Never Let Me Go - DVD Review

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Starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Charlotte Rampling and Sally Hawkins.
Directed by Mark Romanek.

My understanding is the book is really good, and maybe the book addresses my main flaw with the film.

It follows three kids who grow to adulthood in an alternate reality where certain kids are groomed to be organ donors. These three know they don't have long to live, as they'll soon be called to make the donations, but they hear that exemptions are granted for donors who fall in love, and they engage in a love triangle.

My one problem, which could have been addressed with a line of dialogue, is why don't they ever try to escape? There's plenty of opportunity, but it never occurs to them. If they were genetically engineered to just be that way, fine. Say so.

Takers - DVD Review

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Starring Matt Dillon, Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, Michael Ealy, Tip "T.I." Harris, Chris Brown, Jay Hernandez, Zoe Saldana, Steve Harris, Johnathan Schaech, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Nick Turturro and Glynn Turman.
Directed by John Luessenhop.

Slick, empty caper about a gang of thieves and the cops trying to stop them. Idris Elba, using his real accent, leads the crooks, and Matt Dillon cracks skulls as the main cop. It was passable to me until I realized it's virtually the same plot of Michael Mann's Heat. Then it instantly paled.

It's not without its guilty pleasures. I liked seeing a skinny, suspenders-wearing Hayden Christensen beat up three guys in a well-choreographed fight scene in a small office. I liked Michael Ealy giving earnestness to a movie that doesn't really deserve it.

It's dragged down by subplots that don't really add anything, like Elba's drug-addict sister and Dillon dealing with red-tape and possible corruption at the station. The final shoot-out held no emotional wallop, but I think it was supposed to. That's a bad sign.

The Green Hornet - Movie Review

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Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz, Tom Wilkinson, Edward James Olmos and James Franco.
Directed by Michel Gondry.

Seth Rogen & writer partner Evan Goldberg reinvented action-buddy comedy with Pineapple Express when they made it about a pot-smoker and his dealer on the run. It was a messy romp. Now Rogen's trying to do the same thing with superhero movies, but fortunately he leaves the marijuana at home. Kato & the Green Hornet will have to settle with getting drunk with each other.

As a comedy, it's not funny enough, and as a superhero movie, it didn't work either. I appreciated that it didn't aim for fake earnestness like, say, Elektra, but that it also didn't degenrate into pun-happy neon camp like Schumacher's Batman.

Rogen, that Fozzie Bear of an actor who's the same in pretty much everything, plays Britt Reid, son of a multimillionaire (naturally), wasting his life with partying. One day Dad dies, and now Britt is heir, and his primary responsibility is running the Daily Sentinel, the only insanely-profitable newspaper left in America. Britt decides to team up with Kato, his dad's driver, to fight crime, but in order to get close to the criminal underground, they'll pretend they're bad guys. He uses his paper to help villify the Green Hornet.

Chou does kick butt as Kato, but it seems torturous for him to speak English. Cameron Diaz shows up as the token female interest and the movie grinds to a halt for all of her scenes. Christoph Waltz never quite hits the right comedic notes as Chudnofsky, a crime boss going through an identity crisis.

The 3D added absolutely nothing except the increased price of the ticket.

As my wife said as we left the theater, "Jack Black could've played the Green Hornet."

Survivor's Russell: Spoiler Villain

Check out this on Russell Hantz's alleged involvement with a spoiler site. COuld cost him millions.

True Grit - Movie Review

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Starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper and Dakin Matthews.
Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen.

I loves me a well-crafted Western as much as the next feller, and this one fits the bill. Can't say it's Best Picture material, but it's fine innertainment nonetheless.

Hailee Steinfeld is yer heroine here, a 14-year-old girl full o pluck and resolve out to find the man who killed her pa. She's a resourceful tyke, and she sets out to find the meanest marshal she can to hire. She sets her sights on the drunken Rooster Cogburn.

