Pompeii

From the director who brought audiences Resident Evil and Alien vs Predator comes a disaster-spectacle... Wait a minute; that sounds like a possible trailer for the movie. The director's track record certainly doesn't inspire confidence and for good reason; Pompeii IS one more disaster in his oeurve and one probably more catastrophic than the Vesuvius eruption of 79 A.D. Starring a patchwork cast of Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones), Kiefer Sutherland, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) and Jared Harris, Pompeii should be a late-night offering on the History Channel rather than movie-house fare. The story asks us to believe a Celtic survivor of a Roman massacre in ancient Britain would find himself in Pompeii years later; doomed to fight in a gladitorial arena. Overlooking this implausibility, he befriends a fellow gladiator and through a chance encounter with the daughter of a wealthy and powerful Pompeiian, falls in love. I don't have a problem with such a development; as recent reading of a terrific book on gladiators by the Roman historian Philip Matyszak attests to the possibility of such a union in ancient Rome. I do have a problem with the tsunami of cliches the movie traffics in, such as a white gladiator befriending fellow arena fighter of African descent. Seems whenever we see any Hollywood gladitorial production, a multi-cultural union of this ilk is involved. This can be traced to Spartacus, where Kirk Douglas and Woody Strode played the archetypal pairing. If Pompeii was hoping to make a Spartacus-like socio-political statement, it fails miserably. We know freedom is one theme, made manifest in the African's death scene, in which he raises a Black Panther-like fist; declaring his freedom as the ash and lava bury him. But the hero, played with little or no inner-rage by Harrington, isn't concerned with freedom but vengeance for the butchery of his family he witnessed as a child at the hands of Roman soldier, now Senator Kiefer Sutherland. That the two would find themselves face to face again years later is too much to swallow. The film follows a predictable course to several showdowns and the inevitable destruction of Pompeii; not a moment of surprise in between. Sutherland doesn't make us believe for a moment he is plausibly Roman or a senator; he just seems like a vexing pest with a 21st century haircut. Of course the script doesn't help, as the clunky dialogue is tired and tiresome to hear. Everyone is who they seem; noone deceives the audience for a moment with ulterior motives or agendas. It is also ludicrous for characters to settle scores as apocalyptic destruction reign downs on them. The hero and his African friend choose to face-down the Senator and his lackey in the arena when death-by-volcano seems imminent. And would anyone really go looking for a woman they just recently met when enormous chunks of fiery, volcanic ejecta is reducing the city to rubble and panic? Self-preservation would definitely be a more immediate concern. I guess it's pointless to rip this mess apart. The script doesn't allow the cast character-exploration or nuance. Some humor or genuine thrills might have redeemed the movie or even some gratuitous sex but the film is too chaste and dull for such adventure. Why did I see this movie? To save you $12.50.

3 Days to Kill

Dir. McG, Starring: Kevin Costner, Amber Beard, Hailee Steinfeld and Connie Nielsen. Paris is always a terrific setting for any film, so finding 3 Days to Kill set in the city of lights was particularly fun. The story is preposterous, gimmicky and almost unintentionally funny at times but it is also thrilling, entertaining, sometimes humorous and chock-full of eye candy. Costner plays a CIA agent who is diagnosed with a terminal illness with a deadly, 3 or 4 month life-limit. Amber Beard, a fetching CIA agent assigned to capture a German criminal planning to sell nuclear materials, hires the reluctant Costner with the promise of an experimental drug-cure as a lure. Complicating matters is Costner's estrangement from his daughter, played by Hailee Steinfeld and wife--Connie Nielsen--unfinished business from his past he intends to rectify. The action scenes are expertly directed and Costner makes a very watchable and credible bad-ass CIA agent. Costner is enjoying a resurgence in movies again after a long dormant period and his presence here helps tether the film's far-fetched developments to some sort of shaky premise. Steinfeld is the standard, pouty, movie teen; angry with Costner for being an absentee parent. The role doesn't allow her the quirky charm she exhibited in True Grit; which is too bad. Connie Nielsen fares a little better as the wife frustrated with her husband's dangerous, shadowy work but she too is given little to do. The villains are mostly serviceable baddies, sometimes even anachronistically stereotypical. An Italian accountant named Guido (a better name wasn't available?) talks and behaves like a lazy screenwriter's conception of a Sicilian while the principal villian-The Wolf-is German, which was probably the screenplay's only description of him. Amber Beard's character is scarcely believable as a CIA field-agent. Speeding around Paris in a sports car seems like just the kind of attention-getting behaviour a covert agency would abhor and is a risible breach of logic. And how many CIA agents are dressed stylishly in black leather; strikingly fashionable and sexy? Again, wouldn't this style of dress be spectacularly much for an CIA agent? May as well walk the Parisian fashion runways. And why doesn't she just shoot the Wolf herself in the Paris metro after Costner is incapacitated by the experimental drug's side-effects? Men like myself will shrug and overlook the aforementioned because Beard is lovely to behold. The film manages to be pleasing in spite of itself. If you find yourself smiling when you exit the theater, it could be a symptom of two reactions: 1) the film is satisfying or 2) the implausibilities are just too comical to ignore. Either way, there are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

