Martin's Musings

Here’s the weird thing about True Grit, the Coen brothers’ remake/reimagining of the classic Western tale: About an hour after seeing it, I couldn’t remember much about it. The film just didn’t stay with me. And it’s not that I didn’t like it or anything. It just didn’t have any lasting impact on me. And that’s a shame, because I love the Coen brothers (Fargo remains one of my all-time favorite movies, and last year’s A Serious Man ranked number three on my list of favorite movies), and I’d had high hopes for True Grit. Oh well.

In the film, young Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) hires U.S. Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges, in the role that won John Wayne an Oscar) to help her find Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who killed her father. Also on Cheney’s trail is Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Matt Damon). Bridges speaks in such a heavy drawl that after a while it’s really off-putting. Damon does his best to keep up with Bridges, but he’s just not a strong enough presence. That leaves Steinfeld, who at the age of 13, blows the other two guys away. She’s really the star of this movie, and the reason I’d give anyone to see it. It’s all the more remarkable when you realize this is her first movie.

Anyway, I wish I had liked True Grit more than I did so I’d have remembered more about it. That’s why I’m only going to give it a B–.

If you want to know what Sofia Coppola’s latest film, Somewhere, is about, the first two minutes provide a handy (and not too subtle) synopsis.

In those opening moments, actor Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) drives his Ferrari around and around in a circle, and then finally comes to a stop and realizes how much he’s missing when he gets out of the car and looks around.

The real plot of the movie is about how Marco’s life is going nowhere until he’s visited by his 11-year-old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning), and he decides to change his self-destructive lifestyle. Continue reading →

Was anyone really asking for a third film in the Meet the Parents series? I guess someone was, because in theaters now is the totally unnecessary Little Fockers. In this latest go-round, Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) is feeling mortal, so he dotes on his son-in-law Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) to make sure he’s got the stones to take on the mantle of family leader. Essentially, the jokes are as broad and old as they were in 2000, and some of the references are just as dated (for example, when Jack learns how to Google himself, and when he looks up someone on the web and finds her MySpace page). Essentially, the film comes off like a desperate attempt by Universal for a holiday hit, and a paycheck gig for the actors. I’m giving Little Fockers a C–.

The King’s Speech is one of those good-for-you movies that feels like it’s been made and engineered to win awards. (Kind of like a Tom Hanks–Steven Spielberg production for HBO.)

It’s got an Oscar-pedigreed cast above the title (nominees Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter and winner Geoffrey Rush), it’s being distributed by the Oscar-hungry Weinstein Company (see Shakespeare in Love, Inglorious Basterds), and it’s about that veddy British of subjects, the Monarchy.

Oh, and it’s a period drama set during the 1930s. What about that doesn’t scream high-quality Oscar bait? Continue reading →

Jeff Bridges just doesn’t look right in Tron:Legacy, and it’s not just because he’s been stuck in a computer game for 20 years. In this sequel to the 1982 film, we learn that Bridges’ character, Kevin Flynn, has been trapped inside the game he created, and he’s been held captive by the avatar of himself that he created. The “real” Flynn has aged, but the avatar, called Clu, has not — and quite frankly, it looks creepy. Worse, the “real” Flynn has gone all Lebowski, with his beard and his propensity to attach “man” to his speech. It’s just not right.

The original Tron wasn’t any kind of masterpiece or anything (not that I’ve seen it in 25 years), and this new take likely won’t be perceived as a classic, either. It’s got some cool special effects, but those are mostly in the first half when Flynn’s son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), has first entered the game. The dialogue is often stilted and clunky, and even Bridges can’t save the material. I wish I could say Tron: Legacy was at minimum a fun movie, but I think all the good stuff is still stuck in the machine. I’m giving the movie a C+.

I Love You Phillip Morris begins with the statement, “This really happened.” And it sets the tone appropriately, because the story that’s told in this movie is so absurd, so unbelievable, that it just has to be true — and it is. Steven Jay Russell (Jim Carrey) is a charming, charismatic con man who gets sent to prison for fraud and meets Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). The two fall in love, and Russell attempts con after con to free Phillip and build a perfect life with him.

Written and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the pair behind the equally twisted Bad Santa, Phillip Morris is an offbeat love story, to put it mildly. It gives Carrey one of his best roles in years, and he does a nice job with it. The film has some good laughs, some charming moments, and again, it’s so unusual, so absurd, that I found it quite enjoyable. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and in those cases, it makes for fun films. I’m giving Phillip Morris a B+.

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What do you get when you cross Swan Lake, All About Eve, Showgirls, and Fight Club? That’s right: Black Swan, one of the strangest, most confusing movies of this or any year. In the film, Natalie Portman stars as Nina, an up-and-coming ballet dancer, whose sanity unravels when she scores the lead role in a new production of Swan Lake. If you don’t know this ballet (and I didn’t), it requires the lead to play two roles: the White Swan (notable for her innocence and grace) and the Black Swan (the polar opposite; a more sensual, seductive character). This duality proves a challenge for Nina: she is nothing if not delicate and graceful, but exploring her seductive side is less natural. When Lily (Mila Kunis) joins the company, she is seen as a more perfect fit for the Black Swan, and she becomes a rival to Nina. Their relationship develops into a twisted friendship, and as it does, Nina begins to lose her grip on reality.

That said, though it’s set in the world of ballet, Black Swan is not a ballet movie. Instead, it’s a psychological thriller that’s creepy and keeps you guessing. Having seen it, I still don’t exactly know what to make of it, and that’s not meant to be a dismissive statement. Generally, I enjoyed the movie — it’s attractive to watch, Portman is very good, and it’s certainly thought-provoking. But like Fight Club, I think I may have to see it again before I really understand and appreciate it. So for now, pending a repeat viewing and more discussion, and because writing about Black Swan means revealing important plot points, I’m going to cut this short and only give the film a B.

When was the last time you saw a movie so good, so easy to root for, that all you wanted to do was shout from the rooftops and tell everybody you know to go see it?

For me, that movie is The Fighter.

This gritty, real-life story has been brought to the screen by Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and director David O. Russell, and it’s just an awesome, beautiful film.

Wahlberg, who also produced, stars as “Irish” Micky Ward, the boxer from Lowell, Mass., who fights to overcome adversity both in and out of the ring. Micky is being groomed by his older half-brother, Dicky (Bale), to be a welterweight champion and to capture the title that eluded Dicky when he chose drugs over the sport. Now, Dicky’s struggles with crack are threatening both his life and his brother’s career. Continue reading →