Cogburn is played by Jeff Bridges, who drawls so deep, there's plenty of clever dialogue we miss because he's too hard to understand. I really had to strain. When they show this in Australia or England, the locals will want subtitles for Bridges's lines. But when he gets upset, that one-eyed stare can be chilling.

I never saw the 1969 version, seen pieces, so I didn't have that distracting thing most might, of thinking what Bridges is doing different from Wayne, what Matt Damon's doing different from Glen Campbell, and so forth. I dug Bridges, his deep drawl notwithstanding. Damon was also really good as LaBeouf, at times comical in his bravado but still one you root for when he discovers his true integrity. LaBeouf sees Maddie as a brat when they meet, and she sees him as a buffoon, but mutal respect and understanding is earned.

Then there's Hailee Steinfeld as Maddie, a true find in casting. She's nominated for Best Supporting Actress but she's in every scene.

Twere I to have any other beef with the film, it'd be the denouement. That may be the way the book ends but I thought better choices were there.

Hollywood used to love the Western, and since we only get about one a year, I'd like to see more. Maybe with the financial success of this, we will. But I hope this doesn't mean High Noon and The Searchers remakes are in the works. There's plenty of pulp material to mine from Louis L'Amour, Zane Grey and Elmore Leonard.

The Other Guys - DVD Review

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Starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Dwayne Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Lindsay Sloane, Natalie Zea, Rob Riggle and Damon Wayans Jr.
Directed by Adam McKay.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson star as the quintessential action-buddy cops. With great disregard for public property and their own safety, they chase those bad guys down and get the photo op. They're the envy of the department. They blast the tunes and spout the one-liners.

They're gone by the end of the first act. Oh, where's the rest of the movie supposed to go?

We follow the B Team, the "other guys" of the title. Will Ferrell is the nerdy one who loves paperwork. Mark Wahlberg is his tightly-wound partner who might be a great cop were he not so overzealous. Ferrell and Wahlberg are fine, but I actually got more entertainment out of the supporting cast, like Michael Keaton as the precinct captain who holds a surprise second job, or Steve Coogan as the weasily CEO at the center of an investigation.

P.S. The closing credits seem to have been lifted from a documentary about the financial crisis, as we get all these stats and figures about TARP and CEO salaries and whatnot.

The King's Speech - Movie Review

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Starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Timothy Spall and Jennifer Ehle.
Directed by Tom Hooper.

It may feel like award-bait, but that doesn't mean it isn't really good. Plenty of films aim for award-bait and miss. (Remember The Shipping News?) They must first and always be high quality entertainment, and this suceeds mainly on Colin Firth's remarkable central performance.

We first see Albert the Duke of York (Firth) give a disastrous radio speech in 1925, then fast-forward a few years to where his wife (Helena Bonham Carter, as crisp and subdued here as she is wild in Harry Potter) has sought the help of unorthodox speech therapist Lional Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Seems that Albert (Bertie to his family) has been plagued with a stutter his whole life.

When Bertie's elder brother leaves the throne, Bertie is now King George VI, and in this era of radio, and rising Nazi Germany, the U.K. needs a leader who can speak.

It's essentially a buddy film, but Firth, who was great last year in A Single Man, steps it up here. I can imagine many ways where this could have gone wrong but it never does.

2010 Academy Award Nominations

BEST PICTURE
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
David O. Russell, The Fighter

BEST ANIMATED FILM
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Biutiful, Mexico
Dogtooth, Greece
In a Better World, Denmark
Incendies, Canada
Outside the Law, Algeria

BESY DOCUMENTARY FILM
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech

BEST ART DIRECTION
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part I
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King's Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

BEST FILM EDITING
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

BEST MAKEUP
Barney's Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

BEST SOUND EDITING
Inception
Toy Story 3
Tron: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

BEST SOUND MIXING
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part I
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
How to Train Your Dragon
Inception
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Coming Home", Country Strong
"I See the Light", Tangled
"If I Rise", 127 Hours
"We Belong Together", Toy Story 3

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage

Ebert Presents At the Movies

Christy Lemire (Associated Press) and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (Mubi.com) are your new critics. No "two thumbs up" or "two thumbs down" in the first episode.

