Director David Fincher’s brilliant career has been marked by incredible displays of calculating gamesmanship, manifested in modern-day classics such as Se7en, Zodiac, Fight Club, The Social Network and, well, The Game, so it’s not altogether inconceivable that he’d adapt a twisty thriller based on a popular novel about the chess match of modern marriage in Gone Girl (C+) but alas it’s not altogether successful. Told in alternating accounts from co-stars Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, the film feels a bit like a soapy ’90s holdover from the files of Disclosure or Indecent Proposal, heaping more guilty pleasure than gravitas into the cinematic canon. The first hour is pretty solid, with Affleck’s post-modern emasculated husband good for a few laughs and ultimately some raised eyebrows. Tables inevitably turn, and much of the fun is trying to get into the characters’ heads to unravel the mystery of the murky marriage. Many intentions are left unexplained, and tonal shifts are par for the course in a world that can’t resolve if it is Stepford or Anywhere USA. It all seemed a little sloppier than Fincher’s usually exacting enterprises. Some bright supporting performances by Carrie Coon as Affleck’s relatable twin sister and Kim Dickens as a sympathetic cop enliven the proceedings. Tyler Perry as actor gets some nice bits about what to reveal for the scrutiny of the media camera, and there are some clever riffs on what it means to be trapped in defined roles in a relationship. Affleck’s character jokes at one point that he feels like he’s on an episode of Law & Order, but I suppose the joke is on us that we’re paying for the privilege. The mid-point plot shift is pretty cool, but the film’s balance goes off the rails for the final few acts. Ultimately the characters’ fatal flaws were just too obvious to illuminate many universal themes and the story sometimes too ludicrous to consistently entertain.
Tag Archives: Drama
“Skeleton Twins” Offers Strong Dramedy
Craig Johnson’s dark comedy-drama The Skeleton Twins (B) is like a Hallmark Card series launched by The Addams Family: a veritable arsenal of pick-me-up announcements from occasions such as suicide attempts, abandonment, abuse and infidelity. The fact that this tragic terrain is so skillfully navigated by typically comic actors Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader is a testament to the range of their craft. As Wiig’s good-natured husband, Luke Wilson is also effective as an everyman foil. After nearly a decade without speaking, a botched suicide attempt brings the titular adult twins back together to experience why they can’t live with or without each other. Drunken mishaps, terrible truth or dare games, a great karaoke sequence and a fun Halloween outing string together some of the threadbare plot and themes. The tonal shifts come as fast and furious as the characters’ mood swings; and you simply have to be prepared to not know where the journey will take you. The film depicts lots of lows and very few highs, very true to life for characters in the mental state that these are experiencing, and much of the humor comes in their macabre sarcasm. Johnson’s film portends exciting future works to come.
With This Cast, “This Is Where I Leave You” Should Be Better
Somewhere on the sliding scale far down from Terms of Endearment and even a few notches down from Beautiful Girls is Shawn Levy’s you-can-go-home-again comedy-drama This Is Where I Leave You (C); and despite often amusing and sometimes touching ensemble work, it doesn’t necessarily add up to a cogent success or complete payoff. Faring best are Jason Bateman, Rose Byrne, Adam Driver and Jane Fonda in some affecting and bawdy bits. The very loose plot involves a family being grounded together for a week after the death of its patriarch right as their lives are unraveling and they really could use some good advice. The best parts of the movie are often told in the margins, which makes it a bit touch to break through Levy’s overproduced hucksterism. Dare I say on the first weekend of its theatrical release that it might make a nice rental?
“Hundred-Foot Journey” is Kinda Bland
It’s too bad the Michelin ratings system for restaurants doesn’t apply to movies, because Lasse Hallström’s The Hundred-Foot Journey (C+) is hovering between two and three stars. Although sentimental and sure to please folks in search of a formulaic adult crowd pleaser amidst summer blockbusters, it’s missing the ingredients of something truly scrumptious as the director throws in every flavor but subtlety. Helen Mirren channels Cruella de Ville as the owner of a classic French restaurant; and she slings rather than delivers pies to her new neighbors, a culinary family from India. It’s confit versus curry as a battle of restaurants commences, with Om Puri meeting Mirren’s tit for tat with the dramatic range of a sledgehammer. Only two young spice whisperers at rival restaurants played earnestly by Manish Dayal and Charlotte Le Bon bring a few acting bonbons to this cliché soufflé. Most of the film is middlebrow, saccharine and predictable. Even the food porn is soft core (c’mon, le directeur du Chocolat!) although the film’s settings are often pretty as a postcard. Hoping there would be a bit more pillage in the village, I just kept thinking there must be more than this provincial lark.
