Obvious Child

This is an indie film that was apparently shot in 18 days. It is certainly a romantic comedy, but not one that follows the normal trend while maybe maintaining a trope.

Donna Stern (Jenny Slate) is a young aimless 20 something comedian in New York. The film starts with her doing a comedy set in which she heavily criticizing her boyfriend only to be broken up with him in the bathroom shortly after. He cites her criticism and informs her he’s been cheating on her with her best friend.

Donna is then sent into a downward spiral to the point where she drunkenly tries to do comedy about the breakup which results in a very cringe worthy stand up routine.. In her drunkenness she ends up meeting a guy who has very little in common with her and proceeds to have a crazy night of sex. This results in a pregnancy.

The rest of the film deals with the pregnancy and possible abortion and how she will inform the man who made it happen who coincidentally keeps randomly popping into her life.

What I liked most is that Donna takes the role that is generally reserved for a man. She’s the more crass/sloppy person who makes fun of their significant other in comedy and doesn’t realize how this could go sour. She drinks heavily to get over a breakup and even hits on a guy and leads it into a one night stand. She’s not really looking for romance while the nice guy seems to be looking just for that. I really enjoyed that change and feel that Jenny Slate gave a lot of warmth and personality to a character who could easily be despised.

I’m giving this one a 4 and 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Yes – I’ve changed my star ratings.Why not?

It’s been too long.

I can’t believe how long it has been since I’ve posted any reviews.  A quick catch-up.  I got a new job and got married in the last 3 years.  Those 2 things alone have taken up a bit of my time. I sure do miss writing though. This post is an attempt to get back into it. Here’s to upcoming movie reviews in 2015.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – David Finscher’s take on a Swedish mystery….they all speak English though

This film is the second adaptation of the novel by Stieg Larsson. Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) is a young troubled, tattooed girl and Sweden’s best hacker. She is hired to spy on Mikael Blomqvist (Daniel Craig), a reporter who has written an allegedly false report on a business mogul and is facing prison. Lisbeth feels he has been framed when questioned by her employer.

Meanwhile Mikael is hired by the former head of Vanger Industries, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to solve the 40-year-old mystery of the disappearance/murder of his 16-year-old niece Harriet.

Before the two characters come together we learn that Lisbeth is forced by the government to have a legal guardian. This causes her some problems. To give away what happens would be to spoil the story. I will simply say that we learn just what kind of person Lisbeth is as she overcomes her situations.

The film’s pace is very deliberate and to the point. Mikael learns of the Vanger family and their history and finds out that he is investigating not just one, but many murders. Lisbeth meanwhile fights her own battles and we learn about her skills and abilities as well as the adversities she has to overcome.

Lisbeth and Mikael’s stories come together when Lisbeth is suggested as a research assistant for Mikael. Lisbeth’s keen detective skills become a great asset to the case. There is a nice parallel between Lisbeth’s life and the case that they are investigating. There is a theme throughout of women who are hurt by men that is executed very well. This is also complimented by the relationship between Lisbeth and Mikael which goes beyond professional as they get to know each other.

The music by Trent Reznor is superb. The acting especially by Rooney Mara is exceptional. I enjoyed this film as much as I enjoyed the previous adaptation. David Finscher is the perfect director for this type of mystery. He expertly blends together an old mystery with new high tech technology and complex characters. There is a a lot of cruelty shown in this film, but it mostly to aid the story. With the exception of one cruel scene, I think this is a near perfect mystery film.

***1/2 Three and a half stars

Trailer

Director – David Finscher

The Muppets – The fuzzy gang from our childhood is back!

The Muppets film was a dream of Jason Segel’s for years.  He always loved the Muppets and wanted to create his own Muppet movie and he did this with James Bobin as a director.  Going into this film my thoughts were:

“Will it maintain the feel of older Muppet films?”  Will it cater to both children and adults?  Will it be funny?

I’m happy to say that I can answer yes to all these questions.  The feel of the old Muppet movies is definitely here, but at the same time it brings the Muppets into current times.  Kermit seems a little older and sadder.  Animal is in a group for anger management (which is a pretty good bit in my opinion). 

The film certainly caters to adults and children with jokes that both will laugh at and enjoy.  It might be a bit complicated for the Sesame Street set, but I feel the older films were as well. 

