No one showcases moral ambiguity better than Clint Eastwood, so it’s no surprise that his military biopic American Sniper (A-) depicts sharp-shooter Chris Kyle in all his heroic glory punctuated with pangs of crisis of conscience. Told in four Iraq tours of duty with domestic dissonance in between, the film is most effective at spotlighting its protagonist’s laser-focused attention to his craft. Bradley Cooper is superb with a Texas drawl and a single-mindedness of purpose, and Sienna Miller makes the most of the role of his wife. The film hardly traverses much new terrain but does so with style and substance. After some sleepier outings, Eastwood crafts a propulsive, absorbing drama that takes viewers into the heart of military heroism.
Category Archives: Rent It Tonight
Brilliant “Imitation Game” Beguiles
Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game (A+) does everything a great movie should: intrigue, involve and inspire. The real-life dramatic and suspenseful story of recalcitrant British WWII code breaker Alan Turing, played masterfully by Benedict Cumberbatch, offers a veritable sudoku of surprises and a surprising testimony to unexpected heroism. The smart screenplay is matched by sterling performances across the board, especially by Keira Knightley as a problem solving trailblazer who becomes emotionally involved with the prickly protagonist. Tyldum successfully interlaces several timeframes and historical insights into the spy games and builds to various levels of resonance both personal and profound. It’s a prestige picture in every sense of the word, plumbing the implications of both artificial and emotional intelligence, and it’s highly recommended.
“Paddington” is a Charming Delight
Paul King’s British live action/animated comedy Paddington (A) is quite simply one of the most consistently satisfying family films ever made, following each instinct of visual whim and whimsy with clever and entertaining results. The film chronicles a polite young marmalade-obsessed bear’s journey from the jungles of Peru to the heart of modern-day London as he is taken in by a kindly family (charmingly headlined by Sally Hawkins and Hugh Bonneville) and embarks on a series of madcap adventures. The art direction and production design are exquisite and would leave Wes Anderson slackjawed with its artisan detail. The family home rendered as a dollhouse, the city archives like a scene out of Brazil, the menacing Natural History Museum populated by juicy taxidermist villain (a delightful Nicole Kidman) and the colorful streets filled with antiquities and street music troubadours dot the movie with resplendent visuals which are a wonder to behold. There is also genuine menace in some of the action sequences and an affecting level of sentimentality that never crosses into preciousness. The crafty screenplay is full of double entendres and fun asides that deliver a droll and altogether unexpected joy that adults can appreciate as much as kids. It’s brisk, funny and memorable and joins films such as Babe, The Muppet Movie and Willy Wonka as family classics.
“Wild” Charts Surprising Course
Jean-Marc Vallée’s Wild (B-) plots the course of a lost, grieving young woman along a thousand mile journey on the Pacific Crest Trail as she grapples in both adventures and flashbacks with the demons that haunt her and the passages of inspiration that could set her free. Reese Witherspoon gives an uncommon, relatable and lived-in performance as this drifter with a purpose and she imbues her character with a salty, off-kilter vernacular that’s like Hallmark for Heathens. Despite being a true story, it piles it on a bit thick: Our heroine even struggles with heroin. Few of the film’s episodic segments involving the struggle of the hike or the proto-feminist viewpoints about a “woman on the verge” are as moving or suspenseful or meaningful as seemingly intended, despite a feather-touch observational directorial style filled with montages of Laura Dern as a saintly but underdeveloped mother of the protagonist. Viewers will endure a bit of a slow-burn to the life lessons, yet it’s possible you might enjoy the trip.
“Selma” Tells MLK Story in Stirring Film
It’s been a long journey to the movie screen for the Martin Luther King Jr. story, but writer/director Ava DuVernay’s Selma (B+) is a stunning and sometimes surprising biopic that taps into the zeitgeist of the continuing civil rights struggle. As amazing as he is in reenacting famous oratory, David Oyelowo is even more compelling in the quiet and more contemplative moments as his MLK wrestles with mortality and the consequences of his personal choices on his mass movement. Additionally, Carmen Ejogo gives a sturdy performance in a small role as Coretta, and Tom Wilkinson is effective as a duplicitous LBJ. DuVernay makes some fascinating choices in terms of timeline and sequence, including straightforward typed government descriptors of MLK’s whereabouts and activities from FBI operatives. The film also ends at an expected place. Overall triumph eclipses tragedy in some key moments, which may gloss over the state of the struggle a bit. But the smart dialogue, period detail and forward momentum to the narrative help the film to tell its story of a critical juncture in a specific place and time.
“The Interview” is a Bold Comic Swing
Directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have certainly stirred up a lot of controversy with The Interview (C), but it’s basically just another bro-comedy in the tradition of 21 Jump Street, although not as good. Seth Rogen and James Franco mug and try to outwit each other with vulgarities during an extended adventure to assassinate the Communist Korean leader. Cartoonish silliness ensues with little real insight into the grand stage hornet’s nest of geopolitics with which the filmmakers are provoking. Most of the humor comes from the barrage of back and forth insults between the two comic leads. It’s much ado about something not so distinctive.
