We both like Steves Carell and Buscemi but they didn't really do it for us in this story of stuck-in-the-80s magicians struggling for their Las Vegas careers. Carell's (last in Hope Springs) character is annoying, but not in a Michael Scott way, and Buscemi's is kinda pathetic (even though he's normally so good, e.g. in New York Stories (1989), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Living in Oblivion, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Fargo (1996), Trees Lounge (1996) which he also wrote and directed, Kansas City (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), Ghost World (2001), Romance and Cigarettes, Delirious (2006), Interview (2007), Youth in Revolt, and the serieses The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, just to name a lot). Jim Carrey (most recently in these pages in I Love You Phillip Morris) plays a crazy competitor who is somewhat funnier but he can't save this, despite no shortage of supporting cast members, including Alan Arkin (last in Argo), Olivia Wilde (People Like Us), James Gandolfini (Zero Dark Thirty), Jay Mohr (Hereafter), and more. David Copperfield appears briefly but worked behind the scenes.
The writing team of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Horrible Bosses) may be to blame (I spotted a cameo by Daley as a paramedic, recognizing him from Freaks and Geeks), or maybe it's the story by them, Tyler Mitchell and Chad Kultgen (feature debut for both), or maybe director Don Scardino (a lot of TV, including 38 episodes of 30 Rock) let this founder.
Often we like movies with low ratings such as this (38% critics/63 audiences on rottentomatoes) but not this time. Wait for cable, record it on your DVR, watch the beginning, maybe a half hour, skip 45 minutes or so, and watch the end, including the bonus.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
As a fan since childhood of all the Oz books I eagerly anticipated and enjoyed (as did Jack) this prequel to The Wizard of Oz, with material drawn from many of the lesser-known books. It's a spectacle in 3D, perhaps not spectacular, but the visuals are wonderful. As I was driving to the theatre three weeks ago, I heard an NPR reviewer basically panning it but he liked the opening sequence in black and white. The b/w opening is delightful, including the steampunk credits, shown here (the youtube version inexplicably compressed side to side even more than the intentionally cropped version on the big screen). The first act shows James Franco's (last in these pages in Rise of the Planet of the Apes) Oscar Diggs (nicknamed Oz) in his former life as a Kansas magician/con man who gets into a hot air balloon just as a tornado sweeps by. Then, just as in the 1939 classic, the screen fills with highly saturated color, Glinda travels by bubble power, there's a yellow brick road leading to the Emerald City, and some scary witches. Though there was a lot of talk about MGM's copyrights on, say, flying monkeys leading them to substitute flying baboons in this picture, it seemed to us many of the original movie's touches are there anyway. And, though I knew from the L. Frank Baum books that there were three other kinds of Oz people besides Munchkins (Quadlings, Winkies, and Gillikins), the screenwriters decided to change Gillikins to Tinkers, with skills to match. Oh well, it makes for some terrific gadgets.
Franco is cute as Oz, as is Zach Braff (his first role was a tiny one in Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) (scroll down for a still), but he's best known for 175 episodes of Scrubs (2001-10), The Last Kiss (2006), and of course Garden State (2004) which he directed, wrote, and starred) as his sidekick Frank in Kansas and Finley the flying monkey (!) in Oz, but the witches really stand out. Michelle Williams (most recently in Take This Waltz) ever reliable as evanescent Glinda (I can't imagine earthy Blake Lively in the role--see trivia), Mila Kunis (I wrote nicer things about Black Swan than I did about Ted) as Theodora, and especially Rachel Weisz (The Brothers Bloom preferable to The Lovely Bones) as her sister Evanora. And Kim told me her daughter Zoe recognized child actress Joey King as the girl in the wheelchair and the voice of the China Princess. I could have done with less weeping from her (not Zoe).
Director Sam Raimi (I've liked the four I've seen: A Simple Plan (1998) and all three Spider-Men (2002, 04, 07)) uses his experience with horror and fantasy to good effect, pun intended, from the screenplay co-written by David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole) and Mitchell Kapner (The Whole Nine Yards (2000) but not the awful sequel), the latter of whom is credited with the story. And I see on imdb that a sequel to this one is in the works. They'll probably leave out the striped stockings.
The music is classic Danny Elfman, with choral bits and a big string-filled orchestra. I'm listening to it as I type, because someone was kind enough to post the entire hour plus soundtrack on youtube, and I'm hoping I'll be finished before it's done playing (yes, but for proofreading). There is a recurring theme that makes me think of parts of the classic tune Fools Rush In.
