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Style, But Not Enough Substance

29 Jun

During the Great Depression, John Dillinger gained national attention for his thrilling bank robberies. Hailed as a modern-day Robin Hood, Dillinger was slick, suave, and cool, and the media, while covering his violent crimes, also augmented his legend. Dillinger took money from the banks, but respected the common people, who were hurting financially. And despite the public’s love for his exploits, Dillinger hid from the feds right in plain sight. Michael Mann’s Public Enemies details the attempts by FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) to capture Dillinger (Johnny Depp), and romanticizes the high-style life that Dillinger lived and the excitement of his robberies — with Dillinger often leaping over the counter and getting away from police by narrow margins. The movie is elegantly filmed at times, thrillingly told at others, and quite muscular in sound, what with all the heavy gunfire. It even has a heavy dose of authenticity, since much of it was filmed in the same locales the real-life Dillinger had visited.

If only the movie had more dramatic tension. Unlike some of Mann’s other films (like Heat and The Insider), the mano-a-mano just isn’t as compelling here. Depp, with his charisma, his confidence, and his charm pretty much runs away with the movie, and Bale never quite measures up as a worthy opponent. Even Oscar winner Marion Cotillard feels wasted in the thankless girlfriend role. In addition, there’s not enough character development, so as a result, we get to watch some cool robbery scenes, some good chases, and some fun prison breaks, but there’s not much more to the film, no real arc that makes us invest more in Dillinger and feel a sense of loss when he does eventually meet his end. I’m only going to give Public Enemies a B, because Depp’s always great fun to watch, but it’s a crime that this film doesn’t really make good on its promise.

A Fine Romance

25 Jun

No doubt the title of the new film (500) Days of Summer (which hits theaters in mid-July) has to sound like a bit of a fantasy for all of us here in Boston, where it’s been a pretty bad summer so far weather-wise, what with the rain and cooler temperatures that have lasted into late June.

The tough news to share is that this movie does not offer sunshine and warmth; it’s actually a bit of a cold shoulder.

But the good news is that should the weather stay miserable, (500) Days offers a decent alternative to walking around town with an umbrella. Continue reading →

Money Train

14 Jun

It’s just another day in New York City when the message comes in that a subway car has been taken hostage.

And so begins The Taking of Pelham 123, a remake of the 1974 film that starred Walter Matthau.

In this update, Denzel Washington is subway dispatcher Walter Garber, and John Travolta is the mastermind behind the crime, a man who identifies himself only as “Ryder.” Also in a high-profile role is James Gandolfini, who plays the lame duck mayor and at one point says he won’t call a press conference because “I’m not running for president. I left my Giuliani suit at home.” Continue reading →

About Last Night

8 Jun

I’ve been to Las Vegas twice, but thankfully, I’ve never experienced anything quite as crazy as what you’ll see in The Hangover.

This movie — a sort-of cross between Very Bad Things and Dude, Where’s My Car? — is about a bachelor party gone very wrong, and how the morning after, three guys attempt to piece together what happened the night before (and find the groom, who has gone missing).

The unlikely trio of Bradley Cooper (Alias), Ed Helms (The Office), and Zach Galifianakis (Between Two Ferns) generate plenty of laughs — to spoil any of them would just be cruel, although there are a bunch of clips available on the web that ruin a few surprises.

No matter. Continue reading →

Home Is Where the Heart Is

5 Jun

Watching the new film Away We Go, it’s hard not to think of Billy Joel’s classic song, “You’re My Home.”

The story of a couple traveling around the country in search of a place to live before their baby is born, Away We Go is a very sweet film and a very nice surprise. Written by Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) and his wife, Vendela Vida, directed by Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road), and starring The Office‘s John Krasinski and Saturday Night Live‘s Maya Rudolph, it’s filled with enough quirky characters to fill a few independent films, and it defies a bit of logic (for example, how this couple that is just barely scraping by is able to afford cross-country travel), but it has so much heart and so many laughs, and the acting by Krasinski and Rudolph is so unexpectedly tender and good, that you can suspend your disbelief pretty easily. Continue reading →

The Sky’s the Limit

3 Jun

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words.

And then there are Pixar movies, where the beautiful imagery is just priceless.

So it goes in the company’s latest, the simply named Up, which is a gorgeous, bright, colorful movie that has as much depth and emotion as it does stunning visuals.

I just don’t know how those Pixar folks do it. Every single film they make is an impressive achievement, each one better than the last. Continue reading →

There They Were

1 Jun

I spent Sunday evening at the Coolidge Corner Theater, which was hosting a screening of the new movie Away We Go. It was a benefit for 826 Boston, the after-school writing and tutoring center founded by Dave Eggers, who most folks know from his awesome book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (yes, I have actually read it). Eggers, who wrote the film with his wife, was billed as the headliner for the evening, and he was there to do a Q&A. However, he was not the only special guest. The film’s stars, John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, were also there to take questions from the audience. (Sweet!!)

