From the pages of Electric City and Diamond City, two of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s premier arts and entertainment publications, comes Richlier founder Jeff Boam’s weekly column of film previews and reviews: 

Previews

New in Town (1/30/09)

Renee Zellweger, Harry Connick, Jr.

Oh yes, patient readers, wake the kids and call the neighbors—it is time again for the squinting! Beginning with her breakthrough performance in Jerry Maguire, actress Renee Zellweger has squinted her way through pretty much every genre be it comedy (Leatherheads), drama (Cinderella Man), western (Appaloosa), or musical (Chicago). Hell, she even squinted her way into the arms of Oscar (Cold Mountain). Perhaps, this talented star may even conquer science fiction next (2001: A Squint Odyssey, anyone?). In her latest, a PG-rated comedy, Zellweger plays a single Miami businesswoman who moves to rural Minnesota and reevaluates her big city values…and meets a man (Connick)!!! The Plus: The genre. Your reviewer’s candor aside, Zellweger has done well for herself in romantic comedies (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason). And New Orleans crooner Harry Connick, Jr. has certainly not been a slouch in this department himself (Hope Floats). The Minus: The rating. Just weeks ago, a family friendly PG rating neutered the unfunny Bride Wars. Will couples (most if not all of them over the age of 13) flock to a romantic comedy priced to move for the kiddie set?

Taken (1/30/09)

Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace

Though he made a reputation for himself in serious-as-a-heart-attack Oscar-baiting dramas (Schindler’s List, Kinsey), Neeson has also demonstrated a definite penchant for kicking arse. In Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, he was mentor to Jedi warrior Obi Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). In Batman Begins, he was mentor to crime fighter Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale). Could The Karate Nell be in his future? Perhaps, but in his latest, Neeson does take this violent bent a step further. In the PG-13-rated action thriller Taken, Neeson plays a former government operative who uses his training to rescue his daughter (Grace) from a slave trade operation. The Plus: The players. Years ago (1990 to be exact), Neeson kicked arse as anti-hero Darkman and audiences showed up in droves. Also, Taken’s trailer does show great potential. The Minus: The odds. Reportedly, Taken, which was scheduled to bow last September, has been available on the Internet and on screener DVD copies for sometime. Insomuch as your reviewer finds piracy abhorrent, a lot of potential filmgoers may have unfortunately already seen this film.

The Uninvited (1/30/09)

Elizabeth Banks, David Strathairn

Apparently, brothers make good directing teams. Following in the footsteps of Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo, No Country for Old Men) came Peter and Bobby Farrelly (There’s Something About Mary, The Heartbreak Kid), Larry and Andy Wachowski (Bound, The Matrix), and Allen and Albert Hughes (Menace II Society, From Hell). Now comes siblings Thomas and Charles Guard with a horror flick about…wait for it…two sisters. In this PG-13-rated thriller, two sisters (Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel) try to convince their widower father (Strathairn) that his fiancée (Banks) is not who she pretends to be. The Plus: The odds. Horror-tinged films CAN do well during the cold months (Cloverfield). The Minus: The genre. But this does not necessarily include ALL horror films (One Missed Call, The Eye).

Reviews

 Milk

Sean Penn, Josh Brolin 

Gus Van Sant is one of those directors whose work your reviewer finds more interesting when he does a studio picture. And ‘studio picture’ should not have a harsh slave-to-the-man allusion. Rather, it refers to when a director known for a usually avant-garde flavor makes a highly accessible film. Think: Steven Soderbergh putting aside the experimental shaky verve of Full Frontal and giving audiences the eye-popping fun abandon of Ocean’s Eleven. With Good Will Hunting, Van Sant gave audiences a popular critical darling that incorporated a great deal of visual flair. The marvelously told Milk demonstrates more of the same, giving filmgoers an engrossing bio-pic that proves as interesting to watch as its significance is to ponder afterwards. The spot-on performances only cement this appeal.

This R-rated bio-pic follows the personal and political trials and tribulations of Milk (Penn), the first openly gay official to be voted into office in America.

From frame one, Sean Penn was Harvey Milk in every nuance and utterance. With even lesser screen time, Josh Brolin perfectly embodies the powder-keg edginess of his political opponent and eventual assassin, Dan White. Your reviewer did not know these people, but the integration of actual news footage within the film (another fine hallmark of Van Sant’s cinematic eye) drives home the cast’s authenticity. Dustin Lance Black’s screenplay strains its credibility a tad with some slightly H’Wood touches but there is no discounting his unwavering devotion to the subject. Van Sant shows such devotion too, perfectly recreating ‘70s era San Francisco within the camera lens.

To-the-Wire: Get Milk.

