A pretty good ride, this thriller about Eddie, a blocked writer who discovers that experimental pills turn him into a brilliant achiever has some holes but what did you expect? Shakespeare? Starring Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, more) as Eddie, Abbie Cornish (Bright Star, others) as his girlfriend Lindy, and Robert De Niro (after I wrote about him in Everybody's Fine, he was in Stone and Little Fockers, and he has 7 projects in the works) as a financier who stands to profit from Eddie's abilities, this was adapted by Leslie Dixon (known mostly for her adaptations: Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Pay It Forward (2000), and Hairspray (2007)) from the 2001 novel The Dark Fields (soon to be re-released and re-titled Limitless) by Alan Glynn, and directed by Neil Burger (the only other of his movies I've seen is The Illusionist (2006), the one with Ed Norton, Jessica Biel, and Paul Giamatti, and it's very good). It certainly made me think a lot about Phenomenon (1996) and the current series No Ordinary Family (and Roger Ebert thought about Charly (1968)). Rottentomatoes' average is barely fresh, with 66% from critics and 75% from audiences. The special effects and makeup are good, with one gorgeous actress (I won't reveal who, as it's a spoiler) made to look puffy and wasted, and the use of color is effective as well.
Lots of songs supplement the original music by Paul Leonard-Morgan and Nico Muhly (Muhly's name has been removed from imdb for this picture). I had to move back several rows and squirt essence of ginger in my mouth because the zooming camera moves were starting to make me sick. This goes on the list for Motion picture motion sickness. For people who love Cooper this is a must see. For the rest of us, it's not a waste of time, but there may be more entertaining choices to be had.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
It's been a while since Jack and I have gone to a matinee on a movie's opening day, but we managed it Friday and liked the story of an L.A. attorney working out of the back seat of his vintage Town Car (his using a driver is explained early on) with the license plate NTGUILTY. Starring Matthew McConaughey (my favorites of his work: Edtv (1999), Contact (1997), Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001), How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days (2003), and Dazed and Confused (1993), in that order) and Ryan Phillippe (he bugs me, despite the fact that he's been in some movies I loved, e.g. Gosford Park (2001), one of my all-time favorites Igby Goes Down (2002), and Crash (2004)) as the lawyer Micky Haller and his Beverly Hills client Louis Roulet (because Roulet is sketchy, it's okay that I feel that way about Phillippe), the movie boasts McConaughey's confident grin, a real plot, photography of all sides of the city, some kick-ass rap music and more star power in the supporting roles. Marisa Tomei (I wrote about her in Cyrus) is credited as a star but her role is supporting, though not superfluous, as Micky's wife. Michael Peña (Crash, Babel (2006), World Trade Center (2006), more) has some fine and moving scenes as convict Jesus Martinez. The reliable William H. Macy (Oscar nominated for Fargo (1996), he was also wonderful in Boogie Nights (1997), Wag the Dog (1997), Magnolia (1999), State and Main (2000), The Cooler (2003), Thank You for Smoking (2005), and the current outstanding and nasty Showtime series Shameless) puts in good work as the investigator Frank, as does Bryan Cranston (formerly Malcolm in the Middle's dim dad Hal, then Breaking Bad's crafty high-school-chemistry-teacher-turned-meth-manufacturer Walt) as a detective, and country music star Trace Adkins plays the leader of a motorcycle gang who, to quote The Wizard of Oz, come and go so quickly.
Director Brad Furman started out as Julia Roberts' assistant on Erin Brockovich (2000) and The Mexican (2001) and in the next two years he wrote, produced, and directed three shorts. Now, after directing another feature, The Take (2007) that got right past me, he's in the multiplexes with this one. I looked at 10-15 sites to find out his age, but it's apparently not public. John Romano wrote the screenplay adaptation of the Michael Connelly 2005 novel of the same name. The Lincoln Lawyer is the first of Connelly's "Micky Haller novels" (he's written 14 "Harry Bosch novels," two "Micky Haller and Harry Bosch novels," and another "Micky Haller novel" is coming out next month--good timing!).
The song list can be found here, clips are edited together on this preview, and here's a taste of the original music by Cliff Martinez (fascinating bio, and downloads of music files are available on another page of his site). When you see it, remember I mentioned "missionary man." This is good entertainment--a bit dark, not for kids, rated R for a reason.
There were plenty of people at our afternoon screening, including a woman older than I who shushed me 10 seconds after the trailers began (Jack noted that, though we kept our remarks to each other to in-ear-whispering, people around her were talking, rustling wrappers, and one had a conversation on her cell phone). Perhaps the increased numbers were due to the fact that Groupon sold 190,000 discount tickets! Despite that promotion, Limitless kicked The Lincoln Lawyer's ass at the box office last weekend.
