Beginners

         There are different types of films in the world.  In this day and age, we tend to gravitate to whatever movie is generating the biggest buzz at the Box Office.  Blockbusters are the de rigueur for most trips to the movies these days and the studios turn out high cost, special effects laden events, each designed to out do the previous in terms of scale and production.  Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the wonderment and magic of what is being accomplished in modern cinema today.  Sometimes though, we forget that cinema is about art and art is about connection.  All the special effects and big budgets in the world cannot replace the art of the story. Mike Mills writes and directs a movie that is only about story and connection and sheds everything else as superfluous to give us a pure and heartfelt experience that we sometimes forget are what movies are all about.

Oliver (Ewan McGregor) has his world turned upside down by two major revelations.  First; that after his mother has died his 75 yr old father Hal (Christopher Plummer) has come out the closet and wishes to explore his long suppressed sexuality with a new young male lover.  Second; Oliver learns that his father has terminal cancer.

I always admire foreign actors who can play Americans with practiced ease.  Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer are both actors that are a pleasure to watch and are able to do this.  There is no hint of their British pedigree as they weave this tale of a common American man facing his personal issues against the back drop of the death of his father.

You would think that this film would be about a son trying to come to grips with his father’s homosexuality when, in fact, that has very little to do with the story.  Oliver’s journey comes after his father’s death as he tries to understand why he is perennially single and unable to make any relationship work.  The film is a meditation on the nature of his relationships and why he is alone.  His father’s dog (whom he takes in after his death) provides him the closest of all of his relationships and is a foil for his inner conflicts.  His conversations with his dog provide insights to his loneliness.  The dog is adorable and silent, yet communicates with Oliver through subtitles (or perhaps this is what Oliver projects).  It sounds weird, but it works in a low key, subtle, and humorous way.

Oliver finds hope when he meets a lovely French woman named Anna (played by the alluring Melanie Laurent from Inglorious Basterds fame).  Melanie Laurent possess a simple, yet hypnotic European beauty that is impossible not to be charmed by.  The chemistry between McGregor and Laurent is effortless and we feel deeply for these characters as they draw close to each other.  Anna is not without her own baggage in regards to relationships and the two struggle as they draw closer.  Not the screaming and yelling struggles that European directors put forth as art, rather simple fundamental struggles of feelings and what they mean.  The movie doesn’t answer questions, but observes how we push people away in order to protect ourselves, yet that same act ends up hurting us more.

Oliver struggles to understand the nature of relationships through flashbacks of his own life and more specifically of the last four years spent with his dying father.  His father worries about his son’s ability to find someone even though his secret life is what probably prevents him from connecting with someone.  Hal loved Oliver’s mother, but his hidden sexual orientation during his marriage prevented him from providing the path and example of honest emotional connection.  Even his final years of happiness with his male lover is not without complications and the relationship is full of compromises that sour Oliver’s view on relationships.

The movie is masterfully done and written without pretense.  A simple story that is simply moving.  Judging by the synopsis, it sounds like it would be a ‘downer’ movie, but quite the opposite is true.  It is very uplifting, while at the same time being quiet and somber.  It takes it’s time and despite it’s simplicity, does not bore the audience.  Only the hardest heart could not be charmed by the emotional journey taken by Oliver and Hanna as they struggle to find a lasting connection.

To me, this is what movies should be all about.  The art of crafting a story that moves us, makes us appreciate beauty, and allows us to examine life from different perspectives.

I rate this movie **** stars

Bad Teacher

        Have you ever gone to a movie and just said; ‘Ehh, not bad’?  That sums up my feelings for the movie Bad Teacher.  You get exactly what the trailers prepare you for; a raunchy ‘fish out of water’ comedy.  This film tries to follow the Judd Apatow formula for comedies which is shock humor overlying a sweet and innocent story.  The director, Jake Kasdon, doesn’t succeed but neither does he fail.  This is an entertaining R-rated comedy that I can’t say I didn’t enjoy, but neither can I say its’ a ‘must see’.

Cameron Diaz has proven her comedic chops and does a good job playing Elizabeth Halsey, a gold-digging lazy teacher who took a job for “all the right reasons”, namely short days with summers and all holidays off.  Justin Timberlake plays Scott Delacorte, the substitute teacher who comes from family money and catches Elizabeth’s gold digging eye.  I’m going to take a slight detour here to discuss Justin Timberlake.  Here is a guy whose childhood was a recipe for an adult disaster.  Most child stars with his boy band background end up in jail and/or rehab or hosting lip syncing shows for a season on VH1.  Justin has done a great job transitioning, not only to an adult celebrity, but a multi-versatile one as well.  You want to disrespect him, but he doesn’t let you.  Great performances in the Social Network and Alpha Dog show his ability, plus comedic performances like this one in Bad Teacher, shows that he’s versatile.  I’m reluctantly impressed with him as a performer.