 

Revolutionary Road

Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet 

The film begins as a near-perfect reproduction of an Edward Hopper cityscape and quickly moves to one of his suburban scenes. Though Hopper painted most of his celebrated works in the ‘30s and ‘40s, your reviewer thinks that this particular American artist served as an influence on director Sam Mendes’s ‘50s-set Revolutionary Road, an emotionally draining but beautifully realized dramatization of a fractured American dream. The placement of characters in their set environment and the vibrant colors placed against an ominous background—both of these elements are central to Mendes’s aesthetics. Lending much to the subject matter, the action plays out much like a funeral dirge. It proves to be the authentic performances, however, that truly sell the material through.

In this R-rated adaptation of the Richard Yates novel, a young couple’s marriage (DiCaprio, Winslet) unravels as they try to find fulfillment in an age of conformity.

With scarily letter-perfect synergy, DiCaprio and Winslet take the audience through the gut-wrenching paces of a loving couple being torn apart by obligation—marriage, kids, and a house in the suburbs. It is a topic also explored in such classic post-modern literature as The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and Rabbit, Run, albeit without nearly as much of a wrist-slitting glumness. Filmgoers will feel like they have just been through couples and grief counseling in the same sitting, which is partly a compliment to Mendes’s ability to paint a couple’s funereal funk with careful precision…and partly a warning that watching this film can sap one’s will to live.

To-the-Wire: American Gloomy.

 

Bride Wars

Anna Hathaway, Kate Hudson 

In this supposed comedy, two lifelong best friends (Hathaway, Hudson) become sudden rivals when their weddings are scheduled for the same day. It begins with an unnecessary and unbelievable voiceover by Candice Bergen, sounding more wooden than one of her father’s Charlie McCarthy dummies. And, sadly, this humorless romp about wedding-obsessed ladies priced to move for the wedding-unobsessed PG set never gets any better. Hathaway and Hudson go through the paces and squeeze a few chuckles out of their snarky back-and-forth one-up-womanship. Without a PG-13 rating with which to let some biting matrimonial humor fly, however, this predictable tripe should have been called off before it ever got to the altar.

To-the-Wire: Runaway from Bride.

 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett 

In this PG-13-rated drama, a man with an unusual condition is born in his ‘80s and ages backwards (Pitt), much to the chagrin of the woman he loves (Blanchett). Here, screenwriter Eric Roth loosely adapts a simple short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald and blows it up into a thought-provoking, almost epic tale about life and loss. It proves to have a perfectly dark undercurrent for the designs of Fincher, who brilliantly paints a vividly detailed picture of a simple (though not slow) man moving in the opposite (though not entirely dissimilar) direction of those around him. Pitt and Blanchett strike a perfect balance, demonstrating the importance of living in the moment with utmost clarity.

To-the-Wire: Curiously strong.

 

Defiance

Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber 

In this intriguing but unnecessarily long R-rated drama based on real events, three Jewish brothers (Craig, Schreiber, Jamie Bell) escape Nazi-occupied Poland to become resistance fighter encamped in the forest. The principals put their best feet forward—accents and all. And director Edward Zwick, though he seems to have taken too many cues from gritty battle scenes from Saving Private Ryan, crafts a tale that largely proves engaging. At times, however, the camp scenes are rife with repetition—illness, starvation, insurrection, repeat. The script also needed some editing. Characters rush in at the 11^th Hour with such H’Wood bravado that the story quickly goes from unbelievably true to simply unbelievable.

To-the-Wire: Diffidence.

 

Frost/Nixon

Frank Langella, Michael Sheen

This R-rated adaptation of Peter Morgan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play dramatizes the historic 1977 television interview between broadcaster David Frost (Sheen) and former President Richard Nixon (Langella). Director Ron Howard, usually known for a look akin to shiny penny newness (the empty-headed DaVinci Code looked like a pristine factory car on the lot), once again demonstrates that crowd-pleasingly authentic historical features are his forte (Apollo 13). The time, place, and players are all recreated with detailed precision. In adapting his play, Morgan masterfully fattens the drama while trimming away the staginess. The final product, though not an awe-inspiring Best Picture drama, is a fascinating and highly enjoyable slice-of-history romp with brilliant turns by Langella and Sheen.

To-the-Wire: Hail to the flick.

 

Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang 

In this Eastwood-directed R-rated drama, a Korean War veteran disillusioned with the changing face of his neighborhood (Eastwood) bonds with the teen who tried to steal his prized 1973 Gran Torino (Vang). At its core, the film is just another story of an oldster learning tolerance when unexpectedly paired with a whippersnapper. With an understated and yet meticulous precision, however, Clint Eastwood elevates this standard material to a plane higher than it could ever aspire to reach. Eastwood’s stark concentration on character amazingly allows the audience to sympathize with the unlikable Walt, a wonderfully realized character. By the end, his wholly authentic relationship with those around him makes the can’t-fully-guess-it ending all the more chilling.

