Some great counterprogramming for those who like matinee idol Mark Wahlberg in a role that doesn’t involve mind-numbing transforming robots is Lone Survivor (B), the true-life tale of a military raid in Afghanistan that takes some surprising, perilous and deadly turns for a group of heroes. Director Peter Berg is basically the anti-Michael Bay, serving up action undergirded with subtle characterization and vivid detail. Along with a sharp Wahlberg, there are other strong performances by Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and others in a film comprised largely of a re-creation of the stunning skirmish. The set-up for the mission and camaraderie of the characters creates a nice arch for the events to come; and even though the format doesn’t leave a lot of room to paint outside the lines, Berg applies a signature you-are-there vibe to the proceedings. It is high on action and suspense with an excellent epilogue reinforcing the themes of brotherhood and singularity of purpose.
Category Archives: Rent It Tonight
“About Time” (2013) is Quirky Time Travel Romcom
Writer/director Richard Curtis, famous for Love Actually, is a master of capturing great emotional details but getting lost in the big picture, so it’s no surprise that his romantic time travel dramedy About Time (B-) is a lovable mess. Despite massive tonal shifts and meandering to subplots that distract from the central plot, it is cute and thoughtful nonetheless. Domhnall Gleeson smartly plays the reluctant hero who finds out as a young man from his father (a tender and restrained Bill Nighy) that the men in their family can travel in time and alter their fates. Enter Rachel McAdams, the woman with whom Gleeson wants to get everything right; and enter entanglements and plot holes aplenty as this British Groundhog Day weaves its magic spell. The premise is far-fetched and occasionally a little creepy; and yet still the charming performers keep pace with crackling dialogue and poignant moments. The wish fulfillment angle doesn’t jive completely since there’s really no reason the protagonist needs sci-fi tricks to get the girl. But ultimately the witty banter and generally winning ensemble make it a quite watchable affair.
“On the Road” (2013) a Coming of Age Travelogue
Buoyant performances by Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley and impeccable period details in production design lift Walter Salles’ otherwise mixed bag of a coming of age travelogue On the Road (B-). Based on Jack Karouac’s classic novel about nonconformity, the film traces episodic encounters between friends and lovers, capturing the delirium that bonds young people in their quest for identity and escape. Hedlund is pretty magnetic in a role once earmarked for Brando. It’s a pretty intense mess but watchable. Good supporting cameos by Amy Adams and Steve Buscemi, and even (gulp) Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst are good.
“Nebraska” is a Nifty Slice of Life
The next stop on Director Alexander Payne’s twisted travelogue is Nebraska (A-), and it’s a corker of a film, a comic father-son road trip wrapped within a requiem for the American Dream. Veteran actor Bruce Dern sheds all vanity as a befuddled cotton swab tipped codger who believes he has won a sweepstakes. Will Forte is a revelation as the preternaturally sensitive sad sack of a son who reluctantly takes dad on a journey to collect his prize and perhaps his last shreds of dignity. Lyrically paced and perfectly cast (June Squibb is hilarious as the long suffering matriarch), the film sneaks up into some of its life lessons. Although the central performance isn’t all that showy, it’s quietly affecting. The film is a black and white mini-masterpiece that is slyly observant and quite touching.
“Her” (2013) is a Strange Romcom
A most genius first hour squandered a bit for its remaining two acts, writer/director Spike Jonze’s Her (B) is an ambitious dramedy analyzing the bits and bytes of relationships. Joaquin Phoenix is superb as the lonely protagonist who falls in love with a coquettish computer operating system voiced by Scarlett Johannson. Although some similar themes were plumbed in Electric Dreams (oddly in 1984), Jonze makes a flimsy premise fresh and affecting. Setting this romance in an unspecified future gives the filmmakers some poignant portals to examine human rituals from a higher plane. The film soars most when the cyber siren summons the best in our hero, challenging him to experience the world anew. But there’s a point in which the audience has likely moved on, and Jones continues to belabor his themes. Woody Allen’s theory that comedies should clock in at no longer than 90 minutes would have been aptly applied here. A series of sequences bookended by snowfall could be edited out almost entirely, leaving a leaner and more consistently entertaining movie in its wake.