I’ll write more about the film itself closer to its theatrical release (it comes out in Boston on June 12), but suffice it to say, it’s a very sweet film about an unmarried couple three months from the birth of their first child, who travel around the country looking for a new place to call home. During the Q&A, Eggers talked of being inspired by the films of Hal Ashby and wanting to write a different kind of romantic comedy. In the film, the lead couple don’t go through the standard arc: there’s no meet-cute, courtship, breakup, and reconciliation, for example. The chance to be in a film where the couple is happy and together throughout was one of the aspects that drew Krasinski and Rudolph to the project. (As was the chance to work with Sam Mendes, who was apparently a very collaborative director.)

Not surprisingly, Rudolph and Krasinski drew the most laughs. Rudolph, who is currently pregnant in real life, talked about how she had a lot in common with her character and how awkward it was to film an oral sex scene on the second day. Krasinski (a Newton native, of course) was quite endearing with his Sam Mendes/Simon Cowell impression and tales of hanging out at Saturday Night Live tapings too often back in the day. He also gave some surprisingly insightful answers that were a long way from the sarcasm and dopeyness seen each week on The Office (maybe that’s because his family was in the audience).

On the other hand, I didn’t really believe Eggers when he said he wrote the screenplay with Krasinski and Rudolph in mind (really? You really thought of those actors?), and I thought his answer that none of the film was inspired by real-life people or events was less than convincing, given that Eggers’ personal story (well documented in AHWoSG) mirrors at least partly that of Rudolph’s character (in the film, her parents died when she was 22) and the overall journey they are on. But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Krasinski and Rudolph were really great, and I wish the Q&A had been longer and had covered more than just the specifics of the movie, because obviously, it would have been fun to hear more Office and SNL talk. But, as Krasinski teased, maybe there’ll be a sequel to the film — Away They Went? — so we may have a chance to ask those questions at another time.

(Photos courtesy of Kirk Kittell)

Who’s That Girl?

26 May

In The Girlfriend Experience, director Steven Soderbergh explores the illusion of human connection.

The porn star Sasha Grey stars as Christine, a high-priced escort, who is so skilled that she charges $2,000 an hour. Christine treats what she does like a business, staying detached from her clients, obsessing about increasing the SEO of her website, and always looking for ways to expand her livelihood (including seeking the advice of a character named “Sugar,” played by an old college chum of mine).

Christine’s clients go to her because she’ll listen to their problems and won’t judge. She’s like a therapist, only more fun.

Oh, and of course, she’s beautiful — in her designer Michael Kors dresses and sunglasses, she looks like a sexier, younger Audrey Hepburn.

But for obvious reasons, Christine keeps her clients at a safe emotional distance. They don’t know much about her beyond what’s on the surface. They don’t even know that her real name is Christine — they think it’s Chelsea — and that’s how she likes it.

After all, wouldn’t the fact that Christine has a serious boyfriend, for example, spoil some of the mystery?

If these clients wanted to know the “real” Christine, they wouldn’t be paying her. Continue reading →

He’s Given It All He’s Got, Captain

11 May

Like Casino Royale did to James Bond, the new Star Trek movie reboots the franchise, doing away with the history that so many fans have grown up knowing and living by, and making the story accessible to folks like me who aren’t even fans of the genre to begin with.

My Star Trek knowledge is limited, but I know I should be embarrassed to admit that the only film of the first 10 that I saw was number four, The Voyage Home (aka: the one with the whales).

I love the classic SNL skit where William Shatner tells the fans to get a life.

Point is, the fact that I really liked this film only goes to show what a great job director J.J. Abrams has done. Continue reading →

Man vs Wild

3 May

Part of the fun of superhero origin stories is watching how an ordinary person is changed when they’re given a super power. Think Peter Parker after he’s bitten by the radioactive spider. Or Bruce Banner, after he’s exposed to all those gamma rays. So it’s sort of a bummer when, early on in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, we see that Wolverine has had claws all his life (though they’re bone, not adamantium ones), not to mention an ability to heal quickly and not age (how else to explain his ability to fight in the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Vietnam War). Then again, Wolverine is a mutant, and he was born a mutant. Thus, this movie is not so much an origin story as it is the story of how Wolverine became a super mutant. Hmmmm … Perhaps the film should have been called X-Men Beginnings instead of X-Men Origins — or perhaps I shouldn’t take it quite so literally.

Title aside, Wolverine is pretty good, not great — it’s more X-Men: The Last Stand than the other two films in that series (i.e., it’s more an action film than anything of any higher meaning). Hugh Jackman, back again in the role that made him a star, still emits cool and the film does include some decent action scenes. On the other hand, the script isn’t really top-notch, and sometimes it veers into forced, lame comedy (like in the scene just after Wolverine’s injection where he has a mishap in he bathroom thanks to his new blades). It’s good to see that director Gavin Hood (who directed the truly awful Rendition) isn’t a total hack, but I wish he had allowed the actors to have a little more fun (for example, it’s nice to see Liev Schreiber playing a bad guy, but he doesn’t look like he’s enjoying himself very much).

Wolverine is definitely not essential viewing — especially if you saw X2: X-Men United, which also included Wolverine’s origin story. But it’s not the kind of movie you’ll regret paying eight or nine bucks for, either. It’s only May. Better films are still to come. For now, this one only gets a B– from me.

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