No Strings Attached - Lemire Down / Vishy Up - Lemire felt like it fell apart toward the end, Vishy thought it was better than most rom-coms, cliches notwithstanding.

The Company Men - Lemire Down / Vishy Up - Lemire felt the characters never broke out of their two-dimensional setups. Vishy found it an interesting commentary on unemployment.

The Way Back - Lemire Down / Vishy Up - Lemire found it a slog. Vishy likes long, gritty epics.

The Green Hornet - Lemire Down / Vishy Up - Lemire found Seth Rogen doing his same old schtick and hated the 3D. Vishy liked the visual creativity and the direction, and liked the Rogen/Chou chemistry.

The Dilemma - Lemire Down / Vishy Up - Lemire said none of the comedy worked. Vishy said it's being billed as a comedy but it's actually a depressing drama, and he liked that. He thought Channing Tatum stole the show.

As Christy summed it up "I hated everything, he loved everything." Very interesting show. It's on PBS so there are no pesky commercials. The two critics do have good chemistry, and while I bristled at the original announcement of 24-year-old Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, he's instantly more credible than Ben Lyons. I'll give him the same benefit of the doubt I would have hoped others would've given me if I'd gotten the job. Ebert writes for the show, and I gather he'll have guest voices read his essays. This week Werner Herzog read his essay on 1967's My Dog Tulip. They'll also have Classic Film spotlights, and Kim Morgan did it for 1949's The Third Man. I appreciated it but at the time thought "How many people watching this show have not seen The Third Man?" I can't imagine the number is high.

NBC's Harry's Law - TV Review

I could not buy into this David E. Kelley show, and I'd say the main reason was that with every Kelley law show he makes, the lawyer arguments get weaker and weaker. When Kathy Bates makes a closing argument, I groan at what this show is asking me to swallow. Makes the Ally McBeal gang sound like they're arguing before the Supreme Court. I'd rather see Kathy Bates close this shop and do more cameos on The Office. I'm also rooting for Nate Corddry to find the right vehicle. It's not for lack of trying with creative people (be it this or Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip or his occasional contributions to The Daily Show).

2010 Razzies Award Nominations

WORST PICTURE
The Bounty Hunter
The Last Airbender
Sex & the City 2
Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Vampires Suck

WORST ACTOR
Jack Black, Gulliver's Travels
Gerard Butler, The Bounty Hunter
Ashton Kutcher, Killers and Valentine's Day
Taylor Lautner, Twlight Saga: Eclipse and Valentine's Day
Robert Pattinson, Remember Me and Twilight Saga: Eclipse

WORST ACTRESS
Jennifer Aniston, The Bounty Hunter and The Switch
Miley Cyrus, The Last Song
The Four Gal Pals, Sex & the City 2
Megan Fox, Jonah Hex
Kristen Stewart, Twilight Saga: Eclipse

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Billy Ray Cyrus, The Spy Next Door
George Lopez, The Spy Next Door and Valentine's Day
Dev Patel, The Last Airbender
Jackson Rathbone, The Last Airbender and Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Rob Schneider, Grown Ups

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jessica Alba, Little Fockers, Machete and Valentine's Day
Cher, Burlesque
Liza Minelli, Sex & the City 2
Nicola Peltz, The Last Airbender
Barbra Streisand, Little Fockers

WORST DIRECTOR
J. Friedberg & A. Seltzer, Vampires Suck
Michael Patrick King, Sex & the City 2
M. Night Shyamalan, The Last Airbender
David Slade, Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Sylvester Stallone, The Expendables