To-the-Wire: Grand tour.

 

Notorious

Jamal Woolard, Angela Bassett

In this R-rated bio-pic, the life and violent death of East Coast rapper Christopher Wallace, AKA Notorious B.I.G. (Woolard), is chronicled. Notorious’s style is in its straightforwardness. The film plays out in successive cradle-to-grave chapters, forgoing a manic, non-linear, cross cutting approach a la Nixon. Though the material drives alongside his drug-selling, two-timing, and warring with fellow rapper Tupac Shakur, the script never crashes head-on into the overall issue of angel or devil. Instead, it takes a definite biased stand, elevating its subject to messiah. The star-making turn by Woolard, however, makes for invigorating viewing.  

To-the-Wire: Noteworthy.

 

The Wrestler

Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei

In this heartbreaking R-rated drama, Rourke plays burnt-old former pro-wrestler Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson grappling with returning to the ring for a rematch even though it could cost him his life and loves (Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood). It must be stated that the film – not the title performance – is what truly breaks filmgoers’ hearts—and to director Darren Aronofsky’s credit. With hand-held camera work and little CMI lighting, his fly-on the-wall style truly puts John Q. Filmgoer directly in the depths of one man’s life. The choice of setting, New Jersey, makes for a stark and honest palette as well. It is Rourke’s masterful turn, however, that ultimately elicits one’s sympathy. Though the character is pathetic, the entirely truthful and heartfelt performance is that much more inspiring.

To-the-Wire: Oscar rasslin’.

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Your blogger is undeniably an Anglo-Phile. Very recently, he has deduced two English truths about himself. First, his last name almost certainly derives from the Birmingham/Leceister/Nottingham corridor of England, which is north of London by some two hours and change. Second, he loves English films. And by this statement, he does not mean uppity-crust Merchant and Ivory-style mannerly rogerings. He is, of course, referring to British Gangster flicks, Hammer Horror films and the James Bond canon.The former two shall be fodder for future blogs. Bond, however, is ripe for discussion even as The Man with the Golden Gun plays on your blogger’s flat-screen rear projection 50-inch Sony television (shaken martini in hand, of course). Having been an immense fan of the bone-crunching realism of the post 9/11 Bond reinvention (or Casino Royale, as it is better known), he has systematically watched every film in this series up to the 1974 film referenced at the beginning of this paragraph. It helps that Big Lots ran a sale offering every last one of these gems for $4 a pop.The early Sean Connery films are as good as the critics make mention. Dr. No is highly enjoyable and sets up the template in nearly every manner–dated trippy credits sequence, somewhat catchy song, and a megalomaniacal villain to boot. Connery is brash, built, and bucking the system. He seems almost blue collar in his mannerisms, looking great in designer suits but almost uncomfortable wearing them. He fits the role like a glove, however, and John Q. Filmgoer never once doubts his Double-Oh status.From Russia with Love is, very possibly, the best Bond film ever. It delivers a Sir Ian Fleming tale full of suspense, believably smitten femme fatales, and a down-n-dirty in-the-fray fight sequence aboard a train (indicative of the Daniel Craig films to come 45 years later).Goldfinger continued this trend of being harbinger, having M (the Boss) reprimand Bond (the employee) for being careless is his cavalier regards to the fairer sex. Thunderball took the series in a more gadgety direction but exemplified the fine storytelling of the series’ ’60s run. You Only Live Twice was the first average Connery Bond…but even average Connery Bond is better than most flicks. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was a revelation insofar as Bond history. Not only was Australian model George Lazenby good, he could have been a damn great Bond given the time and support (even producer Cubby Broccoli remarked this same sentiment at one time). He carried a great deal of the Connery traits (hair cuts, suit cuts, and cut-ups), but made a phenomenal impact for a first-time actor. It helps that the script is solid and marks a character-defining turn for the character (Bond gets married).A lot of people think that the arrival of Roger Moore marked Bond’s descent into pure ’70s camp, but it was Connery’s return to the franchise, Diamonds are Forever, that truly brought on the arch garishness. Moore’s debut, Live and Let Die, continued this campy trend, heavily relying on gadgets and arched eyebrow one-liners. But the distinctive Moore had more of a Britishness about him than Connery and his Bond seemed to despise violence despite being adept at it. Plus, his delivery immediately became iconic. And this, of course, brings all involved to The Man with the Golden Gun–the indulgent camptastic caper currently playing on in the background.Having been to England in July, your reviewer regrets not going to the Imperial War Museum to see the Sir Ian Fleming Exhibit that was then on display. He had raced out of Waterloo Station, which is practically right across the street, but the driving English rain had redirected him to a Public House for a pint. This move was, of course, to be expected. His name after all is Boam…Jeff Boam.

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