AMOUR (2012)

Rated : PG-13

Stars: Jean-Louis Tritignant,  Emmanuelle Riva,  Isabelle Huppert
Director: Michael Haneke
Genre:  Art House/Drama



The enduring image I will always have of Jean-Louis Tritignant is that of the race car driver in  the superb 1966 film,  A Man And A Woman . So there's a disconcerting aspect to seeing him onscreen today as an Octogenarian (which he is) in Amour,  the Oscar nominated drama from director Michael Haneke. 

Time happens.

And as Time (that old gypsy man) drags us kicking and screaming down this one-way street,  most of  those who do not meet a premature death will eventually end up like the Parisian couple Georges (Tritignant) and Anne, (Emmanuelle Riva) in this movie. That's stark realism, man. And that's what Amour deals us. It's a stiff dose of here's-your-worst-nightmare-only-it's-real--that thing we never signed up for...old age and decrepitude.    

Georges and Emmanuelle are conversing inside their apartment one day when she suddenly checks out...face gone blank and unresponsive. She's had a stroke and, to make a long synopsis short, goes downhill from there. Now she's partially paralyzed and bedridden, and Georges is her caregiver. 
He gets to do all the fun stuff like haul her into the bathroom and prop her up on the toilet. At some point it's  just down to changing her diaper. This is the first two-thirds of the movie. 

Now anybody who has had an elderly and/or infirmed parent has been there, done that. So why rub our faces in it here? Because we are spared none of it in Amour . It  goes on and on until you are ready to throw up your hands and say what's the point, and just about then you get the point (or at least I did) that what had initially appeared to be the wife's story is actually the husband's story. The metamorphosis  he undergoes from compassionate caregiver to...well...something else. And we need all of the unpleasant business leading up to it to properly put ourselves in his shoes and ask what would we do. 

Nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, I'd not be surprised at all if the 85 year-old Riva takes the Best Actress prize--her challenging performance here is that good. Let's say at least that she deserves it, but you know how these things go. (We're not all that far removed from those idiots who excoriated  the French for having the intelligence and the foresight--and maybe just the bad taste of experience in their mouths--to not go along with Dubya's little foray into Iraq. How much of an anti-French hangover still lingers is anybody's guess.)

Suffice it to say that Amour--despite the title--is not a date movie. I pity the unwitting guy who took his best girl to see it on Valentine's day. I wonder who she's with now. 
  
Grade:  B +

CUTTING TO THE CHASE

Rating what's out now on DVD

Grade: A

TED
The raunchiest stuffed bear you'll ever meet. Clever, funny, romantic, poignant...what more do you want?


Grade:  B +

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD
I was surprised at how good this was for a film that received very little hype.

KILLER JOE
What happens when some really dumb rednecks hatch a murder plot to collect insurance money. Fascinating, like a train wreck.

HOPE SPRINGS
Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones ans Steve Carell. Notable because Carell plays it straight throughout the entire film!


Grade : B

TO ROME WITH LOVE
Woody Allen seems headed into Fellini territory with this one...still a fun ride.

RUBY SPARKS
Writer creates his own girlfriend...do-it-yourselfers oughta like this one.

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
Espionage and the games big boys play. Follow along and you'll be fine.


Grade:  B -

ARBITRAGE
It's fun to watch Richard Gere in his manic phase, which seems to be the whole movie.

CHRONICLE
Teen superheroes...I haven't completely grown out of that phase.

PROMETHEUS
Sci-fi with some great CGI.



Grade:  C +

LARRY CROWNE
Mildly entertaining vehicle for Hanks/Roberts.



Grade:  D

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Five year-old girl waxes philosophical about the web of life and everything being connected, then beats a fish to death with a hammer. WTF?  If violent drunks are your heroes, you'll love it.

ZERO DARK THIRTY (2012)

Rated:  R

Stars: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Kyle Chandler, Harold Perrineau
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Genre: Drama

Any review of Zero Dark Thirty needs to be on two fronts. First, an assessment of the artistic merits of the film, and then a word addressing the controversial issues it deals with. Zero Dark Thirty would have been worthy of its Oscar nomination for best picture had the first third or so of the movie not been so one-dimensional, and thus yawn inducing--even when the subject matter is graphic torture scenes of suspects allegedly connected to Al Qaeda during the hunt for Osama bin Laden. I say yawn inducing because violence is endemic to American society, and our film industry has a morbid fascination with it, and anything will make you detach if it's being force-fed to you a lot, like, uh...water boarding. 