Most importantly the film is very funny.  The dialogue and acting from our protagonists Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams),  to the evil villain Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) and all our favorite muppets is excellent and funny.  The funny songs (written by Bret Mackenzie of Flight of the Conchords) are hilarious.  One of the standouts being Man or Muppet which has a great cameo and Jason Segel rendered as a Muppet. 

The Muppet acting is top notch as always, although the voices are a little different due to different actors.  There are also a good amount of surprise cameos that are hilarious and endearing. 

Jason Segel’s script hits the nail on the head and gives us a great new Muppet movie for this century.  He definitely maintains the magic that Jim Henson created years ago and adds his own signature to it with the introduction of his own Muppet creation named Walter.  It’s also great to hear new work from Bret Mackenzie since Flight of the Conchords is no more. Hopefully this will give the gang a comeback. 

**** Four Stars

Director – James Bobin

Trailer

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Tower Heist – An unbelievable yet charming little caper film.

Tower Heist is a comedic heist film that features an ensemble cast. The reason I was excited to see this one was mainly because I was hoping for a triumphant return to adult comedy by Eddie Murphy. I was also excited about the idea of Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Michael Peña and Alan Alda all acting in the same film. I’m happy to say that Mr. Murphy is back in full force in this film. He is back to swearing, face-making and laughing that unmistakable laugh that will remind you what a powerhouse he once was. Sadly the film itself is weak on story and plot. Luckily however the film chugs on at lightening speed and has such good acting and dialogue that you won’t have time to stop to contemplate how this heist could possibly be pulled off.

The story is about Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), who manages a fancy building owned by a Madoff-like tycoon named Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda). He serves Shaw and takes excellent care of his building and all the tenants. We learn that Kovacs made the mistake of letting Shaw invest the pensions of all the workers in the building just as he finds out that Shaw is a total fraud. This kicks off the heist in the title. Kovacs gathers his band of merry men and a robber named Slide (Eddie Murphy) to assist in robbing Shaw of some hidden money.

The robbery ends going from routine to a special effects-filled and unrealistic undertaking. Despite this weakness the film remains entertaining due to the witty, humorous dialogue and the likeable actors. Aside from Eddie Murphy and the others I’ve listed, there are also excellent supporting performances by the always lovely Téa Leoni and Gabourey Sidibe.

*** 1/2 – 3 and half stars

Director – Brett Ratner

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Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Apes Smart, Humans Stupid

Rupert Wyatt directed this entry to the Planet of the Apes saga. This is a prequel to the original Charlton Heston vehicle. By now we all know that the titular planet is earth where the ape is king and man is an inferior creature.

Here we learn how these apes came to rule earth. Will (James Franco) is a scientist who is working on a drug to cure Alzheimer’s disease. His motivation is because his father (John Lithgow) suffers from the disease. Will’s research causes many tragedies for the apes on which he experiments, but also leads to the birth of Caesar (a full motion capture Andy Serkis). Circumstances cause Will to take Caesar home where he lives with his father. Caesar quickly shows that he is much more intelligent than a normal ape.

From this point the story becomes less about science and disease and more about Caesar. As he grows older he becomes more brooding and sad. A series of events cause Caesar to be left at an ape sanctuary run by a cruel father and son (Brian Cox and Tom Felton respectively).

Caesar’s rage at humans and what they’ve done to him comes to full force at the sanctuary. Several events lead to an ape revolt that will eventually take our planet to where it was when Mr. Heston crash landed.

The amazing thing about this film is that the star is Caesar. Andy Serkis turns in an excellent motion capture performance. Suspension of disbelief that Caesar was a computer creation was very easy despite some shaky movement at the beginning of the film. James Franco and Freida Pinto are believable as supporting players. The excellent John Lithgow is amazing as always in the role of Will’s father. The major achievement of the film is that it gives us a serious, sympathetic character that is completely computer created and actually makes us side with apes over humans.

***1/2 – Three and a half stars

Trailer

Director – Rupert Wyatt

Crazy, Stupid, Love. – All things in the title appear in this film

Crazy, Stupid Love is a comedic study of love in all forms. The insanity, the ups and downs, and highs and lows.