“Philomena” a Bittersweet Bonbon
Stephen Frears’s Philomena (A-) is a bittersweet bonbon about a cynical journalist (Steve Coogan) and a staunch Irish Catholic woman (Dame Judi Dench) on a journey to find the son she unwittingly put up for adoption a half century ago. The characters are lovingly drawn, and the enterprise rises above melodrama thanks to a sharp script and nuanced performances. You’ll hear more about this sleeper hit come Oscar time as voters will undoubtedly be charmed.
David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” Largely Successful
David O. Russell’s comedic crime caper American Hustle (B) is sometimes an undisciplined mess, and this hurly-burly quality gives the enterprise both its frustrations and its charms. The con-women, played outrageously by Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, steal the show. Other Russell repertory actors including Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and others don’t quite nail indelible characters. At its best, there were flashes of wily wit suggesting a Goodfellas/
Coen Brothers go “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Let the impeccable period detail, stirring folk music and dark comic details of Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewin Davis (B) wash over you, and you’re in for a film you can’t take your eyes or ears off. Newcomer Oscar Isaac is the standout performer as the titular vagrant ruffian whose sins in life are scrubbed clean each time he belts out cherubic tunes. The supporting cast doesn’t fare quite as well (not an awesome year for Carey Mulligan), except a hilarious John Goodman as a larger-than-life drifter and Justin Timberlake in a great studio sequence. Many standout musicals are set as history is about to blow a different wind (Cabaret and Hair come to mind), and the Coen Brothers’ fairly inert plotting at the dawn of a folk revolution seems to miss an opportunity or two for dramatic tension. But I think they’re really saying that soul-altering art can come from the unlikeliest of authors who may be footnotes at best in the record books. Like the cat that keeps getting loose in the film, a true artist remains untamed and elusive. Something tells me time will be kind to this curiosity.
“Dallas Buyers Club” is Great Drama
Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club (B+) is a powerful true story about an unlikely pioneer in HIV/AIDS drug treatment as embodied by Matthew McConaughey in a role that stretches him beyond anything folks have ever seen him do. His macho, emaciated and homophobic hero, coupled with a sympathetic doctor (Jennifer Garner) and a transgendered business associate (Jared Leto), experiences stages of rage, regret and redemption. Although the film squanders some of the narrative potential this trio could have plumbed, the film is nonetheless biting, bittersweet and insightful; and McConaughey is every bit as award-worthy as you may have heard, with his sly, sinewy delivery all the more poignant as he races against time to save himself and an adopted community. He and Garner erase the ghosts of rom coms past with this melodrama that often confounds expectations. Very much in the vein of People vs. Larry Flynt and certainly recommended.
“Wolf of Wall Street” a Twisted Tale
Equal parts extraordinary and exhausting, Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (B+) is a cynical cautionary tale wrapped in a fetching fantasia of decadent and grotesque true-life characters. Aside from the master director stunningly realizing his vision, Leonardo DiCaprio sinks his teeth into his role with grandeur. I don’t think the actor has ever been in such command of his craft, and it may be the greatest performance he has ever given. Somewhere in the second, third, maybe fourth act, however, the storytelling teeters a bit into true-crime formula. But there are so many devilish parts to relish. The film features the most seminal sequence involving stairs since Battleship Potemkin and some of the most darkly comic moments set to film involving addiction to drugs and dollars. No detail gets missed, from an ironic playing of “Mrs. Robinson” to fake get-rich-quick commercials. There are prolonged vignettes so good they needed to remain fully intact, but there are just too many of them. Scorsese wields a three-hour sledgehammer when subtler tools could have made a bigger statement. All in all, this is Leo’s tour de force and quite possibly the ultimate indictment of corporate corruption gone amuck.
Tom Hanks is “Captain Phillips” and It’s Great
Director Paul Greengrass takes a real-life news story about the cargo ship captain who saves his crew from an attack by Somali pirates and makes it surprisingly fresh and intense in Captain Phillips (B+). Tom Hanks gives a grizzled, commanding performance in the titular role; and newcomer Barkhad Abdi is a revelation as the armed leader of the shipboard trespassers. Greengrass gives the proceedings a documentary-style you-are-there intensity, unexpectedly crafting one of the year’s great human adventures.
“Frozen” Works in Spurts
Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee’s animated Disney movie Frozen (B+) mixes up the princess formula with some unexpected twists and largely enchanting results. This Scandanavian storybook adventure is filled with fresh ice effects, compelling heroines, charming sidekicks and winning songs by Kristen and Bobby Lopez. Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel’s power ballads and a snowman’s serenade to sunny climates – by Book of Mormon‘s Josh Gad – are among the highlights.