By spending so much time on these "enhanced interrogation" methods employed by the CIA, director Katherine Bigelow seems to be making the assertion that they were essential to the success of the bin Laden operation. CIA director Leon Panetta, acknowledging that such methods were used, (and who would doubt it after viewing the Abu Ghraib photo gallery) stated: "I think we would have gotten bin Laden without that."  Which just blows the whole premise of your film out of the water, Kathryn, so...NO OSCAR FOR YOU! (But have all the soup you want.)

I also was not enamored with the central character of the film,  CIA agent "Maya" played by Jessica Chastain, whom we are led to believe was the essential operative in the manhunt, and that bin Laden was ferreted out largely due to her spot-on instincts in analyzing the clues as they presented themselves. (The real agent Chastain's character was based upon has been forbidden by the agency  to speak with journalists,    

so we may never know the real story.)

The first time Maya sits in on a torture session, she feels revulsion, as anyone with a whit of human compassion and a conscience would. But she hardens up fast on her way to becoming a self-absorbed zealot in her pursuit of Bad Guy Number One, and begins conducting some of those little "hazing" parties herself. There is no complexity to her character after that--we are just supposed to admire her for being tough and using male locker room jargon. But that's TV cop drama stuff, and it's the same old patronizing of women used by the male creators of those shows in hopes that it might get them somewhere in the bedroom! (Don't know what Bigelow's motivation might be for creating a similar stereotype.)

But beyond that, the larger point is that those who believe the end always justifies the means often end up sinking to the level of the evil they are engaging. 

What can be classified as the brilliance of  Zero Dark Thirty is the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound--one of the most intense, heart-thumping, and well put together sequences in memory.  But you can't praise a faltering football game as being one of the greatest ever just because it gets hugely dramatic and entertaining at the end. Historical drama is always anticlimactic for me anyway...because I know how it turns out. 

Duh.

Grade: B

GANGSTER SQUAD (2013)

Rated: R

Stars: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
Director:  Ruben Fleischer
Genre: Crime Drama

The kindest thing that can be said about Sean Penn's looks is that they are an acquired taste. So it wasn't so  much of a stretch to turn him into one ugly lookin' S.O.B. cast as deranged,  sadistic crime boss Mickey Cohen in Gangster Squad.    

And man, is he convincing. (It's those eyes, you know...and that sneer.)

Which is not to say Penn's Cohen is not a flat character, because it is, but so are all the rest in this stylish homage to film noir of the forties. Cohen dispatches his gangland rivals in lots of creatively grisly ways. A man with not a shred of conscience to be found. So what we have is good versus evil the way it was portrayed in the days of James Cagney--right down to Cohen's square-jawed nemesis, Sergeant John O'Mara of the LAPD, (Josh Brolin) who heads up a secret squad whose mission is to break the grip the crime boss has on the City Of Angels--where he has the market on dope, hookers, and firearms cornered--and most of  the cops and judges in his back pocket.  (Which ain't good, cuz everybody knows that when there is competition, the prices go down!)

O'Mara has more bravado than brains, so he never wavers from his mission, even during the over the top rat-a-tat shootouts with Cohen's goons that would have wiped out scores of innocent bystanders  had they actually come off the way they are portrayed.  (Gangster Squad is based on actual events, but LOOSELY, shall we say.)

Ryan Gosling  is the devil-may-care detective Jerry Wooters, who hooks up with Cohen's bored and beautiful moll, Grace, (Emma Stone). They are both willing to risk their own butts for a little romantic diversion (fueled by some raging hormones--which can make many an otherwise prudent person myopic to the inherent dangers of such situations...so in a sense when your mother told you to "stop that or you'll go blind" she was telling the truth.).

Copious violence notwithstanding,  I liked the jazzy feel to  Gangster Squad--it's soundtrack by Steve Jablonsky and the nightclub scenes in an era where everybody seemed to have a sense of style--even if all  the men wore the same hat.  And if you remember that kicky song "Mr. Five By Five,"  why hell, you shouldn't even be alive!

