Jun 17, 2011
– In the first of two upcoming Clint Eastwood movies – the next to be released in December – Eastwood scores a big-time Oscar threat all over again as he did with “Letters From Iwo Jima,” “Million Dollar Baby” and “Mystic River.” In this true story, it’s 1928, Los Angeles, and little Walter (Gattlin Griffith) wakes to breakfast prepared by his mother, Mrs. Collins (Angelina Jolie), before being dropped off at school. She has a job as an operator for Pacific Telephone, except on Saturday when they have a date for the matinee. That is until she’s called into work and has to leave her son home alone. It’s okay, he tells her. “I’m not afraid of the dark and I’m not afraid of anything.” But when she comes home, he’s gone. Walter is declared missing, but a few months later, the police find him – or so they think. They’re wrong. “He’s not my son!” Jolie declares over and over. But the LAPD has taken such a bad rap lately, they can’t afford to tarnish their image any further, especially with the likes of Reverend Gustav (John Malkovitch) on hand, doing radio shows that bad-mouth the corrupt force. And so the police turn on Jolie, smearing her name publicly, calling her crazy, and eventually institutionalizing her. (Jolie is good at psych wards. She got an Oscar for “Girl, Interrupted.”) As the innocent are scorned and the evil gain power, the movie twists and turns in a way that will remind you of “LA Confidential.” Jason Butler Harner delivers a psychotic performance as the bad guy and Jeffrey Donovan is equally persuasive as the corrupt police captain. Eastwood focuses on Jolie’s suffering with tight shots of her penetrating and smoky eyes peeking out from under her flapper-girl hat. With only a stare, Jolie has the power to make a man drop to his knees, as she did in “Lara Croft.” And she has the acting range to deliver howling cries and moments of rage as Sean Penn did in his Oscar-winning performance (also under Eastwood’s direction) in “Mystic River.” The cage-rattling tension, frustration, and helplessness ripple through the audience, keeping us riveted through the two and a half hours of what turns out to be, hands down, the best movie of the year to date. During a lighter moment, Jolie’s character is working late and listening to the Oscar race of 1935. Foreshadowing? Just watch Angelina Jolie take home the Oscar for best actress this year. Four tiaras
Jun 17, 2011
(Rated PG-13) Opens March 3 Have you ever had one of those days when things go so badly you think they could never get any worse –- and they do? In this latest screwball comedy, Kresk (Steve Zahn), the world’s worst barber, has most days like that. His landlord evicts him, his wife Karen (Lara Flynn Boyle) divorces him and runs off with their marriage counselor, and his life is literally threatened by a customer, Avnet (Jeff Goldblum), a lowlife ex-con who was involved in the heist of some priceless ancient coins. Sgt. Meredith Kolko (Salma Hayek) jumps on the case of the missing coins, and Elijah Wood is the hired hit man that Kresk takes on when things get a little too crazy and out of hand. The plot gets way too complicated to explain, the cast (including David Hyde Pierce) is great, and did I mention it also stars supermodel Claudia Schiffer? Can’t-go-wrong, good time at the movies.
Jun 17, 2011
(Rated PG-13) Can you say “Fame! I wanna live forever”, in the year 2000? Instead of modern dance, this time a story about the competition among dancers to earn spots in the American Ballet Company. The words devotion, sacrifice, and Olympic training come to mind. So does the word insanity, as we watch these body conscious people over exert themselves to do the ultimate, in this ultra-selective dance company. The desire is so high it pits some against others but mainly the struggles are internal with love, trauma, friendship and well, you get the gist. The actors were chosen for their dance ability so you guessed it — they are better on their toes than with their dialog, although Ethan Steifel plays the lead dancer Cooper Neilson with passion. Besides, you gotta love a Harley Davidson riding dancer. Tony Winner Nicholas Hytner (“The Madness of King Goerge” and “The Crucible”) directs this story with a group of pirouetting actors Amanda Schull, Zoe Saldana, Susan May Pratt, and of all people, Peter Gallagher as Jonathan Reeves the artistic director of the ensemble. If you are a dancer it’s a must see since you can relate. If you aren’t a dancer, the moves are fabulous and painstakingly performed, but if you want to see a story in a movie, fuggedaboutit!
Jun 17, 2011
(rated PG-13) Remember “Phone Booth” back in 2002? Well it just got a wireless upgrade. Kim Basinger plays Jessica Martin, a kidnapped mom. Her only hope is the one call she makes from a broken phone that connects her randomly to one number. That number belongs to Ryan (Chris Evans) a young, happy go-lucky, usually incapable of responsibility type, until now. With a whole list of excuses substituting for suspension of disbelief – low battery, fading cell signals, and the mute button – delivering a suspenseful, crazy, heartpounding, but somehow highly believable storyline given the age of technology. And how do the killers know that Ryan is the guy they’re after when hunting him down in a very public place? Punchline: He’s the one on the cell phone. (yeah sure, Ryan and fifty other people). With mounting obstacles along the way, one welcome relief is William H. Macy playing a burnt out cop forced to come out of his spa facial and back into the game. The movie only gets better as the cell phone proves that for once it can save a life instead of annoy us all the while leave you rooting for the underdog (Ryan) and hero (cell service) like it’s nobody’s business.
Jun 17, 2011
A hit with critics across the board – and especially at this year’s Sundance Film Festival – comes the story of Tim Lippe (Ed Helm) who’s about to have the chance of a lifetime….to bring home to his small Wisconsin community, the insurance man’s Oscar: the ASMI two Diamond Award. Afterall, he works for Brown Star insurance and he takes his job very seriously. And besides, what are the chances his colleague will croak and he’ll be the replacement pinch-hitter sent to Cedar Rapids for the annual convention? Arriving in nerdy-striped sweater vest with traveler’s checks in pocket, he’s met by a team of competitive but amusing veterans led by Dean (John C Reilly), Joan O-Fox (Anne Heche) and Robert (Isiah Whitlock Jr.). They’re about to show him the ropes, the booze and the bedroom. [Btw for The Wirefans, Whitlock is totally and fabulously out of character.] If you take the class-act cult flicks of Election and Sideways and merged them withChuck & Buck’s director Miguel Arteta, you’d have this gem of a small indie flick. (Filmmaking 101: Alexander Sideways Payne and Jim ElectionBurke now head up a production company. Burke is a veteran producer with multiple credits including Kingpin and Howard Stern’s Private Parts.) The film manages to tap into off-beat refreshing characters not often portrayed…an insurance man?…redefining the image of these assumedly angelic humans who handle our most precious worlds from fire, to floods to death and jewelry. Helm shows he doesn’t need The Hangover sidekicks to hold his own. Raunchy, twisted and really smart, a comedy that will endure a steady box office run, especially with the fabulously talented John C. Reilly wanting us to voyeur into his world of “insurance men gone wild” adventure. Three and a half tiaras
