Current Releases
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED Think of this new film version as instant coffee: If you don’t have time to savor the 300-plus pages of Evelyn Waugh’s 1945 novel or all 11 hours of the 1981 British miniseries, then a quick gulp of this 135-minute adaptation might suffice. Roughly set between the two world wars, the story finds middle-class Brit Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) getting involved with the members of the aristocratic Flyte family. At college, he’s befriended by the rowdy dandy Sebastian (Ben Whishaw), who takes him to his family’s palatial estate, Brideshead. There, Charles meets Sebastian’s sister Julia (Hayley Atwell), and soon he realizes that he’s more comfortable with hetero- rather than homosexual love. Sebastian is heartbroken, while the siblings’ control-freak mother, the devoutly Catholic Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson), doesn’t consider Charles a proper suitor for her daughter, given the fact that he’s an atheist. Even those not familiar with Waugh’s book or the TV show will get the feeling as they watch this movie that something’s missing. Forget about changes from the original text: On its own terms, this often feels rushed and choppy, with relationships unsatisfactorily turning on a dime and director Julian Jarrold failing to provide the piece with enough of a Merchant-Ivory luster to hide any narrative deficiencies (Jarrold’s Jane Austen yarn, Becoming Jane, was similarly agreeable yet equally uninspired). But the meat-and-potatoes portion of Waugh’s work – the role of religion in a person’s life – remains intact, leading to weighty conflicts rarely seen in modern movies. This focus alone makes the material worth revisiting. **1/2
THE DARK KNIGHT Given the fact that Christopher Nolan’s 2005 Batman Begins ranks as one of the best superhero flicks ever made, then where does that put this sequel that manages to be even more phenomenal than its predecessor? Certainly, it places it somewhere at the head of the class, and there’s a nice symmetry to its release date: After all, it was 30 years ago that the Christopher Reeve version of Superman – still the greatest of all comic book adaptations – was released, and now we have its equal on the other side of the aisle, a superhero saga that’s as dark and deep as its forefather was cheery and colorful. In fact, this might be the first superhero movie that exudes a palpable sense of dread and menace that tugs at our nerves in a way that both disturbs and delights us. Even in superior entertainment like Spider-Man and Iron Man, there’s a feeling that it’s all make-believe, but The Dark Knight offers no such safety net – it wears its danger on its sleeve. In this outing, Batman (Christian Bale) has done a fine job of tightening the reins around the mob bosses who have long controlled Gotham City, and he’s soon aided in his efforts by idealistic district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). But their combined attempts to corral the city’s crooks are hampered by the presence of a murderous psychopath known as The Joker (Heath Ledger). Eckhart stands out in what proves to be the picture’s most fully realized characterization, though we all know who’s the MVP of this particular show: The late Ledger is simply mesmerizing as this whirling dervish of cackling, lip-smacking, cheek-sucking sin. ****
HANCOCK The idea behind Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” can be applied to this sci-fi outing that, somewhat surprisingly, ends up taking the path “less traveled by.” Yet equally surprising is the fact that this enjoyable film would have been even better had it played out as expected. The premise is irresistible: Hancock (Will Smith) is an alcoholic, antisocial superhero whose crimefighting exploits usually end up causing millions of dollars in damage to the city of Los Angeles. The residents have had enough of him, and the police even have a warrant out for his arrest. Hancock couldn’t care less until PR guy Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), despite protests from his wife (Charlize Theron), decides he’s going to help Hancock overhaul his public image by transforming him from a menace to society into a hero worthy of respect. The first half sprints with this plotline, resulting in a movie that’s consistently funny and inventive – even the typically heavy-handed direction by Peter Berg (The Kingdom) can’t dilute the fun. But without warning, scripters Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan orchestrate a major plot pirouette, one that dramatically changes the relationships between the characters and allows a sharp satire to mutate into (in no order) a melodrama, a romance, a tragedy, and a myth-building muddle. No movie should survive such a clumsy shift, and yet this manages to get back on its feet, thanks in no small part to the conviction that Smith and Theron bring to their roles. Audience members willing to hop aboard this emotional roller coaster ride will respond to the resultant pathos far better than viewers wondering why the laughs suddenly went MIA. **1/2
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY While this sequel to the 2004 feature doesn’t lack for visual wonders, it’s utterly clumsy in the storytelling department, a genuine shock given writer-director Guillermo del Toro’s usual ability to spin a tall tale. Here, Hellboy (Ron Perlman), the satanic emissary who fights on the side of right, must face off against an albinotic, ancient leader (Luke Goss) who hopes to revive an army of lumbering brutes to destroy humankind. Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) is clearly most content when he’s frolicking with freaks, but his obsession comes at a high price. The original Hellboy wasn’t anything special, either, but at least the predicament of its red-hued hero carried some dramatic heft, particularly in the way his feeble wisecracks masked the painful ache in his soul, a loneliness that could only be cured by the love of another mutant, the pyrokinetic Liz (Selma Blair). The misfit romance between Hellboy and Liz was arguably the best part of the original flick, yet del Toro miscalculates this time around by moving the pair too quickly to the status of bickering, boring lovers. For all its cool critter content, this is surprisingly snooze-inducing when it comes to its storyline and even its central characters; there’s an aloofness to the whole enterprise that’s atypical for the director, suggesting that maybe his mind was already racing ahead to future projects. Then again, with The Hobbit on his plate, that was probably to be expected. **
