Jun 17, 2011
Written and directed by Greg “Superbad” Mottola comes a story based in 1987 about ‘how I unexpectedly spent my summer vacation’ yet at the same time feeling a bit like 1950s “American Graffiti.” James (Jesse Eisenberg) just graduated high school and while he planned to travel Europe this summer, he’s short a few bucks. But when his family relocates to Pittsburg, he takes the only job he can get at an amusement park that turns into an “Adventureland” of a different sort. Unlike a lot of these similarly themed movies – nerds, virginity, forced humor – this one is special. Almost darn right sweet. James displays cool trepidation, while the the new love of his life, Emily (Kristen Stewart) is mature and subtle. (Stewart is fresh off of “Twilight” while Eisenberg is best remembered as the misfit kid in “The Squid and the Whale.”) SNL’s Bill Hader and Kristen Wig play James’s employers – offbeat and quirky, while Ryan Reynolds plays the amusement park maintenance man – a cad of a character seducing young girls in his mother’s basement rather than go home to his waitress wife. The plot lines of the [summer job] kids’ parents are so real – death, divorce, alcoholism, and job loss – that they are reminiscent of our own teen summers when everything seemed to be the end of the world. You know the the kind of job we all used to have…throw a bunch of zit-faced, pot smoking kids together and talk about everything other than the bad job, and suddenly it’s August. And life goes on. Three and a half tiaras
Jun 17, 2011
(rated R, 1 hour, 55 mins.) Trying to explain the premise of “Adaptation” is as confusing as last year’s premise to the smart, sassy “Being John Malkovich” directed by the same Spike Jonze, and written by Charlie Kaufman, who also penned the wacky “Human Nature”. But, if last time the two won an Oscar, then the present “Adaptation” is worth a look. In real life, Hollywood struggled to find a writer to adapt Susan Orlean’s best-selling book “The Orchid Thief”. But, how much can be written about flower robbers? That’s exactly the premise for this movie. When in doubt on how to make a book into a movie, make a movie about making the movie. Nicolas Cage portrays Kaufman, a self-loathing miserable, screenwriter with OCD, paranoia, you name it, who makes Woody Allen seem sane and can’t figure out an angle to adapt a book he’s been hired to write by producer (Tilda Swinton). To complicate matters more, the movie jumps between five years earlier when Orlean (Meryl Streep) is actually researching her book in Florida, to present day Kaufman, sharing an apartment with a twin brother Donald (portrayed by Cage again) who floats through life effortlessly. Cage is flawless in tackling the annoying, sweating character of Kaufman creatively blocked, which only makes the audience beg for the gentle, sweet nature of Streep’s character. Streep play her role so well, she actually begins to look like the fragile “Ghost Orchid” everybody is in search of. Chris Cooper should be recognized for his Oscar worthy performance as the obsessed hillbilly horticulturist know-it-all, John Laroche. As should Brian Cox who pokes fun as screenwriting guru Robert McKee. As a matter of fact, if a wanna-be screenwriter listens carefully, this movie can also save them the $500 McKee seminar fee. As the movie intertwines Cage and Streep, it becomes apparent that the real premise is a search for each owns passion. But even with all its energy, brilliance and confusion, the start-out-smart story, derails someplace in the third act landing in a swamp (literally).
Jun 17, 2011
(rated PG-13, 71 mins.) Davey Stone (Adam Sandler) is a 33-year-old party animal finding himself in trouble with the law after he goes too far. In keeping with the Holiday spirit, the Judge gives Davey one last chance to redeem himself by spending the holidays performing community services as the assistant referee for the youth basketball league. Thinking he’s got off easy, things are fine until he meets Whitey Duvall (voice of Adam Sandler too) the eccentric elf-like head referee and his fraternal twin sister, Eleanor (Adam Sandler’s voice again). If you add the equation of Sandler, toilet humor (literally, with an outhouse scene), the Hanukah song, toss in animation, you surely add up a lot of success. Sandler finds his niche post recent flops with the same ole same ole, by giving us a story that turns Christmas upside down and a lesson full of situations the audience can ease into, with cartoon characters we care for more than his usual real life sidekicks. The only annoyance is the finger-scratching-chalk-board voice of Eleanor. And, remember since the partying lesson is geared to his audience of teens, parents with small children beware. This ain’t no “Frosty The Snowman.”
Jun 17, 2011
Adam (Hugh Dancy) seems to be a few fries short a happy meal. His father’s death doesn’t help much either. Adam goes into mechanical mode of everything dad taught him – clean the house, do the laundry, watch reruns on cable, go to bed by 9. But when the 20 boxes of frozen mac & cheese are gone from the freezer he has some big decisions to make that might just involve stepping outside into the real world. The new neighbor Rose (Beth Buchwald) doesn’t help either. Soon we learn he’s not “slow” but that Adam is only a victim of Asperger’s Syndrome which has a key characteristic of being unable to gauge what somebody else might be thinking, thus his inability to interact in social situations. Asperger’s also has some traits that a few “normal” people could use in their lives – namely extreme honesty. Adam just assumes everybody thinks what he thinks. The story’s premise really comes into play when Rose’s father (Peter Gallagher) is indicted for office monkey-business. Rose’s mother is played by Amy Irving, as the quintessential accepting Westchester wife. In the end, the sum of this tale is two strangers – Adam and Rose – who struggle with the realities of growing up, falling in love and understanding forgiveness. Two and a half tiaras
Jun 17, 2011
(Rated R, 125 mins.) Jack is back as Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson), a retired insurance guy who is about to find himself at several crossroads. No sooner does he retire than his wife, Helen (June Squibb), dies suddenly. At the same time, his daughter, the love of his life, Jeannie (Hope Davis,) is about to marry a loser waterbed salesman named Randall (Dermot Mulroney), who comes from a wacky family with a mother (Kathy Bates) who breast-fed him until he was five. Schmidt’s only comfort is a series of letters (with way too much information) that he writes/narrates to the Tanzanian foster child whom Schmidt sponsors. Determined to find his life alone, the retiree takes off cross-country in a Winnebago, certain that his only purpose in life is to stop his daughter’s wedding. Part of the adventure is getting there and Schmidt proves just that with a this-is-my-boring-life realization. There’s no Hollywood arc, there’s no revelation, but who says death should dictate what the living should be or become? We all have a miserable old uncle or grandfather or even dad we’ll recognize in Nicholson’s performance. Real life isn’t a movie. The revelation is Schmidt figuring out that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But if Nicholson doesn’t get an Oscar nod, then the Academy doesn’t know Jack.
