Jack and I laughed long and hard at this story of a mean-spirited 40-something man who competes in kids' spelling bees via a loophole. Star Jason Bateman makes his feature directorial debut with a script by newcomer Andrew Dodge. Bateman (last blogged in Disconnect) plays against type as the guy, named Guy, with no filter who eventually bonds with his sheltered prepubescent competitor Chaitanya (cute boy Rohan Chand). Kathryn Hahn (most recently in We're the Millers) and Allison Janney (a voice in Mr. Peabody & Sherman) add support as the reporter trailing Guy and the spelling bee ice queen, respectively.
I have to add that two and a half weeks ago this is the first movie we saw after a few weeks of forced cinema absence, and we were not disappointed. Although there are kids in it, leave the pre-teens at home. That said, even though it's rated R, 13-year-old boys will probably love most of it as much as we did if they can manage to see it.
Monday, April 21, 2014
The Lunchbox (Dabba - 2013)
Delicious! A neglected Mumbai housewife's carefully prepared lunchbox is accidentally delivered to a lonely widower and they correspond via handwritten notes taken back and forth by Mumbai's usually flawless lunch delivery service. We get to see men go to houses (and restaurants) to pick up the brightly colored bags, take them through smoggy streets on bicycles, then transport trayfuls by train as they sing to pass the time. Irrfan Khan (last blogged in Life of Pi) plays the dour 60-something claims adjuster Saajan and a radiant Nimrat Kaur is Ila, whose life is brightened by her adorable six-year-old daughter and her housebound upstairs neighbor, whom she calls Auntie when they converse through the open window all day long.
The feature debut of director/writer Ritesh Batra, this boasts 24 producers, including Khan and Lydia Dean Pilcher (The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Namesake (2006), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), more), but The Butler holds the Producers Plethora Prize with 39 and is unlikely to be unseated anytime this decade. Mr. Batra has directed five short films but reportedly has another feature in the works.
The lovely soundtrack, by German composer Max Richter (most recently in these pages for scoring the Saudi movie Wadjda), hasn't been released, although one song is available on youtube.
Rottentomatoes critics average a whopping 96% and audiences come in at 88. Jack and I strongly urge you to see this tender and tasty slice.
The feature debut of director/writer Ritesh Batra, this boasts 24 producers, including Khan and Lydia Dean Pilcher (The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Namesake (2006), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), more), but The Butler holds the Producers Plethora Prize with 39 and is unlikely to be unseated anytime this decade. Mr. Batra has directed five short films but reportedly has another feature in the works.
The lovely soundtrack, by German composer Max Richter (most recently in these pages for scoring the Saudi movie Wadjda), hasn't been released, although one song is available on youtube.
Rottentomatoes critics average a whopping 96% and audiences come in at 88. Jack and I strongly urge you to see this tender and tasty slice.
Friday, April 11, 2014
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Jack and I thought we would love this crazy story of the concierge and "lobby boy" at a deluxe European inn in the 1930s. We did. Eagerly anticipated by fans of director/writer Wes Anderson (last blogged in Moonrise Kingdom), it stars Ralph Fiennes (most recently in The Invisible Woman) and Tony Revolori (new to me, he'll be 18 in two weeks), and Saoirse Ronan (last in I Could Never Be Your Woman, she'll turn 20 tomorrow), among others. There are some confusing bits so I'll unravel it for you. The movie begins, I think, in the present, with a girl reading a book. Then it goes to 1985 with Tom Wilkinson as the author talking about the book he's written. Then we jump to 1968 with Jude Law playing the author as a young man vacationing at the hotel and meeting an older man, played by F. Murray Abraham. The latter reminisces about his life as a lobby boy, beginning in 1932, and then we travel back again. The screen shrinks to almost square size for the 1930s parts. Got it?
There are many big names, from middling parts to cameos, including Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban...the list goes on. And we completely missed a George Clooney cameo in a shootout scene.
Cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman (profiled in Moonrise Kingdom) gives us similar saturated photography and mention must be made of production designer Adam Stockhausen (Oscar-nominated for 12 Years a Slave and nominated for other awards for Moonrise Kingdom) and his team for the marvelous sets and props.
The soundtrack, by the busy Alexandre Desplat (most recently mentioned in The Monuments Men) can be previewed in clips on its amazon page and at least two tracks can be heard in their entireties (one, two).
There are many big names, from middling parts to cameos, including Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban...the list goes on. And we completely missed a George Clooney cameo in a shootout scene.
Cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman (profiled in Moonrise Kingdom) gives us similar saturated photography and mention must be made of production designer Adam Stockhausen (Oscar-nominated for 12 Years a Slave and nominated for other awards for Moonrise Kingdom) and his team for the marvelous sets and props.
The soundtrack, by the busy Alexandre Desplat (most recently mentioned in The Monuments Men) can be previewed in clips on its amazon page and at least two tracks can be heard in their entireties (one, two).
Rottentomatoes' averages agree with us at 92% from critics and 90 from audiences. My local newspaper should be scolded for printing a review from one of the 8%, a hater who said the movie lacks logic--he lacks imagination. This is a delightful confection.
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