Author: crunchonthis

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Barney’s Version

Barney’s Version

Starring Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, and Rosamund Pike
Directed by Richard J. Lewis
Rated R for language and some sexual content
Appropriate for ages 17+

    The biggest shock of the Golden Globes wasn’t the insulting remarks by host Ricky Gervais, but rather the moment when Paul Giamatti won the Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.  I don’t consider it a shock because he didn’t deserve it, but rather because this little film has gone completely unnoticed and this was the only nomination Giamatti even received for the film.  So did he deserve it?  Absolutely.  This was easily one of the year’s greatest performances, and worthy of much more praise than it is receiving. 

    Barney’s Version follows Giamatti as Barney, an uber-blunt soap producer whose life’s journey is captured in two hours.  From his first wife to his second and onto the true love of his life, Barney, as a character, seems too over-the-top, but yet his story is so interesting that you can’t help but sit back and enjoy the ride. 

    Giving his best performance in perhaps over twenty years is Dustin Hoffman, who masterfully plays Barney’s father.  I find it even more sad that Hoffman was left off of the ballots this year for this stellar performance that is both touching and hilarious.  The rest of the cast, and especially Rosamund Pike as Barney’s third wife and Minnie Driver as his second, turn in impressive performances as well.

    While the acting here is certainly top notch, the screenplay by B-movie writer Michael Konyves allows for such tremendous performances to take place.  The rest of the production is strong also including the Oscar-nominated make-up job by Adrien Morot who does an impressive job of aging Giamatti and Pike into their senior years. 

    I believe that the chief reason this film is getting overlooked is that while the cast is huge and it is highly enjoyable, it is still considered an indie with a limited audience.  There could have been some huge buzz built up on this film and it might have had a nice box office return as well if someone at Sony Pictures Classics would have had faith in it as a potential earner.  But regardless of how much it earns, the movie comes across as a real gem and a very entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.  A

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New in Home Entertainment – February 15, 2011

New in Home Entertainment

February 15, 2011

Waiting for Superman
Rated PG for some thematic material, mild language and incidental smoking
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
One of the most glaring omissions from this years Oscar ballot was this sobering documentary about the failure of the American public school.  Following children and schools from around the country as well as leaders in education, the documentary sets out first to explain why we are in the mess we are in and then shows not only how we can get out of it, but how programs around the country already have.  Most of the blame given in the film lies on the very powerful teacher unions and the fact that it is almost impossible to fire a teacher in this country.  While the rebuttal is not allowed by the opposition, the case is made well and is difficult to refute.  The film itself is a roller coaster of emotion that will leave you in hopeless tears.  More than anything, the movie makes you angry that the answers seem apparent, but yet nothing is being done to correct the problem.  As an incentive to buy the film, the movie comes with a $25 gift card for donorschoose.org which will allow you to make a donation to school projects from around the country.  A-

Unstoppable
Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and peril, and some language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
I was not looking forward to this Tony Scott directed film due to the fact that I thought he was getting on too much of train kick since his last film, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, was a runaway train film as well.  But I came out very impressed at this original actioner where the villain isn’t human, but rather a large locomotive aimed to destroy a major U.S. city if not stopped.  Scott infuses the movie with a tremendous adrenaline push and the performances by Denzel Washington and Chris Pine are perfect for the picture.  While some of the side stories don’t work as well as the central plot, the film is so fast-paced that you hardly notice.  B

The Double Life of Veronique: The Criterion Collection
Rated R for scenes of sexuality
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Polish and French with English Subtitles
This 1991 classic film by legendary Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski is getting another royal treatment from Criterion in this new Blu-ray edition.  In this complex fantasy, Irene Jacobs stars as two women living in separate countries who each have live different lives but have a subtle sense of each other.  It’s not only a fascinating story, but it is so beautifully handled that it becomes mesmerizing.  Many will be thankful that the film utilizes the original ending rather than the U.S. ending that Mirimax’s Harvey Weinstein forced Kieslowski to add.  As you would expect from Criterion, the special features are numerous and include the U.S. ending, commentary from Kieslowski biographer Annette Insdorf, and many other featurettes.  A-

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The Eagle

The Eagle

Starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Donald Sutherland
Directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland)
Rated PG-13 for battle sequences and some disturbing images
Appropriate for ages 15+

    When a Roman general leads 5,000 troops into northern Britain, none of the men are heard from again.  Twenty years later, the general’s son (Tatum) and his slave (Bell) attempt to find out what happened to his father and return the lost golden Eagle that disappeared two decades prior.

