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Capsule Movie Reviews Vol.2013.2

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<dl dt_class="field"> Tangled (2010) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398286/">5/10</a> Disney's take on the story of Rapunzel, done in modern, 3d-animated style. The characters are unsurprising: there's a beautiful virginal girl who sings, a young handsome rogue who sings and an evil old witch. The story is only tangentially related to the original Grimm's fairy tale: in the original, the witch was initially the wronged party; in the Disney version, there's no gray area and the witch is evil from the start. There were no real star voices and only a handful of characters and it was basically a cookie-cutter Disney princess story. The horse Maximus was fun, but watch <i>The Emperor's New Groove</i> instead. Brewster's Millions (1985) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088850/">6/10</a> Richard Pryor stars as a minor-league baseball pitcher whose uncle leaves him a $300 million fortune. In order to get it, though, he must first spend $30 million in a single month and isn't allowed to tell anyone about the conditions of the will. He manages to blow most of his money when he eventually hits on the idea of running for mayor. John Candy is looking young and relatively thin, playing his usual jovial sidekick. Hop (2011) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1411704/">4/10</a> A mixed real-life/3d-animated movie about the up-and-coming Easter Bunny, voiced by Russell Brand. The current Easter Bunny (his dad) is voiced by Hugh Laurie. Brand is OK, but the script wastes Laurie. The real-life characters are a mixed bag of mostly unknowns---people will probably recognize Kaley Cuoco as Penny from <i>The Big Bang Theory</i> and James Marsden as Cyclops from the <i>X-Men</i> franchise. The new easter bunny doesn't want to be tied down and wants to be a drummer while his new best friend---Fred O'Hare (GET IT?)---is desperate for a job with meaning. It's a match made in crappy holiday-movie heaven. Even the sidekick and animated cameo characters weren't very good. Not recommended. Syriana (2005) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365737/">9/10</a> George Clooney and Matt Damon star in this film about the cynical manipulation of the fictitious and resource-rich Middle Eastern country of Syriana. Damon plays a liaison from a powerful oil company; Clooney plays a CIA operative sick of what he sees and who he works for. Despite the best efforts of Damon and Clooney---each working in their own way---it all ends badly, mirroring the fall of Iran's socialist president Mosaddegh in 1953. It's a gritty film that mirrors reality better than many others in its genre. Recommended. Saw it in German. The Rum Diary (2011) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376136/">6/10</a> Johnny Depp stars as Hunter S. Thompson in a drug- and alcohol-fueled visit to Puerto Rico in search of a story. He's trying to find himself as a writer and the first opportunity he gets is to help some developers tart up their brochure to sell off an idyllic smaller island from under the feet of the natives, planting huge hotels everywhere---much as had already happened to the main, larger island of Puerto Rico. Giovanni Ribisi is excellent as an utterly stoned fellow reporter as is Michael Rispoli, whose capacity for ingesting rum borders on the mythic. Aaron Eckhart is decent as the sleazy leader of the development project and Amber Heard is eye candy. Plans are made, broken, re-formed; rum is drunk in prodigious quantities; the machine is raged against. Drags in some places, but overall not bad. Bad Teacher (2011) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1284575/">6/10</a> Cameron Diaz plays the eponymous role, backed up by Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel and Lucy Punch (who plays quite well as the overly medicated Ms. Squirrel). At first it seems like standard fare, but some of the dialogue and scenes put it well into black-comedy territory, making it more enjoyable in my view. Surprisingly, Segel is a cool, self-assured guy and plays that role well---a welcome relief from the insecure whiners he has played of late. Diaz is much better than in other roles I've seen her in, though that's not saying much. She nailed the crudeness and didn't shrink from utterly awful language and deplorable behavior. She kind of reminded me of Charlize Theron's Mavis from <i>Young Adult</i> (which was much darker overall, but not better). Good Hair (2009) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213585/">7/10</a> A documentary about the hair-styling industry with a primary focus on black women's hair: straightening products, weaves, etc. How much does this cost? Where do people get the money? Where does the hair come from? (India, mostly, where people regularly shave their heads as part of a religious ceremony. Unsurprisingly, these people offer their hair up to God, whose representatives immediately turn around and sell it to Europe and the States at a huge profit.) It discusses many issues surrounding the focus on straight hair as well as the high-maintenance consequences of it. A lot of people spend money they don't have on their hair, into which they bind a lot of their self-worth. Lots of interviews with prominent black actors and music stars, like Eve, Ice-T, Al Sharpton and others. Recommended. The Proposal (2009) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1041829/">6/10</a> Sandra Bullock plays against character, starting the film as a flat-out