Rottentomatoes' averages are 61 critics/66 audiences. This isn't great art but we had fun. Too bad nobody shouted, "Who rang that bell?!"
Franco is cute as Oz, as is Zach Braff (his first role was a tiny one in Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) (scroll down for a still), but he's best known for 175 episodes of Scrubs (2001-10), The Last Kiss (2006), and of course Garden State (2004) which he directed, wrote, and starred) as his sidekick Frank in Kansas and Finley the flying monkey (!) in Oz, but the witches really stand out. Michelle Williams (most recently in Take This Waltz) ever reliable as evanescent Glinda (I can't imagine earthy Blake Lively in the role--see trivia), Mila Kunis (I wrote nicer things about Black Swan than I did about Ted) as Theodora, and especially Rachel Weisz (The Brothers Bloom preferable to The Lovely Bones) as her sister Evanora. And Kim told me her daughter Zoe recognized child actress Joey King as the girl in the wheelchair and the voice of the China Princess. I could have done with less weeping from her (not Zoe).
Director Sam Raimi (I've liked the four I've seen: A Simple Plan (1998) and all three Spider-Men (2002, 04, 07)) uses his experience with horror and fantasy to good effect, pun intended, from the screenplay co-written by David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole) and Mitchell Kapner (The Whole Nine Yards (2000) but not the awful sequel), the latter of whom is credited with the story. And I see on imdb that a sequel to this one is in the works. They'll probably leave out the striped stockings.
The music is classic Danny Elfman, with choral bits and a big string-filled orchestra. I'm listening to it as I type, because someone was kind enough to post the entire hour plus soundtrack on youtube, and I'm hoping I'll be finished before it's done playing (yes, but for proofreading). There is a recurring theme that makes me think of parts of the classic tune Fools Rush In.
Rottentomatoes' averages are 61 critics/66 audiences. This isn't great art but we had fun. Too bad nobody shouted, "Who rang that bell?!"
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Admission (2013)
Reviews have been tepid but Jack and I enjoyed this story of a neurotic Princeton admissions officer who crosses paths with a counselor from a progressive country school. Tina Fey's (30 Rock has ended since I wrote about her in Date Night) Portia is more real than Liz Lemon, but there are some similarities, e.g. nerdy, impulsive professional woman with relationship and other issues.
Jack thought this was one of Paul Rudd's better performances (he didn't see This is 40 with me) and we usually like Rudd anyway. His character John's goofy grin is used to good effect, also as usual. Apparently it was as much a thrill for Lily Tomlin (my favorites include Nashville (1973) for which she was Oscar-nominated, The Late Show (1977), Nine to Five (1980), The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) of which I watched the second half a month ago way too late at night, All of Me (1984), Big Business (1988), The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1991), Short Cuts (1993), Flirting with Disaster (1996), and Krippendorf's Tribe (1998)) to work with Fey as the other way around--they are both ground-breaking writers and actresses. Sometime in the late 1980s I happened to spy Tomlin having a drink at a bar in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. I had already had a few myself and so I went up to her to say I was a big fan. "Of what, exactly?" she demanded. "Um, um, I loved your stage show of Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe," I stammered. "Well, then, you're a fan of Jane Wagner over there. She wrote it. What did you like?" I don't remember what I said but I know I wanted a trap door to escape right about then (there's a trap door gag or three in this movie). Regardless of her brusqueness with me, a tongue-tied fan (yes, kids, I get shy around greatness, especially when I was younger), Tomlin is an icon of feminism, a trait she brings to her character as Portia's mother Susannah. It was her idea for Susannah to have a tattoo of Bella Abzug, one of the founding mothers of the modern Women's Movement.
Supporting strength comes from Michael Sheen (last in these pages in Midnight in Paris), Wallace Shawn (profiled in A Late Quartet), teenage Nat Wolff (the son of Polly Draper from thirtysomething--coincidentally she had a small part in Side Effects--and musician Michael Wolff, Nat wrote songs for a TV series The Naked Brothers Band in which he starred with his brother Alex), and young Travaris Spears in his feature debut. Special note must be made of a funny one-note performance by Sonya Walger (Penny on Lost, Caroline on Tell Me You Love Me, others) as the Virginia Woolf Scholar.