    The premise of this adventure has great potential.  Personally, I love a good historical battle film, especially when they involve Roman soldiers.  And while the cast isn’t as exciting as you would hope, hiring Kevin Macdonald to direct seemed to provide some street cred as well.  Unfortunately, there are some huge chinks in the armor here, so to speak, which fatally flaw the picture. 

    First off is the dry, flat dialog that sounds exponentially worse when spoken in American accents.  Perhaps an English accent would have sounded better here, but the words just didn’t sound right coming from this group of actors.  Artistically, I think they were trying to give the Britains English accents to distinguish them from the Romans, but there was something here that just didn’t sound right.  And casting Donald Sutherland as the uncle was just a terrible idea as his role was phoned in and could have been much better acted by a different character actor who wasn’t hired for his name recognition. 

    Secondly, PG-13 is not the arena this film should be fighting in.  Should they have had the sense to take this project seriously, this would have been a strong R and much more realistic and enjoyable.  As it is, the battle sequences are toned down and hardly a drop of blood is seen.  If Braveheart or Gladiator had opted for a PG-13, then not only would they have been lame, but forgotten as well.  I can understand the need for attracting a younger audience, but not when it damages the integrity of the project.

    Finally, the film turns into kind of a buddy movie, especially in this joke of an ending .  That worked in HBO’s Rome because of the strength of the writing, but after this ending I could only imagine Tatum and Bell setting off on an adventure that could also be cast with Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider. 

    If you can’t tell, I had a lot of trouble taking this film seriously and found it to be an unremarkable movie that couldn’t come close to living up to its potential.  C-

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New in Home Entertainment – February 8, 2011

New in Home Entertainment

February 8, 2011

Paranormal Activity 2
Rated R for some language and brief violent material
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
After the terrifying first Paranormal Activity hit theaters I was very skeptical about a second installment.  So many horror films have lost their touch, such as Blair Witch and Saw, that I originally wrote this one off as just a way to make more money.  But these guys proved that they had more story in them and actually turned in a scarefest that was almost equal to the first.  PA2 takes place both before and after the events of the first one, allowing for a more complete story to be told.  Instead of Micah’s camera following all of the events, Katie’s sister and her husband set up a surveillance system after their house is left ransacked by what they thought must have been devious kids.  While I didn’t get that tingling feeling in my spine like I did in the first one, I still sat in the theater terrified, which is what a good horror film is supposed to do.  For those of you that hate blood and gore in your scary movies, you will especially want to check this one out since it relies more on what you don’t see than what you do.  A-

Life As We Know It
Rated PG-13 for sexual material, language and some drug content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Since I first saw the trailer of this film about a man and woman that hate each other but are forced to live together to raise their Goddaughter when her parents die, I knew that this would be a predictable rom com with another horrible premise.  While the movie mainly lives up its expectations, I am willing to offer up slight praise in that it’s mildly enjoyable.  I can’t recommend it due to the fact that the premise is so bad and the trailer is just a short version of the whole, but the acting is decent, given the material, and there are some cute moments that make it so you can’t quite hate it.  These mild annoyances clash with the mild enjoyment and produce a very average film rather than the terrible movie I was expecting.  C

It’s Kind of a Funny Story
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic issues, sexual content, drug material and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Perhaps the filmmakers thought that adding the word “funny” in the title would give a light-hearted feeling to the film, or perhaps it’s meant to be ironic; but whatever the case may be, this pic about a suicidal kid who checks into a psych hospital falls flat.  The film is so boring that you almost feel like the performances were thorazine-induced.  The only bright spots were Zach Galifianakis who pulls off a respectable dramatic role and a haunting version of Pixies’s Where is My Mind by the brilliant pianist Maxence Cyrin that I had to download on iTunes after watching.  C-

I Spit on Your Grave
Unrated for pervasive strong sadistic brutal violence, rape and torture, nudity and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This remake of the 1978 rape/revenge slasher pic (which is also seeing its blu-ray debut this week) follows much of the same plot line of the original in the fact that a girl is brutally raped and then goes after her rapists one-by-one to take them out.  The difference here is that there are better production values, stronger acting, and much more horrific murders.  While The Last House on the Left is a stronger picture in this horror sub-genre, if you like to see a pseudo-snuff film from a justified killer, then this one isn’t too bad.  The revenge killings are quite creative and less offensive to watch than the horrific rape sequence which seemed to last forever as I fast-forwarded through it.  C+

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The Rite

The Rite

Starring Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’Donoghue and Alice Braga
Directed by Mikael Hafstrom (1408)
Rated PG-13 for disturbing thematic material, violence, frightening images, and language including sexual references
Appropriate for ages 15+

    When a young priest (O’Donoghue) considers dropping from the priesthood, he is sent first to Rome to study exorcism in the hope of strengthening his belief.  When the professor senses his reluctance to believe in God or the devil, he sends him to work with an old priest and exorcism specialist (Hopkins).

