Opening
Burma VJ (Denmark, 2008) The amazing thing about Anders
Østergaard’s film is the way it’s able to construct a cohesive
narrative out of nothing more than underground footage and
re-enactments of political strife in Burma. But the English voiceover
(with subtitles, since the narrator has a heavy accent) does more than
a capable job of walking you through the political unrest in Burma. The
film starts with the 2007 uprising in Myanmar and shows how the
government used force to put it down, even beating and imprisoning
monks. Some of the footage is quite graphic. But the movie is out to
show the power that a small group of video journalists have. Their
footage makes its way out of the country and onto the international
news circuit, helping bring attention to the plight of the Burmese
people. Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. At 7 p.m. Friday, July
24. *** (Jeff Niesel)
The Country Teacher (Czech Republic/France/Germany, 2008)
When a smart prep-school teacher (Pavel Liska) leaves Prague to go to a
countryside school, the locals suspect there was something in his past
that made him flee the big city. They’re right, though it takes them
some time to find out what. We get our first clue when a farm woman
(Zuzana Bydzovská) makes advances toward him, and he shuns her
for no particular reason. It’s not long before we find out he’s gay,
something that comes to the fore when he becomes fixated on the
farmer’s teenage son (Ladislav Sedivy). The longer the teacher stays in
the closet, the more uncomfortable things get. Written and directed by
Bohdan Sláma, The Country Teacher juxtaposes big city and
rural values, and ultimately shows that humanity can be possible for
both. Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. At 6:45 p.m. Wednesday,
July 29. *** (Niesel)
(500) Days of Summer This boy-meets-girl story has a nice
twist to it. It’s told out-of-order (like Memento) so you see
the break-up happen early on. Normally, that would ruin any sort of
suspense, but this dramedy (or “bromance,” if you will) doesn’t suffer
for its out-of-sequence narrative. Rather, the relationship between Tom
(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel) is intriguing
enough to make the movie worth watching. The plot is simple: Tom meets
Summer and instantly falls in love. They start dating, but Summer makes
it clear she isn’t looking for a committed relationship. Tom accepts
that at first. But it’s not long before he becomes jealous and
possessive. Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt have great chemistry, even if
the tension between them sometimes makes it difficult to watch. It’s
got a terrific soundtrack too which prominently features the Smiths,
the band whose music best exemplifies Tom’s struggles.
*** (Niesel)
G-Force You could do worse than this for a generally OK summer kiddie frolic, an alliance between Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney. There’s barely any breathing room in the CGI-dependent, Ritalin-deficient, action-spazz narrative about a team of superspy guinea pigs, rodents and bugs trained by an eccentric scientist to talk and act as a secret-agent task force. Imagine Spy Kids’ Pets as an alternate title, although — curiously and refreshingly — there are few child characters. The wonder critters, a.k.a. G-Force, try to expose a standard spy-flick bad-guy-with-a-suave-British-accent (Bill Nighy, out from under his Pirates of the Caribbean makeup), who has household appliances around the world timed to detonate with an evil mystery chip. Not to spoil things too much, but shape-shifting “Transformer” robots are getting pretty stale as plot devices. That said, you’re in for visual treat if you go to the 3D version of G-Force, as the depth effects are quite nicely done. ** 1/2 (Cassady)
Il Divo (Italy/France, 2008) Winner of the Jury Prize at
the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Paolo Sorrentino’s flamboyantly
stylized, robustly entertaining biography of controversial seven-time
Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti isn’t always easy to follow (it
helps if you have a passing knowledge of Italian politics over the past
50 or so years), but it’s such a wild, batten-down-the-hatches ride
that it simply doesn’t matter. Chockful of bravura, thrillingly kinetic
setpieces that recall Scorsese, Coppola, Fellini and Visconti,
Sorrentino’s one-of-a-kind biopic also features an astonishing lead
performance by Toni Servillo that mix-and-matches commedia dell’arte
with method-acting madness to galvanizing, frequently brilliant effect.
On the basis of this and Matteo Garrone’s recent Gomorrah, it’s heartening to report that the Italian cinema is currently in
the middle of a spectacular new revival. Cleveland Institute of Art
Cinematheque. At 7 p.m. Friday, July 24, and 2:50 p.m. Sunday, July 26.
**** (Milan Paurich)
Julia (France/U.S./Mexico/Belgium, 2008) When we first meet
Julia (Tilda Swinton), she’s on her way to becoming a drunken mess at a
bar, spilling out of her dress and flirting with every man in sight.