Grade:  B

PROMISED LAND (2012)

RATED: R

Stars:  MATT DAMON
           JOHN KRASINSKI
           FRANCES MCDORMAND
           ROSEMARY DEWITT
           HAL HOLBROOK

Director: Gus Van Sant
Genre: Drama


So Steve (Matt Damon) and his partner in crime, Sue, (Frances McDormand) roll into the quaint farming community of McKinley as representatives of a big natural gas juggernaut (so big it's called "Global") that wants to get the local rubes to sell the drilling rights to their land so that the company can come in and start fracking everything up in the name of big business taking whatever they want. (Fracking is the colloquial term for industrial gas drilling.)  The shekels the company offers for drilling rights make the economically challenged locals' eyes light up with dollar signs and they forget about those possible unfortunate side-effects of  poisoning the air and water. (Like those drug commercials on TV that start out by telling you the benefits of the drug in the first ten seconds, then the next forty-five seconds are devoted to a laundry list of side effects that could be so harmful and debilitating--even fatal--that no one in his right mind would even consider taking that poison--then the last five seconds they say in a smiling voice: SO ASK YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT FRAXIL !  And people do...because they are insane.)

But it ain't gonna be so easy to roll over the yokels  in Promised Land  because at least one resident didn't get his education behind the barn.Former engineer Frank Yates, (Hal Holbrook) teaches science at the local high school, and he wants the town to put  the proposition to a public vote (united we stand--divided we fall off the bar stool one by one.)

Then along comes Jones in the form of Dustin Noble, (John Krasinski) an environmentalist who blows into town like a foreboding wind and begins to make waves. Steve, who honestly seems to believe in what he's peddling--at least at first--and Dustin are ready made rivals  Promised Land  is clearly nudging you to root for the good guy Dustin in the name of things most of us hold sacred, like clean air and water, but the movie is magnanimous enough to present the other side as well to anyone who is listening. That is until the out-of-left-field plot twist near the end that gives a surreal good versus evil dynamic to the proceedings--it's the conflict between those who have no conscience and those who allow their conscience to get the best of them--but it feels like they are beating us over the head with it.

Damon and Krasinski play off of each other well, as each tries to win over the hearts and minds of the townsfolk. Mcdormand's character has been around the block a time or three--she's just a gal who is more concerned about getting along and providing for her family in the short term, and doesn't want to think about long-term implications. (Like most folks, it seems.) Rosemary DeWitt gives a nice turn as Alice, a local school teacher who is attracted to both Steve and Dustin, exemplifying the film's theme of inner conflict.

In the end, Promised Land is likely to create a few more cynics in a society that may already be too cynical for its own good.

Grade:  B
  

DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012)

Rated : R

Stars: Jamie Foxx,  Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel  L. Jackson, Kerry Washington
Director:  Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Western, Action/Adventure, Dark Comedy
,
Quentin Tarantino isn't normally my cup of blood. After a while all that splatter has a numbing effect, and you find your mind wandering to thoughts like: Who gets to clean up all this mess? But Django Unchained grabbed me from the outset with the haunting strains of  its spaghetti western score from Ennio Morricone (he's only the greatest film composer of all time, mind you).  Add to that a discernible plot that I could see developing and I was ready to hang on for the ride.  

Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave in the deep south before the Civil War who meets his liberator in the personage of Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) . Schultz poses as a traveling dentist, but he's really a bounty hunter looking for a couple of bad hombres named the Brittle Brothers. Django, having had previous dealings with said scum, teams with the good doctor to ferret them out, and that takes them to the plantation of Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) 

Django has another reason to be there, and that's to find his long lost wife, Broomhilda, (Kerry Washington) whom he suspects is one of Candie's cadre of slaves. There the partners meet  the uppity Stephen, (Samuel L. Jackson)  who is something of an indentured butler and  advisor to Candie. Stephen doesn't like what he sees in Django--no no--and that's ATTITUDE he doesn't think a black man should have in these here times--freeman or not. Jackson's portrayal of the cantankerous and ultimately treacherous Stephen should have gotten him an Oscar nod for best supporting butler, or something, along with the four other nominations Django Unchained received. And it demonstrates that racism can and does exist within one's own skin shade as well.    