    I’m not sure why exorcism films are still being green-lit, because after all, there have been a slew of them in the last couple of years and they’ve all bombed.  This film attempts to get more to the heart of The Exorcist, which is convincing a young priest that while he may not believe in the devil, the devil sure believes in him, but due to many misturns, fails to ever scare or deliver the goods.

    This film has a lot of potential.  After all, it’s hard to find a better thespian than Hopkins and the rest of the cast isn’t bad either.  Also, placing the film in Rome gives it some street cred.  There are even some nice creepy moments placed here and there.  But then the movie attempts to fool the viewer into thinking like the young priest and the confusion doesn’t help the movie in the least.  Also, the addition of the female journalist, played by Alice Braga, not only interferes with the plot, but distracts what could have been a very frightening moment.

    I think that in their goal of getting a PG-13 and hopefully widening their audience, they forgot that this genre has to be rated R to be truly effective.  The devil is not PG-13.  In fact, he would push the limits on an R rating.  This toning down of the violence, language, and scares only waters down the film to the point where it is just merely interesting and not goose pimple-inducing. 

    So while I really wanted to like this somewhat original take on the sub-genre, I found myself picking out too many of its overall problems.  C+

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The Company Men

The Company Men

Starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner
Directed by John Wells
Rated R for language and brief nudity
Appropriate for ages 17+

    On the surface, The Company Men revolves around the lives of three men (Affleck, Jones and Cooper) that are part of a corporate downsizing and the effect it has on their lives, their families and their communities.  On a deeper level, the film focuses on the death of the American Dream and the impact it has on Americans.

    George Clooney’s film Up in the Air touched on these issues, but followed the folks doing the layoffs rather than the people whose lives were so deeply affected.  Just like the climate in today’s job market, the film is pretty devastating.  It’s a reality check that will crush many of its viewers.  After all, the film leaves three options for those who lose their cushy corporate jobs: retire, take a lower-paying job, or commit suicide.  Is this overly dramatic?  Sure.  But it’s not off base completely.  With the middle class growing weaker and the upper class growing stronger, the discrepancy of incomes is liable to cause our economic strains to become more pronounced rather than diminished.  The thought of spending less and saving more is just that – a thought.  That might work if incomes were increasing with inflation, but as health care premiums climb through the roof and the price of goods and services grow to simply put more money in the pockets of the wealthy, we are likely to see these scenarios played out again and again, and even worsen in the near future.  So as far as story goes, it’s not a fun one to watch, but it is a reality that we all wish wasn’t real. 

    As for the performances, this huge ensemble of award winning actors all try their hardest to give their best in these roles.  The characters are a bit over-the-top, as are the situations they are put in, but overall, it’s a well-acted piece.

  
    Where I fault the film is something I touched on before: the movie is damned depressing.  If you have ever lost your job in order to help a company’s stock performance, you will feel miserable watching this.  And if you expect it to be the movie to lift your spirits on a feel-good note – you won’t get that here.  Once again, this film is a reality check about our lost American dream and not about hope.  Should the film have been about hope?  Maybe that would be more helpful in today’s climate, but just like the filmmakers, I don’t think that would come off as authentic.  My wish is that we can all watch this film in 20 years and remember what America was like back then and be thankful that it’s not that way anymore.  Unfortunately, unless something very drastic occurs in the very near future to correct our path, this film may be remembered as a feel-good movie after all.  B

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New in Home Entertainment – January 25, 2011

New in Home Entertainment

January 25, 2011

Secretariat
Rated PG for brief mild language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
The horse race movie has been done, over and over and over again.  So trying not to kick a dead horse (sorry for that) is a difficult task.  But feeling the need for a good, wholesome family movie, Disney made this pic about the legendary Triple Crown winner Secretariat.  The cast is as solid as you can get with Diane Lane and John Malkovich leading the way, but in the end, its still another predictable horse race movie.  Sure it makes you feel good and might even bring a little tear to your eye, so if that’s what you are looking for you are sure to find it.  Personally, I found it to be nothing more than a nice history lesson and a short diversion.  C+