arrogant take-no-prisoners boss from hell, seemingly modeled after Meryl Streep in <i>The Devil Wears Prada</i> who was, in turn, modeled after the real-life Anna Wintour. This character, balanced against the expectation of niceness that she's built up over dozens of other roles was jarring, but in an effective and good way. Ryan Reynolds play her assistant, willing to toady for years in order to get a shot at an editing position of his own. She's Canadian, her visa's expired and she strong-arms him into marrying her by threatening to torpedo his career. The INS sniffs something foul on the wind and they head off to his ancestral home, where it turns out that his family is wealthy well beyond comfort and well into prodigal-son/eldest-scion territory. How convenient that their predicament should be at least buoyed by not having to worry about money whatsoever. Hijinks ensue, boats are driven, Massachusetts stands in for Alaska (where the film purportedly takes place) and the film is tied up into the expected knot at the end with the tying of the knot. Wheee! Despite my derision, it's an entertaining movie for what it is, and is helped along by Reynolds, Bullock and Mary Steenbergen. Fanboys (2009) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489049/">5/10</a> Jay Baruchel and Kristen Bell are the two that most people will know from this movie about a group of lifelong friends who are also the greatest Star Wars fans ever. I also recognized Dan Fogler, who I'd seen in <i>Balls of Fury</i> (Fanboys was about on the same level ... the level of a movies about about a ping-pong tournament to the death with Christopher Walken as an evil, campily overdressed mandarin). Anyway, this one's about a cross-country drive to the Skywalker Ranch to sneak a peek at <i>The Phantom Menace</i> before its official release. There are a bunch of sub-plots and they're not unexpected. There are funny moments, but they're few and far between. Seth Rogen plays a few bit roles and he's not bad. Joe Rogan Live at the Tabernacle (2012) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2584582/">5/10</a> A stand-up comedy show by the notorious host of <i>The Fear Factor</i> and a celebrated Internet podcast. There were some good bits but overall he seemed to be trying too hard and it was a bit too obvious that he was tired or high or otherwise impaired. He tripped over some words when his words came too quickly and it's hard to imagine him as that nervous. He's a father now so he moved into Robin Williams territory but was more extreme about it, not always to good effect. He's at his best when he's more philosophical---as he often was in his 2006 special, which was much better (IMHO)---but those moments were rare in this show. I laughed less than I expected to: my recommendation is to find his older stuff. James and the Giant Peach (1996) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116683/">5/10</a> An orphaned boy living with two deliciously horrible aunts---Spiker and Sponge---retreats into his imagination to visit New York City with bugs in an apple. But first he had to sing. Lisping all the way. The film was produced by Tim Burton and the long animated sequences---around which the live-action parts were bookended---were very much in his style, even if the film was directed by Henry Selick. The movie is based on a Roald Dahl story and the darkness of his work shines through in several places, in particular in the evil and surreal mechanical shark that tracks them across the ocean. All in all, though, I can't recommend it for adults. Safe House (2012) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1599348/">6/10</a> Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington star as CIA agents. Reynolds is the young guy just starting to work his way up the corporate ladder whereas Washington plays an agent who went rogue a decade ago and who finally turned himself in. Brendan Gleeson plays another CIA agent, masking his Irish accent almost completely. The fight scenes are decent, much more professional and terse than other films, where participants seem to have superhuman powers. The story is decent though not surprising in any way, with Denzel Washington's natural coolness adding a lot to patch the holes. The biggest deficit in the film was that it was shot almost exclusively with a shaky-cam. What a tragedy, really. It was unbelievably annoying and ruined what would otherwise have been a well-paced film. Cinema historians of the future will be mystified as to why, when people finally got their hands on HD-quality distribution channels, they started deliberately ruining movies by shooting it like the director was withdrawing from heroin. Brave (2012) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1217209/">6/10</a> Merida is a princess---what else?---who just wants to live her own life and grow up to be what she wants to be and to not be told what to do by meddling parents who don't understand. She's a child of her generation, explicitly accepting no responsibility and whining constantly about the unfairness of having to grow up a princess. Because that's really the hardest life imaginable, isn't it? Anyway, class issues aside---why are so many, many mainstream movies about the problems of the either ridiculously rich or at least more-than-securely well-off?