Tag: movies

MOVIE REVIEW: The Switch

Part of my enjoyment of The switch is the relationship between Bateman and…

Carol and Lydia went to the Poconos with Carol’s parents, one of her brothers, his wife, and their twin daughters a couple of Saturdays ago. Carol came back on Wednesday because she had to work on Thursday, but Lydia stayed. So Friday night, we felt almost obliged to see a movie. For one thing, it wouldn’t cost anything for a babysitter. For another, said babysitter is getting married in two weeks, so she might not be available for a while.

So what to see?

Scott Pilgrim is at the mall that I dislike, and it’s supposed to move to the local theater soon. Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky I knew nothing about, Winter’s Bone seemed too intense for date night, and Inception started too early, and Dinner for Schmucks too late. It came down to Eat Pray Love, and The Switch, and since the latter not only reviewed better (52% positive vs. 38% on Rotten Tomatoes) but was also considerably shorter, we went with that.

Remember the wisecracking friend of the Meg Ryan character in Sleepless in Seattle? That role here is played by Juliette Lewis. Or the Mark Feuerstein function, playing the confidant to Mel Gibson in What Women Want, now provided by Jeff Goldblum. Or the whole “friend zone” thing, which is the entire premise of When Harry Met Sally; Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston reprise Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan (again). Plus a character in most romcoms for whom one says, quoting Joe Jackson, “Is she really going out with HIM?”

Add to this the Big Unsustainable Lie that has fueled sitcms from I Love Lucy to Frasier to The Office. Actually, LIES, one of which you can discern by merely reading the summary of the film, and without which there is no story at all.

Yet, oddly, we mostly enjoyed the film. Part of it is that relationship between Bateman and…Goldblum, whose interactions are among the funniest in the film. I also loved the chemistry between Bateman and Thomas Robinson, who plays the little boy who is NOT immediately adorable like that kid in Sleepless in Seattle, but who I related to at some level.

So if you have NEVER seen a romantic comedy, you’ll probably like this one. But if you have seen a few, you may appreciate the fact that the acting, especially of Bateman, plus some touching moments, salvages the often by-the-numbers script.

Oh, and I’ll never think of ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, thanked in the end credits, quite the same way again.

MOVIE REVIEW: Charlie St. Cloud

I’m willing to believe almost any near-death experience, but seriously hope that they don’t drag on like this.


Based on a positive review in the local paper by Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Wife and I decided to go to see the new movie Charlie St. Cloud at the Madison Theatre, in walking distance of our house, last week. Right before we left, I discovered that LaSalle’s opinion was the minority one among critics. Still, I wanted to give the movie a chance. Also, I had never seen Zac Efron, star of the High School Musical series, in any film.

Here are the good things: the movie STARTS with the big race. Efron shows signs of being a charismatic actor. And the Canadian Southwest, standing in for the American Northwest, is kind of pretty, as is Efron.

Here are the not-so-good things: if you saw the trailer, or even know the title of the 2004 source material, you pretty much know everything there is to know about this movie. Yet, at 1:47, it seems to run interminably long. I think that the basic premise, finding a way to move on after tragedy, is a good, solid lesson. And if this were a 1:30 Lifetime movie, including commercials, it might even have been more worthwhile.

It also has a reverse Sixth Sense feel, which some critics found objectionable but I did not; I’m willing to believe almost any near-death experience, but seriously hope that they don’t drag on like this. Though predictable, I enjoyed the penultimate scene and Ray Liotta as the wise man.

This may play better with the target demographic, though this $44 million film released on July 30 is not close to making back its production costs, as of this writing.

Some day, in a few years, you may be flipping through the channels on your TV and come across Charlie St. Cloud. You’ll probably watch it for a while before pulling out the remote. It’s that kind of movie; not truly awful, just a bit bland.
***
I was sorry to see how poorly Scott Pilgrim did at the box office, despite mostly solid reviews. Makes me want to go see it even more before it totally disappears from the cinemas.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Kids Are All Right

Metroland critic Laura Leon: “These are the kind of real-life stories that everybody deals with…”


After my wife and I had our almost weekly summer date and saw the movie The Kids Are All Right, she noted that it was, in many ways, a very conventional, slice-of-life, film about the travails of family life. And I realized, that, at the core, she was absolutely right.

It’s a story about a long-time committed couple. They deal with the universal rigors of relationship, which was described as a marathon, not a sprint. It also involves their teenage kids, a girl just turning 18, and a boy, 15, dealing with sexuality, bullying, alcohol, and identity, just like many people.

OK, so not every movie involves a lesbian couple who were each artificially inseminated by an anonymous donor, who becomes less than anonymous when the boy gets the girl to find out who their common father is. And gay men’s porn is not always a family talking point.

What makes this an intriguing story was the script and direction of Lisa Cholodenko, creator of High Art and Laurel Canyon. Like those two films, as film critic Mick LaSalle noted, features “somebody from a world a little less structured who seduces someone from a world a little more regimented.”

The film is also blessed by the casting of Annette Bening, as a Type A doctor, and Julianne Moore, as her more bohemian partner. Their “unexotic, unglamorous and totally routine” lives are upended by the bio-dad (Mark Ruffalo); how (and why) he changes the family dynamic is an important part of the tale. A few critics carped that, in the end, conventionality, of a sort, is restored, but I think that’s the point.