Broadcast News: The Criterion Collection
Rated R
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Widely considered to be not only one of the best films about the broadcasting industry, but an insightful comedy as well, Broadcast News is getting the Criterion treatment with this new release.  The film has been restored in high def and given a new audio commentary by director James L. Brooks and editor Richard marks.  In addition, there is a great new doc on Brooks and his career in television and film as well as an alternate ending, deleted scenes and loads of other featurettes.  While its one of the most mainstream films you’ll ever find being released by Criterion, it is still very worthy and this new edition is a true collector’s item.  A

RED
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence and brief strong language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich are among a CIA group known simply as RED – Retired Extremely Dangerous.  When the government makes the decision to try to snuff them all out, Willis pulls the team together in order to try reverse the tide.  This is a pretty darn fun, creative action thriller that uses well its mature cast.  The standout here though is the young agent on the hunt to take them out, played by Star Trek’s Karl Urban.  B+

Zorro: The Complete Series
Available on DVD
For four seasons during the 90’s, the masked swashbuckler, Zorro, appeared on The Family Channel and then disappeared.  So two decades later, the show is hitting DVD in this huge set featuring 15 discs, all four seasons, and tons of special features including The Mask of Zorro – the original Douglas Fairbanks silent film that started it all.  B

Like Dandelion Dust
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material including domestic violence and alcohol abuse
Available on DVD
Lately, it seems that adoption films have all included a scary child that ends up killing everyone around him or her.  So I have to admit that it is refreshing to find a nice family drama in Dandelion Dust.  The story revolves around a troubled couple (exceptionally played by Mira Sorvino and Barry Pepper) who attempt to get their son back from his adopted parents (Cole Hauser and Kate Levering) when the husband gets out of prison and discovers that his wife gave up the child without his knowledge.  It’s a tough film to swallow, but the acting is very strong and the story is quite compelling.  A-  

Santa Sangre
Not Rated
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
There are some that consider this horror film by Alejandro Jodorowsky to be a masterpiece of the genre.  Personally, I found this film to be a little too much.  Too violent, too strange, and far too disturbing.  You can tell that there is genius at work, but sometimes the arthouse-ness of the film takes over the story, and you find yourself neck-deep in a narrative that is not only confusing, but overly artistic.  This gave me the feeling I get when going to a Modern Art Museum: I can appreciate the work, but it doesn’t mean I like it, or find any enjoyment from it whatsoever.  C-

Glee: Season 2 – Volume 1
Available on DVD
The first season of Glee was original, fun, and extremely entertaining.  That being said, the second season came in just delivering the same thing again and I gave up half-way through the season.  Revisiting this season again, I feel I made the right choice.  Don’t get me wrong, the music is still pretty terrific and I’ve bought a few of the songs on iTunes, but it seems to me that the plot is always the same.  The members of the Glee club are outcasts in their school, in spite of their enormous talent, and cheerleader coach Sue Sylvester (played by the funny Jane Lynch) tries with all her might to shut them down.  Sure there are some variations, but it has become more annoying than entertaining at this point.  Unless they do something drastic with the writing, the show will have a short half-life.  One question I also have: what’s with the cheerleaders wearing their costumes every day?  Are their closets that limited?  C+

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The Dilemma

The Dilemma

Starring Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, and Winona Ryder
Directed by Ron Howard
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements involving sexual content
Appropriate for ages 15+

    Ronny and Nick (Vaughn and James) have been best friends since college and business partners after that.  But just days before the biggest presentation of their lives, Ronny discovers that Nick’s wife (Ryder) is cheating on him, giving him the dilemma of telling Nick and ruining any chance of going into the presentation prepared or waiting until afterward knowing that his best friend might hate him for it.

    I had very preconceived notions going into this film.  After watching the trailer, this appeared to be nothing more than Vaughn doing his fast-talking obnoxious persona with James’s cartoon like physical antics.  And to be honest, the film starts out like that.  But then the script by Allan Loeb and the directing by Ron Howard kick in, taking the movie away from Vaughn and James and giving something more respectable back to the audience.  This very well could have been a stupid broad comedy, but the laughs end fairly early, making the picture more of a thought-provoking experience. 

    After all, cheating is not really funny.  Especially when the elements of cheating dealt with are deceit and hurt.  Don’t misunderstand me, there is an underlying comedy here, but it serves more as a form of tension relief than the purpose of the film.  That being said, Vaughn was very well cast here and James gives the best performance of his career and proves that he can take on the drama.  In fact, he’s better at drama than comedy, but with his looks and physicality, comedy will most like remain his bread and butter, no matter how irritating he is with it (okay – I get it – he likes to goofy dance).  Ryder, who is seeing quite a resurgence thanks to this and Black Swan, plays the dishonest but victimized wife well.  Perhaps the scene stealer is Channing Tatum whose other guy role is quite the despicable character.  I was a bit turned off by Queen Latifah’s character due to its lack of believability and her choice to take it over the top when it just wasn’t necessary.