---the story is at least somewhat new and interesting enough, but it's a Pixar movie, so it's the graphics that absolutely shine. Merida's hair is exquisitely rendered and mesmerizing. The pity is that, in order to emphasize it, a lot of the film is quite dark, even dreary at times. The nature scenes are lovely as well and offer a welcome respite from the suburbia of the <i>Toy Story</i> movies; for graphics geeks, the scenes at and in the river are spellbinding. There are fewer funny flourishes than in other films and the stink of Disney is upon this one, as it's more middle-of-the-road and less subversively funny or interesting for adults than other Pixar movies. It's nice to look at, but don't expect the humor of <i>The Incredibles</i> or the implicit social commentary of <i>Wall-E</i>. Tropic Thunder (2008) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0942385/">7/10</a> A movie about making a movie with a great comic cast---Ben Stiller as an action-movie star who made one attempt at a dramatic role as Simple Jack, a retarded farmhand, Jack Black as a comedian with a rocketing career, a huge drug problem and a lot of fart-based movies behind him, Robert Downey Jr. as an Australian method actor who dyes his skin black for his role and Jay Baruchel as an actor happy to even be in their company. They're in Vietnam to film a huge action movie when shit gets real. The film goes downhill when the director (Steve Coogan) gets the idea to stick his prima donnas in the jungle in order to shock them into pulling together. They end up having to make their way through real jungle and encounter armies of drug dealers. Tom Cruise plays an absolutely insane and brutal film producer like you've never seen him before (it's kind of a precursor for his work as Stacey Jax in <i>Rock of Ages</i>). Danny McBride and Nick Nolte as explosives experts, Matthew McConaughey was an agent, Steve Coogan as the director and Bill Hader as Cruise's assistant round out the hilarious cast. Saw it in German. Smokey and the Bandit (1977) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076729/">6/10</a> Burt Reynolds in the classic movie about driving a Trans-Am really, really quickly. They regularly cruise along at 110MPH. Even more impressive is Jerry Reed as Cletus, who does almost everything the Bandit does, but in a semi tractor trailer. Their mission is to drive 1800 miles in 28 hours to deliver 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana, Texas to Georgia. Jackie Gleason is Sheriff Buford T. Justice, a racist, arrogant and utterly incompetent Texas Sheriff who makes it his goal in life to catch the Bandit. Needless to say, he does not. Sally Field shows up midway through as a runaway hitchhiking showgirl bride. Bill Cunningham New York (2010) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1621444/">8/10</a> A documentary about Bill Cunningham, a photographer for the NY Times. He's now over 80 but has been working there for decades, rides his bike to work ever day, still shoots film and shoots only on the street, following his nose to determine what common people think the next style will be. He's ridiculously well-known and -loved in his hometown New York, but also in Paris. He lives in an apartment with dozens of filing cabinets full of photos, a small bed---and no closet, bathroom or kitchen. A fascinating character and interesting documentary. Hamlet 2 (2008) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1104733/">7/10</a> Steve Coogan stars as an unsuccessful actor who heads up the theater department of a Tucson high school. His program is small and largely ignored by the school---until it becomes seen as a dumping ground for otherwise difficult students which the school can no longer afford to keep in other programs. Soon thereafter, the theater program is also cut and will close down at the end of the year. Coogan consults with his nemesis---a student theater reviewer---and decides to go for broke by staging an over-the-top insane and all-around offensive one-night-only event: his own script for a sequel to Hamlet. The staging does not disappoint. An uneven film but mildly rewarding if you hang on to the end. Men In Black 3 (2012) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1409024/">8/10</a> Starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as agents J and K and introducing Josh Brolin as the younger agent K in a rather clever, science-fiction, time-travel story with a good deal less over-the-top weaponry and more 1960s period sets. Michael Stuhlbarg played very well as an Arkadian who can see the multiplicity of possibilities of the multiverse simultaneously and seemingly at will. Jemaine Clement (of the Flying Concords) plays Boris the Animal, a savage member of a savage alien race with a seriously interesting skin condition and shape-shifting capability. Josh Brolin positively nails Jones's vocal rhythm, tone and cadence as well as granite facial expression(s). The story ends on a very satisfactory note. Arguably the best of all three movies---no small feat for a sequel. The Trip (2010) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740047/">7/10</a> A film about a road trip featuring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. It was at times funny, at times poignant and at times boring. Coogan takes a bit of getting used to---he's not very traditionally sympathetic, sort of an English Larry David is perhaps the best way I can think of to describe him. He and Brydon take turns taking shots at each other---like guys do---and Brydon can't stop doing the voices for which he's so famous on the BBC. Coogan tries to correct him at his own game and entire scenes play out with them trading off Michael Caine and Woody Allen impressions. If the movie's about anything, it's the loneliness of modern life. It's about how even the most famous of people grasp for meaning and find no solace in even modest success. </dl>