WORST SCREENPLAY
The Last Airbender
Little Fockers
Sex & the City 2
Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Vampires Suck

WORST EYE-GOUGING MIS-USE OF 3-D
Cats & Dogs 2 3-D
Clash of the Titans 3-D
The Last Airbender 3-D
Nutcracker 3-D
Saw 3-D

WORST SCREEN COUPLE OR ENSEMBLE
Jennifer Aniston & Gerard Butler, The Bounty Hunter
Josh Brolin's face & Megan Fox's accent, Jonah Hex
Everyone, The Last Airbender
Everyone, Sex & the City 2
Everyone, Twilight Saga: Eclipse

WORST PREQUEL, SEQUEL, REMAKE, OR RIP-OFF
Clash of the Titans
The Last Airbender
Sex & the City 2
Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Vampires Suck


I think the Razzies have jumped the shark. Probably jumped it a year or two or three ago. I saw plenty of movies worse than Twilight Saga: Eclipse, but no matter how good or bad Breaking Dawn is, it will be nominated for everything next year. Why? It seems motivated by internet traffic bait. No nomination for Cop Out? Repo Men? When in Rome? Legion? MacGruber? Only one for Grown Ups?

I do applaud the scorn heaped upon Sex & the City 2, anything touched by Friedberg & Seltzer, and the Bad 3-D category. I didn't hate The last Airbender as much as most people, and it may have been because I saw it in 2-D. But I did see Clash in 3-D and it was awful.

Drew McWeeny washes his hands of Kevin Smith

HitFix's Drew McWeeny didn't care for Kevin Smith's Red State and especially didn't care for his distribution stunt after the screening.

Friday's Box Office

Here's the numbers for January 21.

1. No Strings Attached - $7.31 million - 1 day
2. The Green Hornet - $5.1 ($50.44) - 8 days
3. The Dilemma - $3.03 ($26.67) - 8 days
4. The King's Speech - $2.14 ($51.59) - 57 days
5. True Grit - $2.11 ($132.75) - 31 days
6. Black Swan - $1.76 ($79.14) - 50 days
7. Little Fockers - $1.24 ($138.03) - 31 days
8. The Fighter - $1.23 ($69.75) - 43 days
9. Tron Legacy - $.93 ($160.49) - 36 days
10. Yogi Bear - $.74 ($85.57) - 36 days
11. Tangled - $.64 ($183.91) - 59 days
12. Season of the Witch - $.635 ($20.53) - 15 days
13. Country Strong - $.63 ($15.39) - 31 days
14. The Way Back - $.38 - 1 day

The Natalie Portman-Ashton Kutcher sex-buddies comedy looks like it should hit $20 million over the weekend. The Green Hornet's drop is about what's expected, but it's in danger of not hitting the magic $100 million domestic mark.

The Way Back opened on fewer screens but still has a weak per-screen average. The King's Speech, True Grit, Black Swan and The Fighter are all benefitting from Oscar buzz and strong word-of-mouth.

Animal Kingdom - DVD Review

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Starring Ben Mendelsohn, Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton, Luke Ford, Jacki Weaver, James Frecheville and Sullivan Stapleton.
Directed by David Michod.

This Aussie crime thriller stands out by taking the genre and moving things along in ways we don't expect. It's as though the makers wanted to cross Goodfellas with Shotgun Stories. There are characters who brim with menace but manage to keep control, while there are others who seem benign reveal their true colors and capabilities later.

Overall I liked it, but it does suffer from the miscasting of its central character J. As played by newcomer James Frecheville, J is a sulking stiff. Where it needed a young Ray Liotta or Al Pacino at its core, instead we get an actor in over his head. He's surrounded by talanted people who tend to make up for it.

The movie opens with J learning his mother has died from a heroine overdose. He must then go live with his grandmother and three uncles. He knows they make their money from armed robbery, and he knows he needs to keep his mouth shut, but the cops (who have their own corrupt tendencies) are closing in on them.