Back to the movie; Elizabeth decides the only way she can land Scott or any other rich husband is with breast implants.  Unfortunately, on a teacher’s salary, this poses a large problem.  When she learns that there is a large cash prize for the teacher whose students score the highest in the State exams, she suddenly has a fire lit under her and decides to start teaching instead of showing movies everyday.  The only problem is that the uber goody two-shoes teacher Amy Squirrel (played with perfect annoyance by Lucy Punch), whose classroom is across the hall from Elizabeth, will stop at nothing to keep her from winning or getting Scott who she also has her eye on.  Jason Segal plays the gym teacher Russell Gettis, who is very drawn to Elizabeth despite her dismissal of him as not being socially worthy of her.  Segal always plays this type of generic non-threatening laid back guy in most of the comedies he is in.  

The movie has some good laughs and enough edge for people who like R-rated movies.  It was fun to see the real life exes Diaz and Timberlake performing together.  Justin captures the nerdy rich guy comedically enough and his ego is in check enough that he doesn’t feel the need to show off his musical talent during an embarrassing serenade.  Diaz is still sexy and fun and you can tell she reveled in this role.  She has one of the rare gifts to know she is attractive, but doesn’t appear to have an ego about it (or maybe i’m still idolizing her character from ‘Something About Mary’).  There are lot of familiar comedic faces in this movie and it is worth going to see if you’re in the mood.

It’s not a film I will be seeing again, but i don’t feel like a wasted my time or money either.

I rate this film **1/2 stars

Green Lantern

Green Lantern is BAD!!!!  I don’t say this lightly as I try to find something good in every movie I watch.  I realize the time and investment that a studio takes and that people put their lives, careers, and fortunes on the line to give us a 2 hour block of movie magic.  I also realize that my love of super hero movies unfairly bias me to appreciating a mediocre movie more than I probably should.  The reverse of that is that I am probably too harsh on super hero films that don’t live up to my expectations.  All this I am aware of yet I am still comfortable in saying that this was just flat out BAD.

                I wondered how this could fail.  I love the character Green Lantern.  I think Ryan Reynolds was perfectly cast as the lead, Hal Jordan.  The movie invested the proper amount of money to ensure that the production was top notch.  I had the firm belief that after the Chris Nolan Batman franchise, the studios understood what it took to make a quality super hero movie.  Yet fail they did.  This was a $150 million waste of time that I will be amazed if it produces a sequel (unless they totally reboot it like they did with the Hulk).   This just shows that no matter what the star power or special effects, it’s still the story that makes the movie.

                The thing that is so frustrating is that the movie is very faithful to the comic book story line.  Even the details and back stories are there.  The story just doesn’t deliver.  For the uninitiated (or perhaps ‘disinterested’ is the better word), Green Lantern is a cosmic superhero.  A group of immortals who live on the planet OA tapped the fundamental force of the universe millennia ago.  The power is the green energy of will.  The Guardians, as they are called, created an army of transpecies warriors known as the Green Lantern corps who can channel the force of will through emerald rings.  These Green Lanterns patrol their sector of the universe, acting as beat cops and protecting the universe from evil.  One of the Guardians went rogue and accessed the opposing yellow power of fear and was corrupted by it.  The power of fear grew so great that it threatened the universe until the Green Lanterns trapped him (if this sounds vaguely like the Force from Star Wars, I will say that Green Lantern was created well before Star Wars). 

                The rogue Guardian is known as Paralax and after his escape from his prison he is bent on revenge.  Only one mortally wounded Green Lantern escapes the initial encounter with Paralax and makes his way to earth to find someone worthy of the ring.  This is where our hero/scoundrel test pilot Hal Jordan comes in.  He is bequeathed the ring by the dying alien with the counsel that he has been chosen and to recite the oath. Ryan Reynolds is always a pleasure, but his trademark humor and ironic quips seemed very out of place here.  I was amazed how calmly everyone accepted the existence of aliens and magical flying superheroes.  Perhaps the public was aware of other superheroes that they didn’t mention in the movie.

                Blake Lively plays the requisite love interest alluringly.  She is a fellow test pilot and aeronautical executive (not a bad resume for a 24 yr model).  She is fun to look at, but that is it.  Her conflicted love interest between Hal and her job seems forced at best. She walks around looking good.  Mark Strong plays a fellow Green Lantern and future villain, Sinestro (how could you not end up being a villain with a name like that?).  He adds a welcome Shakesperean weight to his role.  He has one of my favorite voices in films today.  The true acting standout was in a character that I really didn’t care for.  Peter Sarsgaard plays the odd ball scientist, Hector Hammond.  Hector is infected with Paralax’s power early on and becomes his earthly vessel.  I confess that I wasn’t smart enough to fully understand the connection with Paralax or Hammond’s purpose in the movie, but Sarsgaard took the role seriously and gave a great performance.  He was really the only character with any depth.