    Now the audience dilemma: who is the audience?  This is a movie about cheating, so it makes for a pretty lousy date movie.  Maybe it’s a dude flick, but it certainly lacks the action and violence needed there.  It’s not really a comedy, so you can forget the folks who just want to laugh.  It’s certainly not a chick flick.  This leaves a sort of gap.  Sure there are those that love Ron Howard, Vince Vaughn or Kevin James, but they will typically only go see the kinds of films those folks are known for.  So while it’s a decent pic, I’m not sure if it will get seen much in theaters and has the chance to disappoint many of the people who do show up.  B+ 

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New in Home Entertainment – January 18, 2011

New in Home Entertainment

January 18, 2011

Animal Kingdom
Rated R for violence, drug content and pervasive language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
What I consider to be the most underrated film of the year is this Australian crime drama filled with powerhouse performances and a breathtaking script from writer/director David Michod.  The story takes place when a young man’s mother dies and he is taken in by his bank robbing family, led by his wickedly sweet grandmother (played by Jackie Weaver who very much deserves the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role).  Thrust into a situation that can’t possibly have a good outcome, the young man must decide between right and wrong, which also happens to be the decision between life and death.  I am convinced that the only reason this film isn’t gaining more attention during awards season is because the voters aren’t taking the time to watch it.  A+

Stone
Rated R for strong sexuality and violence, and pervasive language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In this chess match between prisoner and lawman, Ed Norton plays a convicted arsonist that tries to secure his parole by using his wife (Mila Jovovich) to seduce his parole officer, played by Robert De Niro.  There was a lot of hope for this film before its release, but while the performances are all very good, the story is not as compelling as you would hope, which leaves the viewer with more of an air of disgust than a feeling of being entertained.  Perhaps its the fact that all three of the actors are despicable, which leaves you no one to cheer for.  So while the cast does the part exceptionally well, you find yourself not caring who wins.  C

Paper Man
Rated R for language and a scene of sensuality
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When a writer (Jeff Daniels) moves into his cabin to get away from his normal life, he befriends a young girl from the town (Emma Stone) without the knowledge of his wife (Lisa Kudrow).  And to make matters a little strange, both Bridges and Stone have imaginary friends that guide them through life (Ryan Reynolds and Kieran Culkin respectively).  This is definitely a case of great cast, good script, but too far out there for mainstream release.  Still, the movie tells a nice little story that is fairly entertaining and even funny at times.  B-

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Season of the Witch

Season of the Witch

Starring Nicholas Cage, Ron Perlman and Claire Foy
Directed by Dominic Sena (Whiteout)
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, violence and disturbing content
Appropriate for ages 15+

    When two 14th-century knights (Cage and Perlman) find themselves in a town hit by a horrible plague, they are charged with transporting a supposed witch (Foy) to stand trial at a nearby monastery in the hopes that the plague will end with her death sentence.

    If you follow Hollywood news at all, you are probably well aware that Nicolas Cage is in extreme dire straights with his finances.  And thus he picks up as many films as he can in order to meet his obligations.  Every once in a while we end up with a jackpot like Kick-Ass, but most of the time the films find themselves in Witch territory.  This is the kind of movie that realistically has zero chance of either succeeding or entertaining. 

    I would guess that this was supposed to be a horror film.  I’m not really sure since it is not in the least bit scary or suspenseful.  It tries to be tongue-in-cheek funny at times, but only achieves mild humor.  It might also be considered fantasy, but it lacks the imagination needed for that genre. 

    So what went wrong here?  I’m not sure if anything ever went right.  The script is lame at best and atrocious at worst.  There is not enough violence or danger to bring the chills and thrills which is why it doesn’t work in the whichever genre it is aiming for.  As for the utilization of an Oscar-winning actor, what you get here is a phoned-in role for Cage and the rest of the cast looks equally apathetic. 

    Slightly interesting is the special effects show at the end of the film, but they merely serve as an example of too little, too late. 

    The only time I was even modestly entertained was when the 10-year-old boy sitting behind me (obviously taken out of school to see the film by his model parents) started belching unrelentingly at the screen.  Normally I would consider this behavior reprehensible, but this particular time I felt fortunate for the distraction.  F