Jacki Weaver will likely get a Best Supporting Actress nomination for this, and I agree. She bares her teeth late in the movie, but when she does, that pleasant smile we've been seeing has a whole new meaning.

Easy A - DVD Review

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Starring Emma Stone, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Cam Gigandet, Dan Byrd, Lisa Kudrow, Penn Badgeley, Malcolm McDowell and Aly Michalka.
Directed by Will Gluck.

Emma Stone has rendered a Lindsay Lohan comeback unnecessary. Ms. Stone exudes all the charm and nuance Ms. Lohan did in her Freaky Friday/Mean Girls heyday, and yet Ms. Stone seems to have her heads on her shoulders. May Ms. Stone not blow this opportunity.

I've liked Emma since Zombieland, and here she is in her own John Hughes homage of a movie with as solid a defining role that compares favorably to Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, Winona Ryder in Heathers, and Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles.

This movie is very self-aware, to the point there's one too many references to teen cliches, but ultimately it doesn't matter. It's a modern spin on The Scarlet Letter, a book the kids at this high school are studying (and I inwardly cheered each time they bashed the Demi Moore version), when Olive (Emma Stone) decides to do a closeted-gay friend a favor and pretends to have sex with him. He becomes popular and so does she. Soon insecure guys are coming out of the woodwork to ask her to pretend to have sex with them too. This makes Olive the target of scorn from the Christian Caricature Club. I don't remember the group's real name but we only see people this Jesus-freaky when portrayed by Hollywood.

Olive is a great character, but the movie is buoyed by its colorful supporting cast. Among the winners are Stanley Tucci & Patricia Clarkson as Olive's hippie-perfect parents, Thomas Haden Church as the cool teacher, and Malcolm MacDowell as the serious principal.

Eastwood to direct Beyonce

William A. Wellman directed Janet Gaynor in 1937, George Cukor directed Judy Garland in 1954, Frank Pierson directed Barbra Streisand in 1976, and now Clint Eastwood is going to direct Beyonce in A Star Is Born.

I'm assuming this is going to be after he directs Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Judi Dench and Josh Lucas in J. Edgar.

The Last Exorcism - DVD Review

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Starring Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr and Louis Herthem.
Directed by Daniel Stamm.

The faux-documentary style is in danger of being overdone in the horror genre. With Blair Witch, Cloverfield, Quarantine and the Paranormal Activity movies, what else is there? Well, there's the exorcism movie!

This one isn't as well-covered as most as far as feeling like a found-footage experience, but it does lend itself to some decent thrills. It centers on Rev. Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a preacher who realized in private he doesn't really believe in God, but he continues to the preach the word and do "exorcisms" because the money's good and he figures his exorcisms are safer than of the con-men of others. But then he meets a girl who may be in need of a real one.

I really enjoyed the build of this, but then the ending, which I knew was coming but hoping it wasn't, fizzles as a climax.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - DVD Review

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Directed by Ricki Stern & Anne Sundberg.

This follows a year in the life of Joan Rivers. It's the year she was the subject of a Comedy Central roast and won Celebrity Apprentice. She's a living legend. She also has this desperate need to stay in the spotlight. It can be scary.

We first see her without make-up, and she looks nothing like what we know is Joan Rivers. She bravely exposes herself to the filmmakers her insecurities, her hang-ups, everything is laid bare. I watch the scenes from the Comedy Central roast and think how far they've fallen from the Dean Martin-Don Rickles days, but still felt that pang when Greg Giraldo took the mike. We find out one day she's fired her manager of forty years. Why?

This movie illustrates how addictive fame is to some people, and they must always - ALWAYS - find a way to stay in that spotlight, at whatever the cost. I don't think that was the intention of the film, but that's the lesson I learned. It's nice to be anonymous. I'd rather be rich and anonymous, but what can I do?