The film begins with Emily (Julianne Moore) telling Cal (Steve Carell) that she wants a divorce over dessert at a restaurant. She informs him that she cheated on him on the car ride home which sends him jumping out of the moving car in a simultaneously hilarious and heart breaking scene. The sad-sack Cal moves out and spends his time at a lounge bar talking to himself.

Cal is then noticed by the smooth ladies man Jacob (Ryan Gosling) who picks up a lady of his choice every night at this bar. He takes Cal on as a student and teaches him to pick up women. Cal slowly and humorously realizes he has these skills and becomes very good at it.

As Cal goes on to be a pick-up artist, Jacob ends up meeting a girl he truly loves and leaves his old life behind.

Carell is extremely likeable and sympathetic as Cal. Jacob is an awful but likeable teacher and we begin to understand why he is the way he is when he meets Hanna (Emma Stone).

The story is full of parallel ideas of love between two people who can’t be together and fighting for your one true love. The stories of Jacob and Cal come crashing together in a hilarious, if at times unbelievable meeting. Despite the unbelievability this is an excellent and well made movie with nice characters who ended up in ridiculous circumstances. Love is confounding and the ideas of wanting what we cannot have, destroying a good thing that we have and finding what we truly want are all presented here.

I really enjoyed the acting and thought all the characters were excellent.

***1/2 3 and half stars

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Directors – Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

All Good Things – Another movie based on a true story.

All Good Things is based on a true story. The tale unfolds in 2 parts.

David Marks (Ryan Gosling) is the son of Sanford Marks (Frank Langella), a wealthy and shady man who owns land on 42nd street in New York. He owns land that has apartment buildings and strip clubs and his job is to collect rent from the people who use his land.

In the first part David is younger and is a gentle young man who doesn’t seem to want to join the family business. David meets Katie (Kirsten Dunst) and falls in love with her. They move away and start a health food store in Vermont and live a seemingly happy life. David’s father however persuades him to move back and join the family business. During this we start to see that something might be wrong with David. He demonstrates that he does not want children and seems disturbed. We see him being treated by an unorthodox doctor. When Katie informs him that they are having a baby he forces her to get an abortion. This sets off a series of feuds which end up with Katie leaving the house and she disappears.

In the second half of the film, Katie has been missing for years and David is living in an apartment building in a strange disguise. We are led to believe that he possibly killed or is involved in the death of Katie and that she is not missing. We are not given any sort of final solution other than David’s possible madness as to what happened. There are simply scenes that imply.

The acting however is excellent. Frank Langella as always is fantastically scary, Ryan Gosling plays possibly disturbed and conflicted perfectly and Kirsten Dunst shows her dramatic chops. If only the screenplay were as tight as the acting.

** Two Stars

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Director – Andrew Jarecki

Doubt – Oh what an appropriate title.

Doubt is a film that explores the concept of doubt and its effects. It begins in a Catholic school church with Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) giving a sermon on doubt and it’s interplay with faith. We also meet Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) who is the tough principal of the school.

Sister James (Amy Adams) is a fairly new nun and teacher at the school. She is fearful of Sister Aloysius and not necessarily in agreement with how she runs the school.

There is a difference in how the nuns who are presided over by Aloysius and the priests who are headed by Father Flynn live. Two dinner scenes demonstrate this.

The nuns’ dinner is a somber affair with little conversation and a sparse meal. In a scene Sister James spits out a piece of food that clearly does not taste good and immediately picks it up and eats it after a look from Sister Aloysius. Aloysius has great power.

The priests’ dinner on the other hand is a hearty feast with bawdy conversation and plenty of smoking.

This is all set up to examine the idea of doubt. Donald Miller (Joseph Foster) is the only black student at the school. Father Flynn starts to show an interest in the boy. This seems to set off sister Aloysius especially when a seemingly odd event is noticed by Sister James. After being sent to see Flynn, Donald returns to class with alcohol on his breath.

Sister Aloysius begins an investigation and battles with Father Flynn. Aloysius even speaks to the boy’s mother (Viola Davis) in an attempt to help the boy or to possibly attempt to get rid of Father Flynn.

There are really no answers in the film. It is a film about doubt and that is what it leaves you with. The acting by all involved is superb and the story is excellent.

**** Four Stars

Trailer

Director – John Patrick Shanley