Director Brad Furman started out as Julia Roberts' assistant on Erin Brockovich (2000) and The Mexican (2001) and in the next two years he wrote, produced, and directed three shorts. Now, after directing another feature, The Take (2007) that got right past me, he's in the multiplexes with this one. I looked at 10-15 sites to find out his age, but it's apparently not public. John Romano wrote the screenplay adaptation of the Michael Connelly 2005 novel of the same name. The Lincoln Lawyer is the first of Connelly's "Micky Haller novels" (he's written 14 "Harry Bosch novels," two "Micky Haller and Harry Bosch novels," and another "Micky Haller novel" is coming out next month--good timing!).
The song list can be found here, clips are edited together on this preview, and here's a taste of the original music by Cliff Martinez (fascinating bio, and downloads of music files are available on another page of his site). When you see it, remember I mentioned "missionary man." This is good entertainment--a bit dark, not for kids, rated R for a reason.
There were plenty of people at our afternoon screening, including a woman older than I who shushed me 10 seconds after the trailers began (Jack noted that, though we kept our remarks to each other to in-ear-whispering, people around her were talking, rustling wrappers, and one had a conversation on her cell phone). Perhaps the increased numbers were due to the fact that Groupon sold 190,000 discount tickets! Despite that promotion, Limitless kicked The Lincoln Lawyer's ass at the box office last weekend.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Jack and I were quite entertained by this story of a guy balking against supernatural forces trying to control his destiny, and by its attractive stars, beautiful New York photography, lush sets, and music by one of my favorite screen composers, Thomas Newman. Matt Damon (after I wrote about him in The Informant! he's been in Invictus, Hereafter, to which this movie has occult similarities but much more humor, a series arc on 30 Rock, and True Grit), handsome as ever, plays David, a passionate politician who meets cute with ballet dancer Elise, played by Emily Blunt (I wrote about her in Sunshine Cleaning and then said she was luminous in The Young Victoria). This comes so close after Black Swan that I believe it's a coincidence that they both have ballet themes. Another difference is that Emily Blunt had no dance training before shooting this, and, according to imdb, her dance double is clearly shown in one pivotal scene (we didn't spot it). The script, adapted by the director George Nolfi from a short story by Philip K. Dick (whose works were also the bases for Blade Runner (1982), Minority Report (2002), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and more) (I saw Blade Runner in the year of its release a few weeks after moving to L.A., and was depressed for days at its seedy depiction of my new home, but got over it). Speaking of 1980s movie connections, just having thought about Wings of Desire (1987) when I wrote about Bruno Ganz in Unknown, the "Adjuster" Harry, played by Anthony Mackie (I wrote about him in both Notorious and The Hurt Locker), made me think more than a little about the angels in Wings of Desire--flawed, with human qualities. I was also reminded of my first semester of film school, also that year, when the head of the program said that love stories need conflict. This one certainly had it!
This is Nolfi's directorial debut after writing the sequels Ocean's Twelve (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and an assured debut it is. Cinematographer John Toll (Oscars for Legends of the Fall (1994) and Braveheart (1995), also shot The Last Samurai (2003) and Tropic Thunder, among many) deserves accolades for the gorgeous establishing and panoramic shots of NYC, albeit somewhat hampered by noticeable damage to the screen in theatre #14 at the multiplex near the university (clearly not Toll's fault!). To read about the choice of locations, check out the production notes and go directly to page 20 to avoid spoilers. Many commenters on imdb have complained about another screening problem: boom microphones in shots, which some say are the fault of the projectionist (I was taught that the person behind the camera is entirely responsible for keeping the boom out of the shot and is encouraged to cut the action to adjust it). In any case, we saw no booms at the top of any frames. In addition to the cinematography we loved the art direction, decorating many scenes with marble and polished wood.
Here's some of Thomas Newman's (son of composer Alfred Newman (no E.), nephew of Lionel, cousin of Randy, and more) predictably great music from the movie (I can't vouch for the images being spoiler-free, because I'm listening while typing in another window and not looking at them). After seeing Unstrung Heroes (1995), which earned Newman his third Oscar nomination (after Little Women and Shawshank Redemption (both 1994)) I immediately bought the CD, and also have in my iTunes full or partial soundtracks for American Beauty (1999-nominated), Pay it Forward (2000), Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events (2004-nominated), Little Children (2006), Towelhead, and Wall-E (nominated). Never having won an Oscar, he was also nominated for Road to Perdition (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), and The Good German (2006). As I look at his long resumé I want to check out many of his other soundtracks.
We recommend this.