Winter's Tale

**Spoiler Alert** Director: Akiva Goldsman, Starring: Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jessica Brown Findlay, William Hurt and Jennifer Connelly. I came into Winter's Tale expecting to loathe its make-believe hokum but my cynicism was promptly brushed aside the first half-hour of the movie. The previews promised a suffocatingly sentimental story but Winter's Tale has charm and mostly earns its tears. The fairy-tale nature of the movie arrives early. We see that the story pits good, old fashioned good vs good old fashioned evil; Colin Farrell vs Russell Crowe, essentially. Key to the fable is a princess-like beauty, played by Jessica Brown Findlay (she of Downton Abbey fame) who leaves Colin Farrell smitten upon first meeting him in 1895 New York City. Though she dies from consumption, leaving Farrell heartbroken, he finds himself magically transported to present day NYC where he hopes to reconnect to his past and solve a mystery connected to his deceased love. Hot on his heels is the evil crime-lord, played by Russell Crowe (hot is the operational word, for Crowe is a minion of Lucifer) who was once an associate of thief Farrell but has since become his enemy. The story leads to a predictable Farrell/Crowe showdown that involves the daughter of Jennifer Connelly, who is suffering from terminal cancer. Noone will confuse Winter's Tale with resonant cinema but it's sincere and sweet and the performances, particularly Farrell's and Crowe's, are solid. Unfortunately Hurt and Connelly suffer from underwritten characters and have very little to do in a film that belongs mostly to the adversaries. Too bad. Hurt can liven up any film with an eccentric performance while Connelly needs a substantial character to match her breathtaking beauty. I left the theater wishing I had seen more of both. Jessica Brown Findlay acquits herself admirably, striking some sparks with Farrell and giving her character some color if not nuance. I still enjoyed the movie and though I woudn't give the movie a ringing endorsement, I also wouldn't discourage a friend from seeing it.

The Lego Movie

**Spoiler Alert**

Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Starring the Voices of Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Will Farrell, Alison Brie, Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman. Just saw The Lego Movie today with my daughter and found it mildly entertaining though she seemed very pleased. A seemingly utopian Lego world is under threat from an evil Lego ruler, who plans to glue the Lego universe together. Only an unremarkable Lego named Emmet (who proves to be quite remarkable) and his friends can save the world and universe from gluey annihilation. The story is Lego-appropriate; as if from the mind of a child at play but nothing extraordinary. The movie's strength is its humor and its dogged determination to look like a Lego game rather than a lavish, CGI assault. I found myself chuckling often, especially when we see the father and son creators (Will Farrell is the father) of the story we're watching; who also happen to be key players in the story's outcome. More visually sophisticated children's fare can be found elsewhere but The Lego Movie has enough humor and a story conceived to boost any child's self-esteem, which should please parents and children alike.

