Closer
Very similar to "Love, Actually" in that it involves the impact of love and sex on a group of disparate people living in London.
But where 2003's "Love, Actually" suffers from crowdedness (see review below) "Closer" (pronounced with a hard s as in a proportionate reference, not as in one who closes), directed by Mike Nichols, suffers from the opposite problem.
The four central characters (Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen and Jude Law) are the only people in the movie other than extras, and very nearly the only ones who talk. After two hours of watching these people flirt and get together and break up and cheat I felt pretty much like they did -- ready to see other people.
The movie jumps ahead in each scene without informing us how much time has past, making it a cumbersome task to fill in the gaps from dialogue, and I honestly couldn't give a damn who was with whom by the time the movie ended. On top of all that Jude Law is tremendously overexposed lately and this part was so similar to his roles in "Alfie" and "I Heart Huckabees" that it began to feel like one long movie from which there was no escape. But you can escape by avoiding this DVD. *
A Life Acquatic With Steve Zissou
This whimsical movie is so full of absurdity that it's hard not to enjoy every second of it. It's not a typical comedy that goes for cheap inuendo and gross-out visual gags of the "Meet The Fockers" variety, but rather an intelligent, "dark" comedy that takes advantage of every opportunity to surprise you. Bill Murray is the title character, a gruff, pot-smoking, womanizing Jacques Cousteau-like adventurer with a misfit crew. Unlike Cousteau, Zissou has trouble getting the financing for his expeditions, especially when he sets out on a bizarre revenge mission against the "jaguar shark" that ate his best friend. Along for the ride are his newly discovered illegitimate son, played by Owen Wilson, a co-pilot for Kentucky Airlines whose mother has ended her own battle with cancer; a pregnant reporter doing a profile of Zissou (Cate Blanchett), an overprotective German deckhand (Willen Dafoe) a perenially topless script writer (Robyn Cohen); Zissou's estranged wife (Anjelica Huston). What ensues can hardly be considered hijinks, but rather offbeat, strange and unexpected situations reminiscent of "The Royal Tenenbaums." Definitely a solid rental. ***
Ladder 49
This film is a pure, unadulterated ode to firefighters, and deservedly so since it is still the most noble and selfless profession out there. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Jack Morrison, who volunteers from working "the pipe" (manning the hose, to us lay people) in an engine company to the more dangerous truck duty in which he extricates people trapped in fires. John Travolta, in a mediocre performance, plays the fire chief of the company.
Trapped himself in the mother of all blazes in a downtown Baltimore factory, Morrison reminisces about his life and career, leaving the movie to unfold in flashbacks. I'll say this: the ending is not what you'd expect. But like most of these films the characters are plastic and larger than life. The antics in the firehouse are tame (a goose in a locker, a fake priest taking "confesssions") compared to what we read about, particularly post-911. In New York one fireman almost killed another in a drunken brawl and in another company there was a sex scandal investigation. The stress of the job really takes a toll. Denis Leary's gritty FX series "Rescue Me" probably comes closer to taking us inside a real fire company than any other show or movie has. And in the case of Ladder 49, I found it especially tragic that the main character volunteers for the more dangerous assignment even as his wife announces that she is pregnant. The couple ultimately have two children who have to pay the ultimate price for their father's courage. **
Spanglish
This movie scores points for orginality and fine acting by Adam Sandler (never thought I'd say that) who turns in a mostly serious performance as John Clasky, a succesful chef with a nutty wife who is drawn to his family's Spanish-speaking domestic assistant.
But despite many wonderful moments, this film drags on for more than 2 hours mostly without getting anywhere and suffers from an identity crisis. Director and writer James L. Brooks' intention seems to be highlighting the travails of Flor, an illegal Mexican immingrant and single mother and her ambivalence about mixing into anglo-culture when she has the option of remaining in an overwhelmingly Hispanic neighborhood where she doesn't need to even learn English. But the subplot of the dysfunctional family with whom Flor winds up has a way of overshadowing that plot, just as John's wife, Deborah (Tea Leoni) ensures that she is the center of attention with her outrageous, inappropriate antics.