                My opinion is that, with the exception of Batman, many of these DC characters were created so long ago that they are no longer relevant.  Chris Nolan reinvented Batman for the modern era, but recent films like Superman and now Green Lantern try to re create the square jaw all-American hero in a more ambiguous world.  The Dudley Doright model doesn’t connect with the audience like they did in the 1940’s.  I still believe good writing can make it work, but it does have to adapt to the sensibilities of the world we live in today.  No longer can studios just throw dazzling special effects and expect people not to care about the story.  In fairness, Green Lantern is a hard movie to do without coming off cartoony given the cosmic nature of the story.  Still, I will stick to the belief that a good writer can make any story work.  Daredevil was the most ridiculous concept for a super hero ever and the writing talents of Frank Miller made it a literary force to be reckoned with in the comic world.  This movie shows what Hollywood execs, who have no understanding of what makes comics fun and interesting, will come up with.  Star power and big budgets with big special effects.  Story is an afterthought in their minds.

                I give this film * star (and only because so much was invested in it)

               



X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class

               Once again, I have to state that I am slightly biased when it comes to these types of movies.  I love super- hero movies as much as I love reboots (as long as they are good) and I love prequels.  This one was all three.  X-Men: First Class tells the story of how Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik ‘Magneto’ Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) first met and came to form the school that is the basis for the comic book and previous movies.  This is a great ride and a satisfying feat of film making considering it had to compare to the great performances in the original movie by Patrick Stewart and Ian McClellan. 

                I almost don’t consider this a reboot as a reboot tells the story from a fresh perspective or interpretation.  This one was definitely meant to be an account (and in that sense continuing the story line) of how things came to be in the first four X-men movies (I’m including X-men Origins: Wolverine).  However, this one definitely has a different flavor from the other ones.  I would say it almost had a James Bond feeling to it.  Especially in the first part of the film which involved the future Magneto hunting down ex-Nazis.  Lensherr’s ultimate goal is to track down the Nazi who killed his mother.  There has been a lot of scuttle that Michael Fassbender portrayed this role so well that he could be a strong consideration for succeeding Daniel Craig when he leaves the James Bond role.  I totally agree. This movie is a true show case for Fassbender as he portrays the future Magneto with a cool, hip, and sinister slickness that harkens back to the Sean Connery Bond of the 60’s (Ironically, the director Mathew Vaughn’s movie ‘The Layer Cake’ turned out to be a career making role for Daniel Craig which landed him the role of Bond).

                James McAvoy takes on the unenviable task of the role of the young Charles Xavier, the role done to perfection by the great Patrick Stewart. They are big shoes and almost impossible to fill, but McAvoy delivers.  He portrays the younger version of the solemn wise professor as a sort of Austin Powers playboy.  Brilliant and accomplished, but just as interested in impressing women as he is in explaining the secrets of mutation to the world.  You can’t imagine that he will one day be the impassive Charles Xavier who we know and love from the X-Men movies, even though we see all the personality seeds there waiting to sprout.  We learn how far back the relationship between Mystique (played seductively by Jennifer Lawrence) and Xavier goes and the nature of it.  The film adds nuanced and sympathetic layers to the one dimensional Mystique character from the previous movies.

                Kevin Bacon portrays the film’s villain, Sebastian Shaw; the leader of The Hellfire Club.  He channels every Bond villain ever created, right down to surrounding himself with scantily clad, dangerous women and riding around in a flamboyantly decked out nuclear submarine.  Shaw is the aforementioned Nazi who Magneto is pursuing. Shaw’s goal is to destroy the human race to clear the way for mutants to become the dominant race.  By manipulating events in a Bond villain type fashion, Shaw orchestrates the Cuban missile crisis. 

                Xavier’s future wife, Moira Mac Taggert (Rose Byrne) is the CIA agent who discovers the secret plot and enlists Xavier to help explain the mutant phenomenon and enlist other mutants to combat Shaw’s team of mutants.

                At this point the movie takes a different direction as it leaves the Bond arena and enters the world of super-heroes.  Xavier and Magneto become fast friends as they team up to try and enlist mutants they find through an early version of Cerebro (you have to have watched the previous movies to understand).  It’s always fun to see the introduction of characters and their unique powers.  Some characters work and some don’t.  Some of the standouts in this movie are Lucas Till as Havok and Nicholas Holt as The Beast (Nicholas seems to be making the transition from child actor to adult extremely well).  The movie plays liberally with the events from the comic book series, but the characters remain faithful in their interpretation.  Again, the seeds for the future are planted.  Everything from the space that will become the Danger Room to the prototype for their future jet are seen in their infancy.  Fan boys will be able to pick out numerous timeline inconsistencies from the movie, but the regular audience will enjoy it for the fun movie that it is.  People who haven’t seen the other X-men movies probably don’t like super hero movies anyway and this movie probably won’t change their minds.

                This movie breaks the trend of showing a scene after the credits, but everything else captures the magic of the X-men movies and breathes fresh life back into the series.  Exciting plot, fun action sequences and humorous cameos, this movie leaves us wanting more.  This is a good passing of the torch to a new cast without having to totally reboot the series.

I give this movie **** stars