Robo Cop (2014)

Robocop has been rebooted and updated for 21st century relevance. Joel Kinnaman is now occupying the role Peter Weller made relatively famous while a terrific cast accompanies the new incarnation. The story remains in Detroit and has more philosophical pretensions than the 80's version, which had a more political dimension. Unlike the original Robocop, this metal iteration has emotions and tries to reconnect with his family though what's left of him after a botched hit renders him essentially a head and a few internal organs. The story assumes existential proportions; rather than pursuing criminals from the vast police computer file downloaded into his brain, he shocks his 'makers' by overriding department agenda when he pursues the weapons-distributor responsible for his predicament. The story also addresses an almost theological problem of creator/creation and freewill. If that isn't enough for one film, a parallel between law-enforcement robots and drones echoes the ethical and moral debates about the deployment of the latter in military operations. Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, and Samuel L. Jackson lend some weight to the proceedings and make Robocop fun if not great entertainment. Jose Padilha, the Brazilian director who brought us the riveting Bus 174 , shows a deft hand with action sequences and draws solid performances from the cast. The latest Robocop has a longer reach than the original and though updated, retains the skeletal-plot of the first film.

Le Week-End

**Spoiler Alert**

Roger Michell's resume is a hit and miss history; a comedy gem like Notting-Hill is counter-balanced with drek like Morning Glory. Le Week-End is a more ambitious film and one that one might like for its performances but otherwise come away unimpressed. Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan play a couple whose marriage is in need of dire rehabilitation. The pair choose Paris for a weekend getaway and on a very limited budget, as becomes abudantly clear in the course of the story. The two bicker and snarl and seem better suited to divorce rather than reconciliation. Enter Jeff Goldblum. His character, once a school chum of Broadbent's, meets the unhappy couple serendipitously on a Parisian street and invites the two for a dinner the very next night. The two approach the party with trepidation, Broadbent anxious about the meeting while his career, his life and his marriage are a mess and Duncan, whose insecurity about her desirability finds Goldblum's flirtatiousness dangerously appealing. This is particularly vexing to Broadbent, whose neediness finds expression in the couple's homelife, as its revealed he literally follows his wife around the house; afraid of losing her and being alone. Needless to say the party serves as a Waterloo for the pair. Broadbent finds himself disclosing his dismissal as a professor, his marital crisis and his inability to have people want him around in a cringe-inducing dinner toast. Though Goldblum sees his friend as something heroic; someone who once inspired him, Broadbent has become full of self-doubt, diminished self-worth and hypocritical, as his dimissal from his professorial position is the result of making a racist statement to a student--something out of character for his leftist-leaning school activism he once shared with Goldblum. The party's outcome neatly wraps-up all the marital woes though the couple's habit of skipping out on checks thoughout the movie continues. They escape a sizeable hotel bill then attempt the same in a cafe, where they finally appeal to Goldblum for rescue; bringing what are metaphors for the couple's longing for daring and risk to a welcome end. The audience present at the screening seemed unimpressed. I enjoyed it somewhat for the performances and for images of Paris, which I never seem to tire of. Godard's Band of Outsiders is the film's thematic touchstone. The three actors even re-create the dance routine from Godard's film in the Le Week-End's final shot. La Week-End isn't groundbreaking or compelling, but it's a respectable effort.

The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2014: Live Action

Just saw the Oscar Nominated Short Films from last year at a local theater and and as one would expect, the submissions were a mixed-bag, in content and quality. **Spoiler alert**

Helium (Denmark)-Anders Walter Dir.- A hospital janitor tends to a dying boy; telling him a fanciful story about a place in the sky where houses are held aloft by large balloons and dirigibles. Constructing a story with a conclusion the janitor must tell the boy before he dies, the janitor risks his job and that of a sympathetic doctor to offer the dying child a glimmer of hope. I liked Walter's film and its use of visual effects to create a sweet and fairy-tale-like story. A filmmaker can walk a tightrope with subject matter that can become tedious treacle if bungled, but Walter weaves something magical and memorable.

