Martin's Musings

When we first meet Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) in the new movie Silver Linings Playbook, he’s fresh out of a mental institution, where he was being treated for bipolar disorder and anger management issues (he beat up the guy who was sleeping with his wife).

Those issues are still unresolved, as we see when, frustrated about the ending of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, he throws the book out the window and vents to his parents (Jacki Weaver and Robert De Niro) in the middle of the night.

If Pat doesn’t like that ending — or any ending that disappoints — he probably shouldn’t see this movie. Continue reading →

The new James Bond film Skyfall begins with an awesome, high-energy sequence in which 007 takes part in a car chase, a motorcycle chase, and a shootout, uses a crane to rip open a moving train, and then fights with an assailant on top of that train.

Then he’s accidentally shot and left for dead (which, of course, he isn’t).

And all that happens before the opening credits (which feature that gorgeous theme song by Adele). Whoa.

To quote another famous Bond theme song, nobody does it better.

So why, then, is our hero in danger of being put out to pasture?

Continue reading →

Here’s the thing: I don’t always need my movie characters to be likeable.

In a film like, say, Bad Santa, a truly unlikeable guy can be very enjoyable to watch.

But it’s a fine line, and the new movie Flight unfortunately lands on the wrong side of it.

The film tells the story of Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington), an airline pilot with a serious alcohol and drug problem, who miraculously saves 96 out of the 102 passengers aboard his plane when a mechanical failure causes it to go down. But the movie’s not so much about Whip’s heroism as much as it is about his addiction and his unwillingness to admit it or get help. (Think The Sully Sullenberger Story, if Sully had a drug problem.) Continue reading →

Calling Chasing Mavericks a cross between Blue Crush and The Karate Kid seems a bit too easy.

But it’s a pretty good description of the film, which tells the story of real-life surfing phenom Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston), and his friend, mentor, and fellow surfer, Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler).

In the film, Jay is a Santa Cruz, Calif., teenager who enlists the help of local legend Frosty to train him to survive the mythic Mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on Earth (crests can range from 25 to 80 feet high). Frosty’s methods are not always what Jay expects — including when he’s asked to write thoughtful essays. (As Frosty explains, surfing is not just about physical athleticism, it’s about mental toughness, too.) Continue reading →

“Extend your patience for just a moment,” we’re told early on in Cloud Atlas, the new film from the folks who made The Matrix trilogy and Run Lola Run. “There is a method to the madness of this tale.”

Well, if that doesn’t clue you in right away that you’re about to see some gonzo filmmaking that won’t always make sense, then maybe you’d be better off seeing a different movie.

Over the course of nearly three hours (which, in my book, is not really a “moment”), co-writers/directors Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Twyker take audiences on an exhilarating journey of space and time, all to prove the point that we’re all connected. The film is based on a book by David Mitchell that many have called unadaptable, and if the big-screen version sometimes proves that point, it’s still an entertaining technical achievement. Continue reading →

The new movie The Sessions tells the story of a man who, shortly before his 40th birthday, finally loses his virginity.

But that’s about the only thing it has in common with a certain Steve Carell movie.

Actually, The Sessions tells a true story, that of Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes), a writer in Berkeley, Calif., who contracted polio when he was young and who’s spent most of his life paralyzed from the neck down, supported by an iron lung.

Despite being a romantic and something of a ladies’ man, O’Brien has never enjoyed the touch of another human being for any kind of intimacy. So finally, at the age of 38, he decides he wants to lose his virginity. Since O’Brien is also a devout Catholic, he first gets permission from his priest (William H. Macy), who tells O’Brien that God “will give you a free pass on this one.” After all, as O’Brien explains, “Sex is a serious matter. It’s one of the most persistent themes in the Bible.”

And so, he meets Cheryl Cohen-Greene (Helen Hunt), a sex surrogate (Helen Hunt), who makes it happen over the course of six sessions. (That’s the chief difference between a surrogate and a prostitute: A prostitute wants repeat business, while a surrogate’s role is more finite.) Continue reading →

Seven Psychopaths is another one of those movies where lots of characters talk too much.

And that’s a good thing.

Martin McDonagh’s film tells the whacked-out story of Marty (Colin Farrell), a Los Angeles screenwriter, and his buddy Billy (Sam Rockwell), a dog “borrower” (he takes the mutts, then returns them days later so he can collect the reward), who cross paths with a mobster (Woody Harrelson) when Billy dognaps his pooch.

But it’s not so much about the story as much as it is about letting a quirky cast spout the kind of dialogue you typically only hear in Tarantino films. Continue reading →