She wakes up the next morning next to some guy in the front seat of a
parked car. This is how Julia greets most mornings. But this morning is
a particularly brutal one: She’s fired from her job and about to be
kicked out of her apartment, all because she drinks way too much. Like
most movie alcoholics, she treats AA meetings with disdain —
fidgeting, rolling her eyes at other members’ problems and eventually
walking out mid-meeting. Elena (Kate del Castillo) — a shy,
fragile and borderline psychotic Mexican neighbor — approaches
Julia after a meeting and later tries to recruit Julia’s help in
kidnapping her son, whom Elena claims is being held captive by the
8-year-old’s multi-millionaire grandfather. Julia eventually comes up
with her own plan to double-cross Elena and hold the boy for ransom.
The usually reserved Swinton (an art-house fave) gives an intense
performance here, but parts of Julia don’t ring true. For a
woman who spends the first half-hour of the film either drunk or
hungover, how is it that Julia goes for days without a drink after
kidnapping the boy? Still, this story of a desperate woman in a
desperate situation boasts another great performance by the London-born
and versatile Swinton, playing a tough-talking American drunk looking
for a way out of the hell she’s dug herself into. Cleveland Institute
of Art Cinematheque. At 7 p.m. Thursday, July 23, and 9:10 p.m. Friday,
July 24. *** (Michael Gallucci)
Orphan Jaume Collet-Serra’s (House of Wax)
psychological thriller starts with a good premise: John (Peter
Sarsgaard) and Kate (Vera Farmiga) want to adopt a child to help them
recover from Kate’s recent miscarriage. So they head to the local
orphanage and choose an artistically inclined Russian child Esther
(Isabelle Fuhrman). At first, Esther gets along fine with their two
children and adjusts easily to her new home. But it’s not long before a
series of strange accidents make Kate think Esther has bad intentions.
It’s at this point that the movie’s tension escalates to the point that
it goes over the top, particularly as young Esther’s feelings for John
take on Lolita-like dimensions. While the fim’s surprise ending isn’t
something you can see coming, it’s not enough to make the movie
anything more than a conventional horror flick. ** (Niesel)
Our Hospitality (US, 1923) A New Yorker goes back to his
Southern home and gets caught up in a family feud in Buster Keaton’s
comedy. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 5:30 p.m. Saturday,
July 25, and 1:15 p.m. Sunday, July 26.
The Room (US, 2003) Among film hipsters on the West Coast,
cult notoriety has been conferred upon writer-director-producer-star-mogul Tommy Wiseau’s tragic psychodrama. Wiseau, who kinda seems (in more ways than one) like Fabio crossed with Ed Wood, plays the lead role (no surprise there) of Johnny, a nice-guy San Francisco banking exec whose idyllic life starts to fall apart a month before his planned nuptials. Fiancée Lisa secretly doesn’t
love him anymore (we are told this about four or five times) and is
carrying on an affair with Mark, Johnny’s “best friend” (we are told
this about 400-500 times). With English-as-a-second-language dialogue,
characters who awkwardly entrez and exeunt, laughable love interludes
and from-hunger acting, the world may now be laughing at Mr. Wiseau,
not with him. But grant The Room this much: It’s not an amateur
Tarantino/Lucas/Spielberg/Romero genre clone, like so many turkeys, but
bravely blazes its own way, à la Wood’s singular Glen or
Glenda. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 9:10 p.m.
Saturday, July 25. ** 1/2 (Charles Cassady Jr.)
Séraphine (France/Belgium, 2008) Slated to open later
this summer at the Cedar Lee Theatre, Martin Provost’s new film about
the life of self-taught artist Séraphine Louis shows in this
special sneak preview. Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. At 6:30
p.m. Wednesday, July 22.
Shall We Kiss? (France, 2007) This foreign film might be
stereotypically French, but don’t hold that against it. The story
revolves around Gabriel (Michaël Cohen) and Émilie (Julie
Gayet), who meet by chance one afternoon. After Gabriel gives
Émilie a lift, he senses the two have connected and offers her a
“kiss without consequences.” She turns him down, maintaining that
innocent exchanges don’t exist and proceeds to tell him a story about
her friend Judith (Virginie Ledoyen), who thought she’d kiss her pal
Nicolas (director Emmanuel Mouret) and nothing would come of it. Told
in a series of flashbacks, Judith’s story is both romantic and tragic,
causing Gabriel to rethink his offer, even though he’s even more
attracted to Émilie after he spends several hours listening to
her story. Like a Woody Allen movie, Shall We Kiss? is
well-acted and -directed, even if its European sensibilities aren’t
likely to connect with mainstream American viewers. Cleveland Institute
of Art Cinematheque. At 7:05 p.m. Saturday, July 25.