The Voorman Problem (UK)-Mark Gill Dir.- Starring British actors Martin Freeman and Tom Hollander, Gills film is a fun and funny short about a doctor who is called to address a prisoner's claim that he is God. Freeman plays the skeptical physician who scoffs at the prisoner, whimsically depicted by Hollander. The prisoner's amusing demonstration for his claim involves Belgium, which leaves Freeman perplexed and astonished. The ending is equally amusing and a sort of comeuppance for Freeman. Very entertaining and my favorite of the shorts.

Just Before Losing Everything (France)-Xavier Legrand Dir.- A woman and her children escape her abusive husband in a short harrowing and thrilling. Fearing for herself and her children's welfare, the woman's flight involves a desperate dash through a supermarket parking lot, which is breathtaking and tense. Terrific film and one that utilizes the short's time-constraints efficiently.

That Wasn't Me (Spain)-Estaban Crespo Dir.- Two Spanish doctors and an African guide on a humanitarian mission in an unidentified African country encounter armed rebels, who abduct them and hold them prisoner. One of the doctors, Paula, forms a bond with one of her abductors, wounding him and holding him prisoner with a gun before fleeing together to the sanctuary of a city. The story vacillates between past and future, where said doctor is listening to her now-reformed abductor as he addresses a room full of students. My least favorite of the shorts. A horrifying story becomes weepy, robbing the story of its dramatic power. The short also ends sentimentally, which is very disappointing, given the terrific performances.

Do I Have to Take Care of Everything (Finland)-Selma Vilhunen Dir.- 7 minutes of joyful hysteria. A couple awakes one morning to realize they are painfully late to a wedding. The mother tries to organize the family with disastrous and hilarious results. Arriving at what they think is THE wedding, they find themselves in a humiliating and funny predicament. I don't know what Vilhunen's future film projects may be, but if they are anything like her short, we'll be in for many treats. Blending physical comedy and the unexpected, her short film ends the program with something upbeat and exhilarating.

Some of my favorite films of 2013

The following are some (but by no means all) of favorite films of 2013, which I saw theatrically. Note: some of the films are actually 2012 but were released in 2013. In no particular order:

Beyond the Hills-Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was a bolt of lightning that reminded the world Romanian cinema is alive and flourishing. Beyond the Hills reminds us Mungiu is no artistic fluke. Haunting, intense and beautifully acted, Mungiu offers us grimly beautiful images to accompany a powerful drama set in a remote village in Romania.

Room 237-A fascinating documentary about some odd and imaginative intrepretations of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Though one is sure to disagree with some, many or all views, the analyses are never dull.

Horses of God-Morrocan director Nabil Ayouch offers a powerful, tragic and disturbing story of young men indoctrinated by muslim terrorists and ultimately pressed into service as suicide bombers. Ayouch's drama is unflinching in its depiction of muslim extremism and how impressionable youths can be led into committing horrific acts.

The East-Brit Marling plays an intelligence operative for a private firm who infiltrates a radical anarchist group responsible for terrorist-like attacks on corporations. Terrific performances by Martling and Alexander Skarsgard and cast and Zal Batmanglij's tight directing make for a smart and thrilling drama. An underappreciated film, in my humble estimation.

The Hunt-A frightening and searing drama about a man falsely accused of molesting a child. Mads Mikkelsen's performance as a man beleaguered and betrayed by his community is nothing short of brilliant and Thomas Vinterberg's superb handling of sensitive subject matter leaves the viewer emotionally exhausted but also emotionally rewarded.

I've been feeling the past 10 years or so that Woody Allen had exhausted his once seemingly bottomless pool of ideas. Blue Jasmine is some indication that he hasn't. Though the main character seems lifted wholesale from Tennessee Williams, Cate Blanchett's unsentimental, tragic, twenty-first century Blanche Dubois offers the viewer a woman desperate to maintain an elevated social status at any cost. The rest of the cast is stellar, including Sophie Hawkins, Peter Sarsgaard, Alec Baldwin and surprisingly, Louis C.K. and Andrew Dice Clay.