Deborah, who is unemployed, needs help around the house for no other reason than vanity as she jogs, overshops and tortures her kids and leaves the chores to Flor. This is one of the things that spoils the movie. Deborah is completely out of control and getting worse, and as her behavior calls for drastic action (psychiatric evaluation at the very least) Sandler does nothing but gripe that he has run out of excuses for her, and when she confesses that she's been unfaithful, he seems to take it as just another exasperating turn, rather than what would be for most of us the straw that breaks the camel's back. Fine performances by Paz Vega as Flor and especially Shelby Bruce as her daughter Cristina, stand out in this film, while Cloris Leachman as Deborah's mother, a washed up alcoholic former folk singer, seems to spend most of the time wondering why she's in the film, and many viewers will ask themselves the same question. Her only tasks seem to giving out mediocre advice (she surprises herself with one clever witticism), walking around with huge glasses of wine and at one point giving Deborah half the speech she deserves as she heads off for a tryst. Spanglish is worth renting, but will leave you shrugging your shoulders. **
Sideways
I loved everything about this film, from its quirky take on the old buddy road-trip theme to the first class-acting and dialogue, great photography and location shooting. Paul Giamati stars as Miles Raymond and Thomas Hayden Church as his college roommate and pal Jack (no last mame given), a pair of idiots who set out for a week of wine-tasting in northern California in the days before Jack's wedding. Based on the novel by Rex Pickett and directed by Alexander Payne ("About Schmidt"), this film is worthy of all the Oscar nominations it received and should have won them. Giamati's role as a depressed divorcee, high school English teacher and would-be novelist has him hovering between the manic intensity of his characters in "American Splendor,' "Private Parts" and "Big Fat Liar" and a normal guy, and so the viewer never really knows what to expect as he and Church (best known as Lowell on the sitcom "Wings") go about wining and dining and romancing Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh (best known as Rita on "Arliss," and the wife of director Payne. ) Jack, a b-list actor who is about to marry into a wealthy family, is a lying cheater, but loyal to his friend while Miles, who's own cheating led to the demise of his marriage, is doomed to suffer from the fallout of Jack's restlessness. His drive to transcend his meager circumstances (he still steals cash from his mother) is diminished, but not entirely shaken by his artistic and romantic failures, and he refuses to surrender to despair, even as he grows tired of Jack's constant advice and meddling even as Jack fouls up his own personal life. At two hours and change this film is worth every minute, never slows down and the ending leaves you wanting more, the way any well-done production should. ****
I, Robot
Will Smith is Del Spooner, a cop in the future (the 2030s) who wakes up every morning with a gun in his hand after dreaming about being underwater and rescued by a robot. Freud would likely ask about his mother, but it turns out that Spooner was indeed rescued by a robot while underwater in his car after an accident. That led him to hate robots, because this particular rescuer chose to rescue Spooner instead of the little girl in another car who ended up dying. The robot, it seems, made its decision based only on who had a better chance of surviving, rather than who better deserved to live, a decision a mechanical heart and brain is incapable of making. And thus we get a subtle sermon on bigotry mixed in with the sci-fi action and naked shower scenes. Early on, Spooner tackles a robot he sees running with a purse. It turns out the loyal robot is simply retrieving an inhaler for an asthma patient. And Smith gets yelled at for jumping to conclusions. Overall, this movie works well. The ultimate scene has Spooner in his car in a seemingly endless tunnel fighting off hundreds of robots trying to do him in as he edges close to uncovering a conspiracy. While the action looks more like a video game, it's still thrilling. Bridget Moynihan turns in a competent performance as Dr. Susan Calvin, the expert for U.S. Robotics (surprisingly, a real company) who becomes Spooner's sidekick, though not immediately his love interest. The plot unfolds nicely and, for a change, I did not guess the guilty party halfway through. This film is more inspired by than based on the classic collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov, and I recommend it, although the book is better. ***
Sky Captain and The World Of Tommorow
Fantastic computer generated graphics that evoke the old 1930s serials. The only thing bad about this movie is Gwyneth Paltrow's unnecessarily annoying performance as a reporter who continuously lies and withholds information from Jude Law's hero character. Its never clear why she's doing so. Law's Sky Captain is also made out as a hero-for-hire, but it's never clear who hired him and to whom he answers. My guess is that with the cost of the effects and the three top actors (with Angelina Jolie) there was no money left for additional supporting characters. ***
The Terminal
The worst movie ever by both Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The credibility gaps are big enough to fly a 747 through. A guy kept living in an airport terminal for more than 9 months, and everyone who works there knows about it, but it somehow escapes media attention that could help this guy get some action from the State Deparment. The homeland security bureaucrat played by Stanley Tucci is desperate to find out what Hanks' character is hiding in a peanuts can, which for some reason can't be opened, but he has no problem rifling through other people's bags, including a smuggler carrying dope concealed in walnuts. Catherine Zeta Jones steals this film as a stewardess, her Welsh accent convincingly suppressed to sound American. Yet somehow, she is not surprised to keep running into Hanks' Viktor in the same terminal every time she flies in, and when she learns the truth (she's apparently the only person working or passing through the airport who doesn't know it) she's angry at him. It only serves to remind us that a stateless man is living in an airport terminal and it has somehow escaped the notice of CNN, and no one has thought to call them. -*
Mystic River
(Caution: This will ruin the movie if you haven't see it)
A powerful film that deserves the praise it has received, with strong performances by Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon. But the red herring was obvious halfway through the film, and the real killer was obvious to me about midway through. One inconsistency: Bacon plays a pretty straight-laced cop who won't allow his old friend Robbins (really more of an acquaintance) to be railroaded into being set-up as the killer. And yet, in the end he appears to be ready to allows his other friend (Penn) to get away with murder. **
Spiderman 2
The plot of this film is reminiscent of "Superman 2," in which the hero is tired of all his reponsibility and hangs up the costume in an attempt to have a normal life with a girlfriend. That plot itself is a rehash of old Western flicks in which the aging gunfighter wants to hang up his six-shooters and settle down, but the bad guys just won't seem to play along (John Wayne's "The Shootist," and Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" and "Unforgiven" are the best of them.) Having Spiderman give up his web-slinging is a transparent attempt here to recapture the energy of the hero's origin so he can again burst out on the scene in his red and blue tights ("I'm baaaaack!") and beat up the unexpecting villains when the chips are down. That only leaves the film-makers with the quandary of how to do that again in the next film. The CGI battle sequences make this film worthwhile, particularly the clash with Dr. Octopus on the side of a buildinhg) despite the cliched dialogue and weak character and plot development. **
Hollywood Homicide
Harrison Ford's best movie in years. A formulaic buddy-cop film starring Ford and Josh Hartnet, but with a hilarious twist: Both of the detectives moonlight, Ford as a real estate broker, Hartnet as a yoga instructor and wannabe actor. There are some cliches, such as the responsible but excitable black lieutenant trying to cover his cops' asses with the top brass, a concept still being borrowed from Starsky and Hutch. And the two heros are also under investigation by Internal Affairs, which has never happened before in any film.