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH Ever since the 3-D process first appeared in cinema in 1952’s Bwana Devil (advertised with the tagline, “A lion in your lap! A lover in your arms!”), filmmakers have attempted to turn this innovative technique into more than just a fad that appears at regular intervals over the years. The pictures have been both good (1953’s Vincent Price chiller House of Wax) and bad (the 1980s’ Jaws 3-D and Friday the 13th Part III), but it wasn’t until last year’s Beowulf that the technology was finally perfected. Seeking to build upon Beowulf‘s breakthrough, Journey to the Center of the Earth takes the 3-D ball and runs with it. In presenting this tale of a scientist (Brendan Fraser) who discovers that Jules Verne’s classic novel is more fact than fiction and subsequently travels beneath the surface with his surly nephew (Josh Hutcherson) and their hottie guide (Anita Briem) in tow, the filmmakers throw everything but a three-dimensional kitchen sink at us: a dinosaur’s snapping jaws, prehistoric piranhas’ pointy teeth, oversized Venus flytraps, bouncing balls, a protruding tape measure, even spittle. It’s all rather nifty, but the problem is that the majority of theaters are not showing the picture in 3-D (most multiplexes don’t have the capability yet). And whereas House of Wax and Beowulf remain entertaining yarns when watched in the normal, flat format, this Journey is so insipid that it’d be a chore trying to sit through the simple-minded narrative without the added incentive. As for Fraser’s overacting, he’s such a ham that his eyes pop out of the screen even more menacingly than those sharp dinosaur choppers. **
KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL For its first two-thirds, this motion picture, based on the both the popular doll line and the equally successful book series, emerges as one of the season’s most unexpected delights, precisely because what could have been a rehash of last summer’s painful Nancy Drew adaptation instead registers as a mature and intelligent drama – in this case, the G rating stands for Grown-ups as much as it stands for General Audiences. It’s just a shame that the movie loses its bearings and turns into a Home Alone clone during the final stretch. The film is set in Cincinnati during the height of the Great Depression, and preteen Kit (Abigail Breslin) watches as her father (Chris O’Donnell) has to move away to Chicago to look for work and her mother (Julia Ormond) is forced to rent out rooms to boarders. Still, kids will be kids, and although she has to take on more than her share of adult responsibilities, Kit also finds time to dream about becoming a published writer and manages to make some new friends. The various plights of the Kittredges, their struggling neighbors, and members of the hobo community add a bracing topicality to the piece: As wealthy conservatives untouched by the Depression rail against (and refuse to help) everyone who’s been financially decimated, it’s hard not to view this community as a microcosm of today’s United States of America. The weighty themes remain throughout the picture, though they end up taking a back seat to the buffoonish antics of Joan Cusack (as a clumsy librarian) and a tepid subplot involving a string of burglaries. ***
MAMMA MIA! Meryl Streep fans and ABBA fans can at least count on those two components firing on all cylinders in this adaptation of the Broadway smash. Everyone else, though, may be forced to rummage through the debris that constitutes the rest of the picture to find anything worth salvaging. Streep is aptly cast as Donna, a former singer raising her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) at her hotel on a Greek island. Sophie’s about to marry hunky Sky (dull Dominic Cooper), but first she’s determined to learn the identity of her father. The candidates are suave Sam (Pierce Brosnan), uptight Harry (Colin Firth) and rascally Bill (Stellan Skarsgard), and as long as the actors essaying the roles stick to walking and talking, they’re fun to watch. But whenever one of them is called upon to sing, be prepared to duck and cover as their aural ineptitude bombards our eardrums (Brosnan especially looks physically pained choking out the lyrics, as if he’s being subjected to a prostate exam just outside of the camera’s eye). There’s no reason this couldn’t contain all the effulgence and expertise of other musical adaptations like Hairspray and Chicago, but stage director Phyllida Lloyd appears to be so blissfully ignorant of the dynamics of moviemaking that, aside from the songs themselves, there’s little joy to be found in the musical numbers. The clumsy camerawork, editing and staging all diminish rather than enhance the perceived showstoppers, and the choreography ranks among the most dreadful I’ve ever witnessed in a big-budget musical. All of this adds up to produce the biggest disappointment of the summer movie season. **
MEET DAVE How many times have we moaned about how “all the best parts were shown in the trailer”? Meet Dave takes the opposite stance: Based on the preview, this vehicle for Eddie Murphy looked as if it would compete with The Love Guru in the sheer awfulness department. And make no mistake: What’s presented is still pretty bad. But compared to Mike Myers’ toxic effort, this almost comes off as Annie Hall by comparison. What the trailer doesn’t convey is that Murphy actually delivers a sharp comic performance as Dave, a human-shaped-and-sized spaceship powered by the tiny aliens within. He also plays the diminutive captain of the spacecraft, but he isn’t especially memorable in this dry role, spending much of the time alternately wooing a fellow shipmate (Gabrielle Union) and a friendly Earthwoman (Elizabeth Banks), as well as slowly learning that our planet and its inhabitants are capable of offering compassion and beauty and great movies like It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s Murphy’s work as the walking, talking spaceship that’s inspired, as the character amusingly reacts to the surplus of confusing information flooding his system (as when Banks’ Gina announces that they’re eating meatloaf for dinner and the ship’s computer brings up images of the burly rocker). Unfortunately, Murphy far outshines the material, which mixes the usual bodily-function gags with the usual last-minute sanctimonious pleas for compassion and open-mindedness. *1/2