Ain't in it for My Health: A film about Levon Helm-Though a 2010 documentary, I saw it at my favorite cinema art house as part of a series of films on music. Levon Helm's life and musical career are examined in a series of interviews and footage from The Band and solo performances. Made before he sadly passed, the film is a touching and engaging portrait of an extraordinary man and musician.

Captain Phillips -Pulse-pounding and frightening, Captain Phillips never lets up. Fairly depicting the economic travails of Somali pirates, the film is as much their desperate struggle as it is Captain Phillip's. Kudos to the Academy for nominating Barkhad Abdi for his role as a pirate caught between unforgiving warlords and U.S. military might.

Blue is the Warmest Color -Director Abdellatif Kechiche's Cannes Palme D'Or winner is something of a marvel. Not only is it a 3 hour drama about women in a passionate relationship but it is also a riveting and compelling one. Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos' performances are raw, animalistic, tender, erotic and ferociously brilliant. Kechiche's now-famous sex scene is a filmmaker's lesson on how to make passion real and meaningful.

The Act of Killing-An instant classic, The Act of Killing documents former Indonesian death-squad leaders attempts to re-enact their crimes cinematically, which yields unforseen results. The film is strange, horrific, tragic and unforgettable.

Inside Llewyn Davis-Films about the early 60's folk scene are usually depicted or documented through a nostalgic haze. Not the Coen Brothers. Inside Llewyn Davis shows us a unlikeable folkie, struggling to find success in difficult, sometimes hostile, urban environments. That we give a damn about him is a testament to the Coen Brothers' consummate skill as filmmakers.

American Hustle-David O' Russell follows-up The Silver Lining Playbook's artistic and critical success with a story based on the now infamous Abscam. Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence dazzle and shine and the story is never less than mesmerizing as we are drawn into the labyrinthine plot.

The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men, George Clooney's latest directorial and acting effort, hopes to capture the drama and urgency of Saving Private Ryan as a group of men unsuited for action in World War II are recruited to save precious works of art and sculpture from Nazi depredations. George Clooney assembled an offbeat cast including himself, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman, John Dujardin, Bob Balaban and Hugh Bonneville for what was presented as mostly humor in previews but is actually an uneasy drama/comedy amalgam that can't quite reconcile either comfortably to create anything convincing or memorable. One moment the film is Kelly's Heroes, the next Saving Private Ryan, and the very next Inglorious Basterds but doesn't appropriate what is funny or thrilling about them. The sanctimonious sentiments Clooney utters about the importance of art rings false and we never get a sense of how the conscripted feel about art or risking peril to save the myriad works; they are merely bodies Clooney populates the screen with. It seems only Blanchett emerges a fully-realized character as the reluctant factotum to a Nazi officer in Paris who risks her life to preserve a cache of art from all armies involved. We also don't come away with a sense of why art is vital to humanity or war's destructive toll on creative expression; only that the film is a missed opportunity.

Le Joli Mai

I'm lucky enough to live 10 minutes from a film theater that plays all manner of films, foreign and independent to classic and new Hollywood. One of said theater's latest offerings was Chris Marker (La Jetee) and Cinematographer Pierre Lhomme's 1963 Le Joli Mai (The Lovely Month of May), a lovely and cerebral film whose 163 minutes seem to quickly evaporate; leaving the viewer in an intoxicated, absinthe-like stupor. The film not only celebrates the people of Paris, but the city itself in black and white images and from perspectives seldom seen in cinema set in the City of Lights. Subjects who appear in the film range from working class to the famous, like Yves Montand. What documentary about Paris and its inhabitants would be complete without a political dimension as conservative and liberal views are expressed about the economy and the conflict in Algiers. Le Joli Mai is a forgotten gem and one that demands a big screen to fully appreciate its images and people.