This is Nolfi's directorial debut after writing the sequels Ocean's Twelve (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and an assured debut it is. Cinematographer John Toll (Oscars for Legends of the Fall (1994) and Braveheart (1995), also shot The Last Samurai (2003) and Tropic Thunder, among many) deserves accolades for the gorgeous establishing and panoramic shots of NYC, albeit somewhat hampered by noticeable damage to the screen in theatre #14 at the multiplex near the university (clearly not Toll's fault!). To read about the choice of locations, check out the production notes and go directly to page 20 to avoid spoilers. Many commenters on imdb have complained about another screening problem: boom microphones in shots, which some say are the fault of the projectionist (I was taught that the person behind the camera is entirely responsible for keeping the boom out of the shot and is encouraged to cut the action to adjust it). In any case, we saw no booms at the top of any frames. In addition to the cinematography we loved the art direction, decorating many scenes with marble and polished wood.
Here's some of Thomas Newman's (son of composer Alfred Newman (no E.), nephew of Lionel, cousin of Randy, and more) predictably great music from the movie (I can't vouch for the images being spoiler-free, because I'm listening while typing in another window and not looking at them). After seeing Unstrung Heroes (1995), which earned Newman his third Oscar nomination (after Little Women and Shawshank Redemption (both 1994)) I immediately bought the CD, and also have in my iTunes full or partial soundtracks for American Beauty (1999-nominated), Pay it Forward (2000), Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events (2004-nominated), Little Children (2006), Towelhead, and Wall-E (nominated). Never having won an Oscar, he was also nominated for Road to Perdition (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), and The Good German (2006). As I look at his long resumé I want to check out many of his other soundtracks.
We recommend this.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune (2010)
We learned a lot (I more than Jack, the history teacher) from this tight documentary about the protest folksinger/songwriter (1940-1976), which has archival footage, duets with Joan Baez and others, interviews with his siblings Sonia and Michael, his wife Alice, and others, and packed with so many songs it qualifies as a musical. I came late to Ochs' party buying Pleasures of the Harbor, his fourth and least successful album, long after its 1967 release (and apparently sold it in a purge of my less-used vinyl when I moved 10 years ago). We enjoyed this and recommend it to anyone who remembers liking Ochs. For some background, here's the trailer, a bio and videos of the songs There But for Fortune, I Ain't Marching Anymore, and Outside a Small Circle of Friends (the latter is from the album I had).
We saw this February 23, but I forgot to write about it, caught up as I was in Oscar mania (what a letdown) (next year give Anne Hathaway another chance with a co-host who actually cares to entertain) (fat chance).
We saw this February 23, but I forgot to write about it, caught up as I was in Oscar mania (what a letdown) (next year give Anne Hathaway another chance with a co-host who actually cares to entertain) (fat chance).
Unknown (2011)
This is a good thriller about a man who wakes from a coma to find no one has missed him, his wife doesn't recognize him, and he wonders if he's going crazy, with taut performances and product placement by Mercedes Benz, including some seemingly indestructible vehicles (the car chases alone are worth the price of admission). The fluffy snow in Berlin plays a part as well. Not having seen Liam Neeson in Taken (2009) (though I wrote about my faves in Chloe) I can't comment on the similarities, but apparently there are many. Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) plays Gina the cab driver; January Jones (Betty Draper on Mad Men, Pirate Radio) is Liz the wife (I had to laugh at one scene where Neeson's Martin describes his wife as wearing a "dark dress," when, to me, her platinum hair is her most distinguishing feature); Bruno Ganz (favorites of the few I've seen: Wings of Desire (1987), The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992), Youth Without Youth (2007), The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)) is the former intelligence officer Ernst; and, in the last act, Frank Langella (whom Jack likes to call Lemon-jello) (some faves: Dave (1993), Lolita (1997), Superman Returns (2006--have I mentioned it has one of the best airplane rescue scenes ever? Yes, I have), Starting Out in the Evening (2007), and, of course Frost/Nixon) shows up as Martin's "oldest friend" Rodney. I like Aiden Quinn (favorites: Reckless (1984), Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Benny & Joon (1993), Practical Magic (1998), and the short-lived series The Book of Daniel), but he doesn't have a lot to do here, nor does the handsome Sebastian Koch (Black Book (2006), The Lives of Others (2006), more). Former video director Jaume Collet-Serra is new to me, as are writers Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell (the latter is John LeCarre's son), who adapted the screenplay from the novel Out of My Head by Didier Van Cauwelaert. Most of the loose ends are tied up nicely by the end.
Not high art, but Jack and I had a good time. Rottentomatoes doesn't really agree, with the critics' score falling below passing with 55% and audiences just above with 61%.