WALL-E This animated effort from Pixar is a treat for the young and old alike, although it might end up endearing itself even more to adults than to kids. And it’s not just because grown-ups will enjoy the usual asides tossed their way (e.g. a witty reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey; Alien star Sigourney Weaver providing the voice of a ship’s computer); it’s also because the plot itself will speak to them in a way that it can’t to humans who still don’t possess all their permanent teeth. For ultimately WALL-E is about nothing less than one of the tenets of human existence: the need to find a partner with whom to share life’s experiences. Of course, the switch here is that it’s a robot, not a human, who’s in need of companionship. WALL-E is the last of his type, a Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class robot who rumbles around a deserted Earth, as all humans have long since abandoned the polluted planet to take up residence in a gargantuan spaceship called the Axiom. (Yes, it’s a pro-environment cartoon, and it’s no accident that our planet’s Public Enemy #1, George W. Bush, is referenced via a CEO urging others to “stay the course.”) When a sleek robot named EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) is dropped off on the planet to search for signs that it might be inhabitable again, WALL-E pursues her like a dog in heat, and once she’s ferried back to the Axiom, our intrepid little Romeo determines not to let her get away. I won’t reveal any of the action that takes place on the spaceship, but rest assured that the movie retains its comic invention while adding slight degrees of action and menace. And who knew that romance between robots could be so affecting? ***1/2
WANTED Action films are by definition loud and chaotic, but here’s one so hyperactive, it makes titles like Live Free or Die Hard and The Bourne Ultimatum seem as staid as Atonement by comparison. Based on the graphic novel series, Wanted initially feels like an unofficial remake of Fight Club, as cubicle nobody Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy, speaking of Atonement) narrates how he’s been beaten down by his mundane, miserable existence (cheating girlfriend, obnoxious boss, dead-end job). Into his life walks not Tyler Durden but Fox (Angelina Jolie), a tattooed beauty who insists that he’s been targeted for elimination by the same man (Thomas Kretschmann) who recently killed his father. Fox soon introduces Wesley to The Fraternity, a clandestine outfit made up entirely of assassins and led by the cordial Sloan (Morgan Freeman). Shucking aside any moral qualms rather quickly, Wesley joins the group, in the process learning that he possesses untapped skills that make him a natural for this line of work. Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, best known for the visually striking yet dramatically inert Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch) and its sequels, has crafted a slam-bang feature that revels in its own ridiculousness: To criticize the movie’s outlandish situations would be to miss the whole point of Bekmambetiv’s exercise in excess. Still, the script’s twists and turns aren’t nearly as clever as writers Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Chris Morgan pretend (the secret involving Wesley’s dad is pretty transparent), and after a while, the movie’s gleeful approach to nihilism proves wearying. **1/2
THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE Perhaps they should have called it X and the City. Given the $150 million haul of Sex and the City, the makers of this X-Files flick doubtless hope that their adaptation of a TV series will meet with a similar fate. It won’t, but that’s not to say that this is a washout. Although much of the film quickly faded from my mind (hardly a ringing endorsement, I’ll grant), what remains is how it manages to resurrect the eerie aura that marinated the series during its nine-year run. Newbies, be warned: Despite creator Chris Carter’s claims that the movie functions as a stand-alone feature and no knowledge of the show is required, that’s far from the truth. Former FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), now going through life as, respectively, a recluse and a physician, occasionally mention that they’re still haunted by memories of Mulder’s deceased sister and Scully’s deceased child, but as I (a casual viewer, admittedly) couldn’t recall any details as to how the series wrapped up those plotlines, virginal moviegoers will have even less of a clue what these people are yammering about. Where the film works is in sustaining the proper mood: In this typical summer of blockbuster bombast, Carter has dared to remain true to the series’ low-key approach, accentuating shadowy menaces and maintaining the proper friction between Mulder’s desire to believe in the supernatural and Scully’s need to remain grounded in the real world. Carter has taken great pains to insure that plot details remain a secret, so let’s just say that it’s great to see these two characters (and actors) together again. **1/2
OPENS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6:
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS: Seth Rogen, James Franco.
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2: America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn.
OPENS FRIDAY, AUGUST 8:
MY WINNIPEG: Darcy Fehr, Ann Savage.
ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED: Roman Polanski, Samantha Geimer.
This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2008.