The prevailing opinion seems to be that DiCaprio was similarly slighted, and he does give a powerful performance, even though its a tongue-in-cheek stereotype of a pompous southern plantation owner. 

Waltz does get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and he earned it with his prissy Dr. Schultz. 

Django Unchained contains one of the funniest film scenes I've ever seen...just get ready to spew your soda when the Ku Klux Klan makes it appearance, cuz it ain't what you think it's gonna be! 

You should also be prepared for the "N" word, which is used 110 times. The first time it's a bit jolting, and it's like, okay, so we've bypassed any political correctness considerations and we're going for true realism--because let's face it, that's the term that was in common usage in that era. And Tarantino is nothing if not gutsy. By the twentieth time it popped up, I was flashing back to Dustin Hoffman in Lenny .  Lenny Bruce tried to show people that no word has more power than we are willing to give it,  and what really matters is not the word itself, but the  INTENT behind the word. That, of course,  was  too subtle for the dumbed-down, one-size-fits-all America of today.    

Grade:  B +

LES MISERABLES (2012)

Rated: PG-13



Stars: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Samantha Banks
Director: Tom Hooper
Genre: Musical/Drama



The 2012 screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel of 19th century France, Les Miserables,  hits your eye like a big pizza pie! And like the pizza, it's huge, and messy, and satisfyingly delicious. Add to that the surprise of seeing that some unlikely bedfellows, e.g., Russell Crowe and Sacha Baron Cohen, can actually sing (passably). Though I wouldn't quit my day job to join the opera just yet, Sacha, as you're much too naughty, and those large-lunged divas would punch your lights out. .

Hugh Jackman heads up a stellar ensemble cast as Jean Valjean, a man who served 19 years at hard labor for a petty theft. As a free man, he breaks his parole and goes undercover, becoming  a respected citizen. Russell Crowe, as Inspector Javert, is the long arm of the law who pursues Valjean relentlessly, and is one of the tragic figures in the story. Anne Hathaway is Fantine, a young woman who resorts to prostitution to survive. She becomes pregnant with Cossette,  played here as a young woman by Amanda Seyfried. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter--who have a lot in common because they both have long names--are the innkeepers Thenardier and Madame Thenardier, who become the young Cossette's foster "parents." They add some levity to the mostly serious proceedings with the bawdy antics occurring inside their establishment. (Valjean later bribes them to to let him take the child.)  As time skips ahead,  Marius, a student who joins the impending revolution, (Eddie Redmayne) and the blossoming Cossette fall for one another. Eponine, (Samantha Banks) the Thenardier's daughter, is also smitten with Marius, but her love is unrequited.  

The stage musical of Les Miserables has been around in one incarnation or another since 1980. Now its true potential is reached, lending itself to the giant screen so effectively because the street battle scenes can be played out to scale, with stark and bloody realism--and while you normally would't expect to have people singing while they're shooting each other, that's the musical for you, and you'll soon get in the swing of it. 

Anne Hathaway is likely to get a nomination, mainly for her visceral  rendering of "I Dreamed A Dream."  But for my money, it's gotta be Jackman's achingly beautiful "Bring Him Home."  Other songs feature multi-layered harmonies that build to a soaring crescendo that is guaranteed to raise the hair on your back (unless you've gotten it waxed recently). And of no lesser genius is the deft jump cut editing here.  

Two minor annoyances. Many of those who have solos are shot in that kind of ubber closeup that was popularized by the spaghetti westerns of the sixties and seventies. Literally "in-your-face." It isn't necessary (or aesthetically pleasing) to see the size of every pore on someone's face, or whether or not they brushed their tongue beforehand. (You should always brush your tongue when you get up in the morning, because a layer of sulfur forms on it overnight, which can contribute to your friends giving you a wide berth when they are around you.)  The other thing is that the movie runs two and a half hours and then some, so it feels a tad long. These things I will  forgive in light of a preponderance of the evidence that Les Miserables  is a work of considerable genius.

That and the fact that I always like a good revolution.   

Grade:  A