“Boyhood” a Magnificent Movie Miracle
Writer/director Richard Linklater has created the movie miracle of the year with Boyhood (A+), a powerfully stirring journey that rivals its extremely original high concept. This first-ever fiction experiment with newcomer actor Ellar Coltrane actually aging more than a decade in the role from childhood to high school graduation is matched by the emotional wallop and moving issues revealed in the human adventure. Surprisingly free of smugness or gimmickry, the auteur also plucks outstanding wounded performances from Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as the protagonist’s divorced parents. This basically redefines the coming of age movie; and in dinner table and campfire chats, it reveals glimpses of the meaning of life. Linklater’s penchant for smart dialogue and characters works alternately as a love letter to Texas and to rock and roll, as a veritable mix tape turned playlist unspools from shortly after 9/11 to present day. Boy, did they find a charmer in Coltrane who exudes not a single false note as he grows up right in front of our eyes. He’s a stand-in for what has become one of the preeminent voices in cinema, reflecting advice he receives from a community of dazed and occasionally confused elders who don’t really know their way either and looking for a way to express his singular art that puts an imprint on the world. The production values are uniformly superb, and parents in the viewing audience who can withstand some of the film’s salty language will be enriched and left with eyes full of glorious tears. Passionate and purposeful, this film joins another favorite of mine, Memento, in the category of films that should not work but do. It’s a tribute to masterful editing. Like all great movies, you’ll have a hard time not seeing a little of yourself in this one.
“Fault in Our Stars” Wins on Chemistry
Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are extraordinarily charming leads in an Josh Boone’s unconventional contemporary love story The Fault in Our Stars (A). Buoyed by crackling conversations about fate, mortality and making the most of every moment, this young adult drama defies genre limits and expectations to present well rounded characters of epic scope and scale. The film deals beautifully with cancer, disabilities and a bunch of hot button topics that are presented as part of the overall fabric of life. Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe are effective in supporting parts. Prepare to be moved throughout by the winning performances and chemistry.
“Noah” a Folly of Biblical Proportions
Among the things I wasn’t expecting to see in an adaptation of the story of Noah and the Ark: huge talking rock-people who help build the maritime vessel, magic crystals that foretell the future and, oh yeah, a shipboard pregnancy test. I’m generally willing to follow visionary director Darren Aronofsky as he tilts at windmills even when the breeze is swelling with CGI doves and the slings and arrows from the evil armored descendents of Cain. But unfortunately the epic Noah (D+) is a folly of Biblical proportions. Although his unconventional take on the tale allows viewers to ponder the weight of the mission at hand (everyone else on the planet must die so that earth’s goodness can be saved), the director simply gets in his own way with his gonzo choices. As the title character, Russell Crowe is single minded of purpose, which can drive his family – including ladies Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson – a little crazy. The film’s tone shifts wildly from apocalyptic journey to domestic drama to pirate adventure. I suppose Waterworld seemed as good a blueprint as any for a big-budget adventure. There are lots of WTF (“what the flood?”) moments throughout, some simply surprising and a few of them actually tender and touching; but by the time all is said and done, everyone involved should feel adequately punished for the evil of man.
“Normal Heart” a Wake-Up Call to Activism
Director Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation of Larry Kramer’s AIDS activism ensemble drama The Normal Heart (B) tells a stirring chronicle of life in New York in the ’80s among gay men with the dreaded new virus sneaking up on the population with a slow burn akin to the zombies of modern myths. Mark Ruffalo has never been better as the lead agitator to the political powers that be; and Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and Taylor Kitsch are excellent as the alternately spellbound and skeptical members of his inner circle. Julia Roberts is also effective as a driven doctor helping early casualties of the epidemic. Roberts’ inner Brokovich and Ruffalo’s inner Hulk bring the rage of the stage to the events that unfold. But the director of Eat, Pray, Love, not known for his sustained narrative cohesion, sometimes follows a formula of Meet, Yell, Scream and fizzles without resolution. When he gets it right, especially in the Ruffalo-Bomer romance and in framing a double tragedy, Murphy nails it. But there are other undernourished supporting characters and subplots that don’t propel the plot as effectively. Ultimately the film is a significant slice of history, told with care and resonance about a critical topic that still calls out for our attention. Thanks to commanding performances and an absorbing underdog story, there are great lessons to learn here.
“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.
“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.
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.
Technically, “Gravity” is Great
A technical tour de force and a wonder to behold, Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (B) is nonetheless weighed down by an oppressive storyline, stock characters and a script marred with a touch of self-importance. Both Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are bit characters eclipsed by incredible outer space floating effects. It’s highly recommended as a showcase for 3D and efficient as a thriller with some nail-biting moments, but it’s also far-fetched and ultimately orbits a black hole of melodrama. Clooney basically plays Buzz Lightyear. Bullock’s CGI face and tears seem like they’re emoting pretty well, but in space, no one can see you act. Gravity barely gave its characters the acumen to operate an Easy Bake Oven, while a simultaneous release Captain Phillips depicted complete technical mastery amidst the maritime brinkmanship.