August: Osage County

August: Osage County (2013) Originally a Tony Award-winning play, Tracy Lett's play must be exceptional to warrant a film adaptation because the mess that plays on-screen doesn't seem award-worthy. Hammy acting, limp direction, and character sketches rather than characters resembling anything walking and breathing on the planet all make for a tedious two-hours. To be fair, over-the-top works better on a stage than a film frame. The character Violet Weston might play better on stage with the extravagant emoting and personal problems that might exhaust even Job. Boasting a cast that includes Meryl Streep,Julia Roberts,Chris Cooper,Juliette Lewis,Ewan McGregor,Benedict Cumberbatch,Dermot Mulroney,Benedict Cumberbatch, Sam Shepard and Abigail Breslin, it seems a good, not even great, script might be the only prerequisite for a powerful drama but the tension and scene-chewing belong only to Streep and Roberts. What legitmizes their performances (at least for Hollywood) are respective Oscar Nominations, which makes criticism difficult, especially for Streep; the darling of the Academy and the movie-industry itself. Beyond Streep and Roberts, the rest of the cast make do with little and often seem more smears than vibrant entities on the screen. The family gathering to memorialize the family patriarch, played by Sam Shepard, erupts into rancor and animosity as secrets and long-harbored vexations surface. John Wells, whose Company Men offered a searing portrait of America in economic crisis, is less assured in his direction here but with too many characters demanding screen-time, he can be excused for giving other actors short-shrift. I can say for Letts' story that it at least doesn't offer a neat ending but unfortunately it also seems incomplete.

Paranormal Activity 4

Paranormal Activity 4 (2014) I must say I've enjoyed the Paranormal Activity series though judging from the latest iteration, the scare tactics are becoming over-familiar. Still, it manages to chill and frighten even when the franchise receives a new batch of victims; in this version, a Hispanic family living in L.A. One of the filmmakers and the series singular accomplishments has been its ability to cast unknown actors and see them deliver very convincing performances. PA4 is no exception. The story unfolds with economy and precision while all the tell-tale menace from the earlier films creeps in. The movie has its lapses in logic but delivers the shocks even when the viewer can see the watchmaker's cogs and wheels. Where the series will lead is anyone's guess but I hope the filmmakers have enough integrity to complete the story before the only scary thing about it is its longevity. Will the coven behind the metaphysical and physical torment be exposed, stopped, be doused with water and melt or will Paranormal Activity be dragged into double-digit incarnations? Maybe the coven can only tell. I'm sure I'll still pay to see it.

Life Father, Like Son (2013)

Hirokazu Koreeda, the director of the heartbreaking Nobody Knows, offers another touching story, sometimes painful, always thoughtful. Two couples must deal with the emotional fallout of a hospital's disclosure that their respective sons were switched at birth. In Hollywood, this would star Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks and every unsentimental roadblock would be cleared for a teary melodrama replete with a chocolatey denouement. Not Koreeda. His notion that a parent's love for a child is more complicated than we might imagine makes for a difficult but rewarding cinematic experience. The story focuses mainly on the parents' anguish as they try to negotiate a tentative switch, which yields mixed results. The performances are exceptional; Koreeda has a deft hand with adult and children actors, never allowing the latter to be cutesy cartoons but people who have a critical stake in the dramatic outcome. Winner of the Jury prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, a Dreamworks version is being planned for future release. Sigh.

January Stuff

I'll catch you up on some films I've seen in January. The following all contain spoilers so beware. I won't offer synopses of films, just my views. GRUDGE MATCH (2013) Unfortunately my very first film of the year, New Year's Day no less, was Grudge Match, starring Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Kim Basinger, Alan Arkin and Kevin Hart; directed by Peter Segal. Segal doesn't extactly have a sterling record: 50 First Dates, Anger Management, Get Smart et.al. Grudge Match doesn't propel his career forward either. What should have been screwball veers into the dreary as Stallone and De Niro first spoof characters they've made famous then settle into a dull drama involving a triangle with Kim Basinger. The preview at least offered some promise of gags and laughs. The inevitable Rocky-like fight in the film's latter half is a tiresome retread of every Rocky film but played straight rather than for laughs. Too bad. An interesting cast was frittered away on a high-concept mess.