But it's truly hilarious to see Ford in the middle of a vigorous car chase in a Mustang (yes, Ford in a Ford) answer a call from a client and say, "Sure, I can talk," then proceed to calmly put together a deal as he closes in on a quadruple murder suspect. Hartnet is good too as the younger, more straight-laced partner, who confesses that he took up the yoga instruction for the sex, but later learned to appreciate the art. The film's best scenes are when IAB brings the pair in for questioning, and Ford refuses to stop talking to clients on his cell phone, while Hartnet is meditating. The investigator trying to break him ultimately asks for some help with her vertebrae. There are no surprises or plot twists here (you'll know the killer early on) but it's a fun rental. ***
The Battle of Shaker Heights
A very unpredictable film, defying formula. Shia Lebouff turns in an extremely comptent peformance as a military buff from the middle-class side of town who befriends a prep school kid and falls in love with his older sister (Amy Smart). The film never really goes anywhere, and the characters kind of sit there looking for a plot. But the dialogue is crisp, the acting fine. It's really direction that this movie is lacking, possibly because this is essentially an amateur effort that came to be through Miramax's Project Greenlight, produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (neither of whom have had a blockbuster since "Good Will Hunting"). **
Elf
Only if you're between 10 and 14, subscribe to Netflix and have some time to kill during the holiday season. *
Love Actually
Actually pretty good. A compilation of tales of people in various relationships in the days leading up to Christmas in comtemporary London. Well acted, beautiful location shooting, and good, crisp, funny dialogue. Problem is, so much material is crammed into this script that even at 2 hrs. and 15 mins., there simply isn't enough time to completely develop these subplots. Hugh Grant, as the prime minister, falls in love with an office worker in about three minutes of screen time. Liam Neeson's wife has died, and he has some kind of relationship with Emma Thompson, who hears him out and hangs out in his apartment, but we're never really told what their connection is. An aging pop star declares his love for his male agent, but we're not really sure... is he gay, or just a really devoted friend? Laura Linney is trying to juggle a budding relationship with the needs of an institutionalized brother who calls at all hours wanting her to get the Pope and Jon Bon Jovi on the phone. Before we can figure out if her suitor can be understanding and patient enough, or convince her to turn off her cell phone for a few hours (the brother's already in a rubber room, for God's sake) the story drops out of the movie. This would make a great miniseries, or else director Richard Curtis should have cut a few of the subplots to make it less unwieldy.
In the director's comments on the DVD, Curtis reveals that the full movie as filmed came out to 3 1/2 hours (what was he thinking?). The deleted scenes explain a lot, and he reveals that one scene was cut from each of the storylines. He would have been better off deleting one, maybe two subplots completely to allow the remaining ones to flourish and unfold better.
A highlight of the deleted scenes is one he chose well to delete. It shows Liam Neeson's son, supposed to be around 10, dashing through the airport to say goodbye to his love. The kid gets past security by using impossibly executed gymnastic feats, which might have been funny -- except that the person doing the stunts is so completely obviously a full-grown adult. When the boy actor then springs to his feet afterward, the result is simply riddiculous. ***
Windtalkers
Could you kill one of your comerades-in-arms to prevent him from falling into enemy hands and possibly helping them break a code?
That's the question at the heart of this fact-based World War II drama about Navajos in the Marine Corps whose obscure language helped keep American plans from the Japanese during key battles in the Pacific. Nicholas Cage is a gritty, war-weary sergeant in charge of guarding one of the code-bearers (known as Windtalkers), played by Adam Beach. Christian Slater is another sergeant with another Windtalker who proves unable to carry out his orders and kill the Navajo as they are about to be captured. Traumatic-stress plagued Cage, however, seems up to the task as they storm the island of Saipan. I won't ruin any more of the film, except to say that the action scenes are vividly captured and the action is almost constant, though not quite as bloody and horrific as the film that preceded and probably inspired it, "Saving Private Ryan." The film also deals appropriately with the pointless bigotry faced by the Navajos from other Marines, causing them to watch their backs on both sides of the front lines.
A unique twist on the classic war movie and an important piece of recognition of the little-known role these valiant Native Americans played in our victory. ***
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