“Into the Woods” Skims Surface of Sondheim
Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Into the Woods (B) is quite faithful in spirit to its fractured fairy tale source material, but the director fails to truly plumb the emotional resonance of its “beyond happily ever after” themes. The film involves a quest that brings together intersecting storybook characters; and although often episodic, it works best when a thematic through-line is evident. Emily Blunt, fresh off her triumph in Edge of Tomorrow, is the breakout musical star here as the baker’s wife on a journey to break a spell that prevents her from having a child. Portraying a lowkey and indecisive Cinderella, Anna Kendrick is also a delight. As the witch, Meryl Streep gets the songs right, but her performance could have used some tighter intentions. I blame that as well on Marshall: you have to edit pretty poorly to put Miss Streep in a bad light. The music numbers including “Agony” and “No One is Alone” and some humorous throwaway bits are highlights (Chris Pine is the male standout as a vain prince). The effects and the drab, monotonous look and feel of much of the film’s second half are drawbacks (No, Rob, shaking the camera is not equivalent to directing an action sequence). The piece famously changes tone midway, and Marshall isn’t quite up to the challenge of sustaining the momentum properly. Not as good or inventive as his Chicago but certainly more cogent than his Nine, this musical adaptation is straightforward but lacks the ambition that might have made it an instant classic.
“Foxcatcher” an Absorbing True Crime Drama
Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher (B+) is an absorbing true crime drama featuring spot-on performances by Steve Carell as a paranoid multimillionaire obsessed with being an Olympic sports coach and Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo as gold medalist wrestlers grappling with the limits of loyalty to their wealthy patron. A commentary on how power, wealth and influence can be used to advance twisted values, one can’t help but think of Michael Jackson or Joe Paterno scandals as Carell’s John du Pont manipulates the world around him to support his megalomaniacal desires. Miller creates an austere and often bleak portrait with nary a false note and an underlying tone that traps viewers into an off-kilter lust for power without boundaries. Carell creates a fully unsympathetic portrait, and Tatum and Ruffalo physically and emotionally inhabit their roles with deft skill. Bennett builds on the autumnal tragedy he brought to Capote and the slackjawed sensationalism of sports drama Moneyball to create another modern-American stunner.
“Nightcrawler” is Engrossing
Equal parts drama, thriller and dark comedy, Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler (A) is a spectacular indictment of bloodthirsty mass media. A loner played by Jake Gyllenhaal exploits the “if it bleeds, it leads” culture of TV news to become a stringer for a struggling L.A. news channel and manipulates everything in his path from his equally nomadic assistant (Riz Ahmed) to a washed-up producer (Rene Russo) to feed his nocturnal obsession. Gyllenhaal is brilliant as a mash-up of Max Headroom and Mitt Romney, taking to the streets to document crime as soon as it happens – or is it the other way around? It’s a tour de force filled with the robotic glee of a man seemingly birthed by Wikipedia and an online business class module. Gilroy evokes Network and Taxi Driver while fashioning an ultra-chic West Coast dystopia steeped in a culture accustomed to get what it wants at any cost. The fact that the film’s protagonist is so creepy and unpredictable makes it all the more watchable. Kudos to Russo as well who is part desperate foil and part accomplice in an unholy alliance. This will be a film discussed for years to come.
“Theory of Everything” Exquisite and Unconventional
James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything (A-) is the unconventional true love story of Stephen and Jane Hawking, portrayed indelibly by Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones and based on Jane’s memoirs. While bound by the confines of the biopic structure, the film illuminates grand themes of unconditional love, the limits of sacrifice and one’s place in the universe. As Professor Hawking, Redmayne is charming and beguiling and showcases the effects of a neurological degenerative disorder with spectacular realism; he is never an object of sympathy as he continually confounds the odds. Jones has a demanding role of her own right as lover and caretaker, trying to bring order to a life spiraling out of control, and she embodies the role with fierce fortitude. Charlie Cox is also a standout as a family friend with his own designs on the couple’s brief history of time. Marsh photographs the film lushly and embues the characters with realism and humanity. Although the story doesn’t fully plumb the depths of the scientific side of Hawking’s career, it shares a far more unexpected and cinematic slice of his life.
“Big Hero 6” Often Amusing
Don Hall and Chris Williams’ animated adventure Big Hero 6 (B-) is a triumph of style over substance, with an amazing hybrid metropolis imagined as a cross between San Francisco and Tokyo and a Marvel comic inspired origin story about a sextet of superheroes. There’s an Iron Giant-style central relationship between boy and gentle robot that provides much of the film’s comic and emotional heft, and there’s a sinister scientific subplot that propels the rise of a super villain. The characters are out of central casting, and there’s no breakout voice talent, prompting the most joyous parts to be the chase sequences through the cool cityscapes. The story is rather routine, down to the training montages and climactic showdown. Really, this is all about the action and the visual spectacle, and those elements are grandiose. It’s startlingly original for a Disney film but not that trailblazing otherwise.
“Birdman” is Style Over Substance
First things first, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s tragicomic backstage character drama Birdman (B) is often brilliantly bonkers, and Michael Keaton gives a command performance at the film’s core as a fading Hollywood film star trying to reinvent himself on Broadway while suffering an all-out mental breakdown. With long tracking shots through claustrophobic corridors, a percussive jazz score rat-tat-tatting through the spiraling series of devolving events and tidbits of comic book flourish and fantasy that would be at home in a Terry Gilliam film, this dark delving into the damaged psyche of a thespian on the brink of obscurity pounds its themes with a bit too much prescience. The film comes most alive in its moments of inspired mania that spring from real-life conflicts such as dealing with harsh critics and handling acting egos with kid gloves. Quite frankly, supporting performances by Ed Norton as an obnoxious actor in the on-stage drama and Emma Stone as Keaton’s real-life daughter steal the show a bit with audacious turns of their own. Stone gets a great soliloquy encapsulating the essence of modern-day relevance. The film is a brittle amalgam of too many themes boiling in one big pot; but its insider’s take on exorcising one’s demons, conquering the temptations of fame and reconciling the notions of love and admiration is likely to appeal to artists’ temperaments more than the mainstream. It’s a treat to see Keaton get to sink his teeth into such a flight-of-fancy performance, and both West Coast and East Coast entertainment industries get their share of skewering in this uneven but often shrewd satire.