to really rescue some of their group from a drug processing camp. Most of the lines are delivered as one-liners that could be put in a trailer and as such rarely make for actual conversation. If they were funny, this would be a great gimmick, but rarely are they even interesting and often unintelligible. There are a few points with real humor, but mostly it's forced over the top insanity. McConaughey as Stiller's agent is funny throughout with his obsession about getting Stiller a TiVo on location. Downey really commits to his insane character and when other people challenge his need to stay in character, even he doesn't understand why he's doing it, causing laughs. Overall, I really didn't like the movie and would give it 2 of 5 stars/lambs. Stiller and Black were wasted and just uninteresting. The supporting characters all around were a lot more interesting.

DVD Roundup

I've seen 3 movies lately on DVD - too much of a hassle to make it to the cineplex on time for movies right now. I was very disappointed by 2 of them, but found one I'd been avoiding surprisingly good. Coincidentally, Hillary Swank starred in two of them. P.S. I love you and The Nanny Diaries were both victims of the same problem - overly focused on a single main character that was too boring to want to watch for two hours. P.S. I love you had a clever gimmick - Gerard Butler, the love of Hillary Swank's young life, dies of a brain tumor. However, he's put in motion a series of letters to come to Swank after his death helping her deal. He plans a trip, some nights out, etc. and she still wallows in grief, despite her girlfriends' attempts to cheer her up and help her move on. There's even a totally unbelievable love interest in Harry Connick Jr. I rented the movie hoping to see more of Jeffrey Dean Morgan (from Grey's Anatomy) but he's only in it for a few minutes, and does a TERRIBLE Irish accent. So boring, uninteresting love story. 2 stars/LAMBS

The Nanny Diaries might have been more interesting if I hadn't read the book and hadn't lived in New York City. Scarlett Johansson plays "Annie" the Nanny of Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti's Upper East Side couple. Johansson wants to be an anthropologist so the movie is riddled with her voice-overs explaining the anthropological significance of the stupid parenting and anti-parenting maneuvers of the X's. It's basically Johansson acting shocked by the appalling behavior of rich people who should be parenting their kids and not cheating on their spouses, and Linney and Giamatti pretending their a good couple and great parents. They yell at each other and act shocked. The reason Johansson pretends to care is the well-being of their kid, Grayer, who the movie barely makes obvious as a good kid worthy of her fights. Another uninteresting, non-funny family drama. 2 stars/LAMBs

The movie I was surprised to find I actually liked was Freedom Writers, with Hillary Swank and Patrick Dempsey. Swank plays an idealistic new teacher in a school that seems to have only a single class for her to teach (I'm guessing she has others, but we only see one). She has to fight with Imelda Staunton (channeling her "Doloris Umbridge" character from Harry Potter) to get permission to teach the at-risk kids outside of the curriculum. She works with them to understand their lives of gang violence, racial threats and poverty. She realizes their overall education has suffered when she tries to relate a racist picture a student drew to the beginnings of the Holocaust. When they don't know what it is, she begins a curriculum to help them across their lives - from cultural education to history and writing. They read "The Diary of Anne Frank" and become inspired to meet one of them women who helped her - Miep Gies. It's a good movie that does more to follow and understand the lives of the students than most movies like this. Swank isn't particularly inspiring as she lets her own life fall completely apart to help her students, but the students and the actors portraying the students are all terrific. They find inspiration from school to help deal with their own lives and in non-cliched ways become better people. I liked it. Not terrific, but pretty great. 3.5 stars/LAMBs