Director Paul Weitz' last picture Being Flynn has been mentioned many times by reviewers. I wish they would realize that, though this isn't as serious as that one, it's not supposed to be a rollicking comedy, so they should stop complaining that there aren't enough jokes. There are plenty, but this one is a dramedy, folks. Karen Croner adapted Jean Hanff Korelitz' novel, not to the letter, according to the author, but with complete approval. Korelitz attended Dartmouth which is in central New Hampshire. Portia and John are Dartmouth alums and my only quibble is that there's a lot of driving back and forth between southern New Hampshire and Princeton, which, according to google maps, would take nearly five hours without traffic, yet they seem to get it done very quickly and at a moment's notice.
When we saw this on Friday, opening day, its rottentomatoes average was in the 30s. Tonight it's at 44 critics/58 audiences. Opening weekend isn't over for a few minutes so the numbers may go up tomorrow. We recommend this for fans of Fey, Rudd, Tomlin, and most anyone who remembers what it's like to apply for college.
Director Paul Weitz' last picture Being Flynn has been mentioned many times by reviewers. I wish they would realize that, though this isn't as serious as that one, it's not supposed to be a rollicking comedy, so they should stop complaining that there aren't enough jokes. There are plenty, but this one is a dramedy, folks. Karen Croner adapted Jean Hanff Korelitz' novel, not to the letter, according to the author, but with complete approval. Korelitz attended Dartmouth which is in central New Hampshire. Portia and John are Dartmouth alums and my only quibble is that there's a lot of driving back and forth between southern New Hampshire and Princeton, which, according to google maps, would take nearly five hours without traffic, yet they seem to get it done very quickly and at a moment's notice.
There are plenty of songs, listed here (including one by a Princeton a cappella group). But, for a change, the album has the score composed by Steven Trask (Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) in which he acted as well, Station Agent (2003), In Good Company (2004) which was directed/written by Weitz), and The Savages (2007), to name some of my faves). You can preview eleven tracks in their entirety and read about it on this link.
When we saw this on Friday, opening day, its rottentomatoes average was in the 30s. Tonight it's at 44 critics/58 audiences. Opening weekend isn't over for a few minutes so the numbers may go up tomorrow. We recommend this for fans of Fey, Rudd, Tomlin, and most anyone who remembers what it's like to apply for college.
Lore (2012)
Really good, really sad, this story of a pubescent girl leading her 4 siblings cross country after her Nazi parents' arrest at the end of WWII stayed with us, especially the performance of newcomer Saskia Rosendahl (19 when it was filmed) in the title role. Lore's staunch belief in the Nazi propaganda she's been taught makes her a less than sympathetic heroine, adding to the complexity of the moviegoers' experience. The other children are great, too, even the infant Peter, who slowly screws up his face to cry at one particular pivotal moment (poor kid cries a lot during the movie. I always wonder: do they pinch those tiny actors?).
Director/co-writer Cate Shortland (new to me but she made some shorts, some TV, one feature, and a TV movie before this in her native Australia) adapts, with co-writer Robin Mukherjee (more TV series, one feature, and some plays), the novel The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert. The movie is in German with English subtitles and is a UK/Australia/Germany production. Australia submitted it as its official Academy Award contender. Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (Animal Kingdom, more) won some festival awards for the artful pictures.
The haunting soundtrack by Max Richter (Waltz with Bashir, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, the song On the Nature of Daylight, that was in Stranger than Fiction (2006) and Shutter Island) can't be had in this country, but you can hear clips on Australian iTunes and youtube.
With ratings averaging 93% critic and 75 audiences on rottentomatoes, this is worth your time when you can find a way to be cheerful afterwards. We saw it a week ago and I think it will play another 5 days down the street.
Director/co-writer Cate Shortland (new to me but she made some shorts, some TV, one feature, and a TV movie before this in her native Australia) adapts, with co-writer Robin Mukherjee (more TV series, one feature, and some plays), the novel The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert. The movie is in German with English subtitles and is a UK/Australia/Germany production. Australia submitted it as its official Academy Award contender. Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (Animal Kingdom, more) won some festival awards for the artful pictures.
The haunting soundtrack by Max Richter (Waltz with Bashir, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, the song On the Nature of Daylight, that was in Stranger than Fiction (2006) and Shutter Island) can't be had in this country, but you can hear clips on Australian iTunes and youtube.
With ratings averaging 93% critic and 75 audiences on rottentomatoes, this is worth your time when you can find a way to be cheerful afterwards. We saw it a week ago and I think it will play another 5 days down the street.
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