Jun 17, 2011
(rated R, 107 mins.) Right from the get-go with its snappy opening of visually pleasing supper-club credits shaken with martinis, the mood of Los Angeles 1964, draws in the viewer. Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) is handsome and charming, a likeable Disc Jockey who takes a risk on a script Bing Crosby will produce – a POW comedy with a ‘laugh track’. His wife (Rita Wilson) thinks a Holocaust comedy is crazy until a round table follows with rehearsals of Werner Klemperer (Kurt Fuller), John Banner (Lyle Kanouse), Richard Dawson (Michael Rodgers) and “Hogan’s Heroes” is born. Capitalizing on his fame, Crane teams up with John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), a high fidelity expert installing units on the studio lot. Before long Carpenter transforms the Catholic-church-going-father-of-three-Crane into a Hugh Hefner type that makes Charlie Sheen look like an amateur. Their motto “A day without sex is a day wasted.” With the wildness comes the slow demise of Crane despite warnings from his agents (Ron Leibman) and his soon to be new wife “Hilda” (Maria Bello) who understands him and “knows about all the women.” “Auto Focus” is a fascinating chronicle of American male sexual identity in the sixties and seventies. From Paul Schrader, acclaimed director of “American Gigolo” and “Affliction” and the screenwriter of “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull”, again he makes a film that parallels obsession and addiction through escalating misconduct, intensity, style and wit. Like “Permanent Midnight” or last year’s “Blow” the movie begins on a high and spirals to Crane’s demise, ending with his murder in a Scottsdale Arizona hotel room in 1978. Kinnear takes a break from his usual comedy for a dark role that sky-rockets him to the top of being taken seriously as an actor. Don’t’ be surprised come Oscar buzz time. However, one of the producers within the movie (Bruce Solomon) tells Crane’s character: “you’re the hero of the show Bob. It’s named after you. Heroes don’t try to be heroes. They simply are.” Strange; since it’s hard to find sympathy for a guy who abused all he had going for him in the first place. Hero was certainly not a word in his vocabulary.
Jun 17, 2011
A long film, did I say ‘long?’ about an Aristocratic Brit, Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) headed to Australia for reasons one can’t quite be sure – something to do with her husband’s business and his infidelity. Immediately the plot feels like a riddle wrapped in a Broadway musical of cartoon characters – Kidman’s could easily be mistaken for Olive Oil. Did I mention the movie feels long? Part Epic, part Western and old Hollywood with a pinch of “African Queen” and “Out of Africa” and a good cup of “Gone With the Wind” you may as well be watching all of these at once because it seems all way over the top, and well, did I say long? And there’s Drover (Hugh Jackman) who thank god, was just voted “Sexiest Man Alive” so it keeps the curiosity going between the jibber jabber that we can’t seem to take seriously. The plot and the delivery are utter lunacy and at times feeling like a Coen Brothers film except the Coen brothers are literate. This isn’t. Director Baz Luhrmann reteams with Kidman for the first time since “Moulin Rouge” but while the movie feels the same A.D.D. “Moulin Rouge” delivered something magical, mesmerizing, passionate and desperate – something that this one can’t seem to pull off. If you think this review is confusing, you should see the movie. And did I mention it’s long? Two tiaras and that’s just for the scenery and hopping Kangaroos.
Jun 17, 2011
Did you ever date a handsome and proper, yet boring man? This is “Atonement.” It’s lovely and elegant to look at, very in-order, but completing lacking in fulfillment. Based on the very fulfilling 2002 novel by Ian McEwan and directed by (“Pride & Prejudice”) Joe Wright, comes the story of Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) the perfect “Little Miss Manners” candidate, who at 13 possesses all the right British snobbery and literary genius one hopeful writer could want in the next great novelist. But when Briony falls in love with her sister, Cecelia (Keira Knightley’s) lover, Robbie (James McAvoy), an unexpected crime leaves the best written material dropping in her lap. A story that will rip them apart for good. This series of events become the catalyst of the movie which spirals Robbie’s remaining years on a downward trend of prison, and eventually war in France, 1940. This period piece circa 1935, much like Wright’s directing, is certainly charismatic, but somehow with nothing quite going on. While Wright’s direction is so specific – every shot set up like a fine piece of art on the mantel – the movie does so much work for the viewer that one never has to bother immersing themselves. Keira Knightley is undoubtedly this generation’s Audrey Hepburn with her exquisite and elegant features, but while she’s a skilled actress, one wouldn’t call her a great actress. That said, Vanessa Redgrave’s bit-part portrayal as the older Briony, leaves us feeling stricken with the loss she caused all those she loved. And for one moment, makes us almost like the story. Two tiaras
Jun 17, 2011
(rated PG, 95 mins) It’s 1914 and Milo James Thatch (Michael J. Fox) tries to convince his colleagues at the Smithsonian that he knows the whereabouts of Atlantis, a thriving civilization that fell to battle, swallowed by a giant tidal wave and disappearing without a trace, several thousand years ago. One day an eccentric billionaire Preseon Whitmore (John “Frasier” Mahoney) hands Milo the Shepherd’s Journal left by his grandfather that contains the key to finding the lost empire. Thrown in the mix and part of the adventure is a Crustacean-like monster called the Leviathan, Princess Kida and a group of money hungry mean people that even look mean in animation, including Commander Rourke, played by James Garner. While Disney’s animation capabilities reign supreme, the story is loud, overwhelming and plain scary with a violent, busy premise leaning more toward an adult audience. What ever happened to the charm of “Lion King?” Disney needs to soften up to those “Little Mermaid” days and infuse their movies with some contemporary “Shrek” a la Dreamworks style.
Jun 17, 2011
(rated R, 110 mins) As he did with “The Apostle” Robert Duvall multi-tasks as director, writer, producer and star in the story of a loving step-dad and husband to wife (Kathy Baker) by day; seasoned hit man by night. Sent to Argentina by his boss (Frank Gio) who hides behind his Brooklyn dance hall where they practice tango, Duvall gets sent on a mission with a lot of spare time. So when there’s nothing else to do, he dances. This is a good strategy to match his character’s turn-on-a-dime personality but the two storylines never merge as expected. While the tale is full of adventure — loving daddy, beauty shop owner, lover, hit man, he may have gone too far infusing his obvious real life love of tango. He’s a multi-faceted character but the components of the story line don’t quite click.