Not high art, but Jack and I had a good time. Rottentomatoes doesn't really agree, with the critics' score falling below passing with 55% and audiences just above with 61%.
Afterschool (2008)
As a female boomer I'm definitely not the target demographic for this tale of a boarding school freshman boy with no friends, an internet porn addiction, and some pretty bad luck, but I liked it quite a bit nonetheless. It has odd camera framing, including one scene where I recognized the voice of Rosemarie DeWitt as a teacher, even though the only parts of her that were shown were the parts on which a teenage boy would focus. Later the odd framing could be explained by members of the school's A/V club. The talented Ezra Miller (a series arc on Californication in 2008, another on Royal Pains 2009-2010, and wonderful in City Island), in his first acting gig, stars as Rob. Jeremy Allen White (Lip on the fabulous Showtime series Shameless, more) play's Rob's roommate Dave. Michael Stuhlbarg (after I wrote about him in A Serious Man, I've been watching him in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire as Arnold Rothstein, the man who fixed the 1919 World Series) plays the earnest school principal, and Addison Timlin, as the innocent sophomore Amy, looked familiar but I had to look her up to find she had her own series arc on Californication this year, one in which she removes her top frequently.
The feature debut of director/writer Antonio Campos, this movie was nominated (after premiering at Cannes) for The Gotham Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You (lost to Sita Sings the Blues) and breakthrough Director (lost to Lance Hammer for Ballast), as well as for the Independent Spirit Best First Feature (lost to Synecdoche, New York), and Campos does have another release in the can, Simon Killer, for later this year. Definitely worth seeing sometime, but probably not suitable for innocent kids (worldly teenagers, okay), this was the second half of the one-night-only independent movie double feature at the university last Thursday (with Littlerock) (coincidentally both have titles with two words melded together). Even fewer people saw this one. Again, too bad.
Milestone alert: this is the 350th movie summarized on babetteflix! See the index for the complete list.
The feature debut of director/writer Antonio Campos, this movie was nominated (after premiering at Cannes) for The Gotham Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You (lost to Sita Sings the Blues) and breakthrough Director (lost to Lance Hammer for Ballast), as well as for the Independent Spirit Best First Feature (lost to Synecdoche, New York), and Campos does have another release in the can, Simon Killer, for later this year. Definitely worth seeing sometime, but probably not suitable for innocent kids (worldly teenagers, okay), this was the second half of the one-night-only independent movie double feature at the university last Thursday (with Littlerock) (coincidentally both have titles with two words melded together). Even fewer people saw this one. Again, too bad.
Milestone alert: this is the 350th movie summarized on babetteflix! See the index for the complete list.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Littlerock (2010)
I really liked this sweet independent movie, winner of the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You of the 2010 Gotham Awards, about two young Japanese tourists stranded in the titular town in northern Los Angeles County, near Palmdale. Atsuko and her brother Rintaro are on their way to Manzanar, a real National Historic Site where there was a World War II Japanese internment camp, and their car has broken down in Littlerock. The movie's languid pace matches that of the aimless slackers who live there, and who meet Atsuko (the U is silent) and Rintaro at their motel. Co-written by star Atsuko Okatsuka (her first script and third role, but the other two were shorts) and Carl McLaughlin (his debut) there's plenty of improvisation but a clear plot as Atsuko makes some risky choices despite speaking no English.
Director/co-writer Mike Ott (winner for this movie of the Independent Spirit Someone to Watch Award) said in an interview (no spoilers) that many of the ideas were Atsuko's and they wanted to make a sort of reverse Lost in Translation (director/writer Sofia Coppola's 2003 movie about Americans in Japan). Rintaro Sawamoto plays Rintaro Sakamoto as mature and impatient, and Cory Zacharia (like many in the cast, he really is from Littlerock) plays Cory Lawler as immature and clueless. Many of the laughs in the movie are from Cory's lines, and I wonder if anyone intended that.
Not many people were at the university for its only screening the night before last week's earthquake/tsunami in Japan, and that's too bad. Ott has only one other feature behind him (his 2006 Cal Arts thesis, Analog Days, which I haven't seen) and I will look forward to his next project. This played one night only, in a double feature with Afterschool (coincidentally two words as one). Not for children, as there is some adult activity and drug use.
Not many people were at the university for its only screening the night before last week's earthquake/tsunami in Japan, and that's too bad. Ott has only one other feature behind him (his 2006 Cal Arts thesis, Analog Days, which I haven't seen) and I will look forward to his next project. This played one night only, in a double feature with Afterschool (coincidentally two words as one). Not for children, as there is some adult activity and drug use.
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