If you’re looking for non-stop, wall-to-wall action, do not see this film. But if you want to see an interesting look at basic truths of family dynamics, check this out. As Metroland critic Laura Leon put it: “It’s kind of ironic that, finally, a movie about how long-term relationships change and transform over time—in short, what happens to just about everybody—has come out and it’s very wonderful…these are the kind of real-life stories that everybody deals with, and why aren’t we seeing more of them, instead of Clash of the Cyborg Mutants in 3D, in cinemas?”

The movie trailer.
***

The only downside to the movie: no music by the Who.

MOVIE REVIEW: Ramona and Beezus

pleasant, sincere, likable, wholesome


I knew it would happen eventually: I take the daughter to a movie that doesn’t scare her (cf. Princess and the Frog, Despicable Me) or totally bore me (Alvin and the Chipmunks 2).

Ramona and Beezus is a story based on Beverly Cleary’s apparently popular children’s book series, which I had never heard of; obviously, I live in a cultural desert. Ramona Quimby (Joey King) is a nine-year-old middle child, stuck between her beautiful high sister Beatrice, who baby Ramona had dubbed Beezus (Selena Gomez – Wizards of Waverly Place), and the new baby.

Ramona, her rambunctious, free-spirited imagination on high, doesn’t know how to draw inside the lines. This is alternately interesting and frustrating to Beezus and to the parents, Robert (John Corbett – everything from Northern Exposure to My Big Fat Greek Wedding to Sex and the City) and Dorothy (Bridget Moynahan – Six Degrees). Ramona does have an ally in her Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin – Ed, Big Love), who relates to being the younger sister. Bea is horrified to learn that Hobart (Josh Duhamel – Transformers) the boy who broke her heart in high school is back in town, and Bea and Ramona agree to keep Hobart at arm’s length.

Meanwhile, in school, Ramona cannot be bothered with traditional rules, such as spelling, much to the consternation of her teacher, Mrs. Meacham (Sandra Oh – Grey’s Anatomy, Sideways).

There’s a family crisis and Ramona is asked to step up, and she really tries, but her efforts go a bit haywire. In this context, I particularly enjoyed the evolving relationship between the two title characters, and between Ramona and her dad.

Describing more would fall into spoiler territory. Suffice to say, these are the words I would use to describe the film: pleasant, sincere, likable, wholesome. This sounds like being damned with faint praise, but it is not meant to be. I enjoyed it, and I don’t regret having seen it. Don’t necessarily need to see it again, but I’m not the target audience.

The movie received a 73% positive rating, as of this writing in Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s the official site for the film.

Movie Review: Salt

Oh, look, there’s the building I used to work in! Did they manually change the highway signs or did they just correct them digitally?

I’ve been known to be a self-confessed art-house snob when it comes to movies. Interestingly, our local art house, the Spectrum Theatre, was showing Salt, the new Angelina Jolie movie that was filmed, in part, in Albany, NY, rerouting traffic for a few weeks last summer.

Let me state from the start that Salt isn’t the type of movie the wife and I tend to see. We’ve never viewed any of the Jason Bourne movies, for example. When you see a lot of a certain genre of movie (or listen to a certain genre of music), it develops one’s critical eye (or ear). Still, Salt is what we decided to see on Monday night date night.

I thought, after an intense flashback scene, the beginning of the movie was slow, giving a lot of exposition; I never felt that way again. Salt was an adrenaline rush of action and tension from about 12 minutes in until the end. About 3/4 of the way through, my wife whispered, “I’m exhausted,” and I knew just what she meant.

This is one of those Cold War dramas that seemed farfetched until the recent Russian spy scandal in real life; the difference is that this group is far more competent, insulating themselves even in the halls of government.

I started reading the reviews: “bombastic, bells-and-whistles spectacular” – check; “ludicrous but somehow credible spy thriller” – check; “As she tries to find her husband, and perhaps assassinate the Russian president, she’s not quite sure who or what she is. And neither are we. Which is precisely why the whole thing works” – check; “How many times have we seen Cruise or Harrison Ford or Bruce Willis evade pursuers or when the need arises, disable them? The sex change makes what transpires feel fresh — and unpredictable.” – double-check. Anyone who has seen Die Hard or Mission: Impossible, and I have, has seen some of these tricks before, but somehow this (mostly) worked for me.

Perhaps it’s the star power that is Angelina Jolie. Though I don’t believe I’d seen her in anything since Girl, Interrupted in 1999, she turned out to be perfect for this role; she has…PRESENCE.

The one thing that took me out of the movie – but it’s OK – is probably the thing that I came to see: the highways around Albany, during the absurdly entertaining chase scene. Oh, look, there’s the building I used to work in! I recognize the Environmental Conservation building! Did they manually change the highway signs or did they just correct them digitally? The skyline looked pretty good!

If you see a lot of this genre of movie, you may feel it’s all rehashed plotlines, but we were glad to see it. If you live or lived around Albany, you must see it, if not in theaters, then certainly when it comes out on DVD, just for the ah-ha feeling you’ll have. Though if you wait for the Albany mention during the end credits, you’ll be disappointed.

Other movies using In Paradisum from Requiem, Op. 48 by Faure, in addition to Salt.

Roger Ebert’s positive review

 

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