*** (Niesel)
In Theaters
Away We Go In the opening scene of Away We Go, Burt
(John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are in bed going at it. Burt
has his head under the covers and is clearly, um, pleasuring Maya,
while he tries to keep up a conversation at the same time. It’s a funny
if awkward scene that sets the tone for the whimsical film, a much
lighter movie than director Sam Mendes’ previous effort,
Revolutionary Road. A road movie of sorts, Away We Go follows Burt and Verona as they traipse across the country, visiting
friends and acquaintances to find a place where they can live and raise
their child. They embark on their trip after Burt’s parents (Jeff
Daniels and Catherine O’Hara) inform him they’re moving and won’t be
around once Verona, several months pregnant, gives birth. No longer
tied down, Burt and Verona go first to Phoenix, where they meet one of
Verona’s former colleagues (Allison Janney). Then they’re off to Tucson
to visit Verona’s sister (Carmen Ejogo). After stops in Wisconsin,
Montreal and Miami, they decide their friends don’t have any answers
about where to live and how to raise children. Written by Dave Eggers
and Vendela Vida, the movie avoids most of the usual romantic comedy
clichés and offers a fresh approach to the genre. *** (Niesel)
Brüno The movie’s tagline claims “Borat was
so 2006.” And in a way, Sacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to his hit
comedy about a horny Kazakhstanian on a U.S. road trip is a
little different. But in so many other ways, Brüno is a lot
like the wildly hilarious Borat. For one thing, Cohen and
director Larry Charles take their camera into the real world, capturing
real people’s reactions to the very real things happening in front of
them. Last time Cohen brought a bag of his feces to the dinner table;
this time he has his anus bleached while fielding a phone call from his
agent. Cohen plays super-gay Austrian TV fashion-show host Brüno,
who heads to L.A. to become famous — “the biggest Austrian
superstar since Hitler,” he says. Like Borat, he manages to dupe
and get under the skin of various homophobes, celebs and pretentious
assholes. And like Borat, there’s more set pieces than plot
here. Thought Borat’s wrestling scene was too much? Wait till
you see Brüno’s. And while Cohen takes it kinda easy on a
minister who promises to make the flamboyant Brüno straight, his
hunting trip with a bunch of Southern good ol’ boys is uncomfortably
brilliant. *** 1/2 (Gallucci)
The Hangover A pre-titles sequence sets the scene: Four men
are stranded in the desert, all of them beaten, bruised and bloodied.
One of them calls a bride-to-be on his cell, informing her that her
wedding — just hours away — isn’t going to happen. The
groom is “lost.” Flashback two days earlier, when four men —
groom Doug (National Treasure‘s Justin Bartha), his best
friend Stu (The Office’s Ed Helms), buddy Phil (Bradley
Cooper, who played Rachel McAdams’ dick boyfriend in Wedding
Crashers) and the bride’s loser brother Alan (standup comedian Zach
Galifianakis in a breakout performance) — are prepping for Doug’s
bachelor party in Las Vegas. They check into a $4,200-a-night suite, go
to the roof for a celebratory drink and … wake up the next morning,
not remembering a thing. Including how a tiger got in their bathroom,
why they now have a baby and where they left Doug. They spend the rest
of the movie piecing together their forgotten night. It’s one of the
funniest movies of the past couple of years, with enough testosterone
to power Caesars Palace. *** (Gallucci)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince As the
penultimate story in the series, The Half-Blood Prince plays a
lot like The Two Towers, the middle part of The Lord of the
Rings trilogy. In a way, it’s just a stepping stone between
exposition and climax. But it’s also a crucial part of the tale —
perhaps the most important link, the chapter that tidies up some past
questions and opens up a crapload of others. In The Half-Blood
Prince, evil Voldemort’s presence lurks in the corridors of
Hogwarts, even though he’s MIA in the movie. Something bad is
definitely brewing, and grand old wizard Dumbledore (Michael Gambon)
wants to make sure Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his trusty schoolmates,
Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint), are prepared. Harry,
Hermione and Ron’s relationships — with each other and with
various other young wizards and witches — take up a sizable chunk
of the movie’s narrative. Much is made of these budding romances; the
horny teens’ raging libidos fuel much of the onscreen tension. The
movies and actors have gotten more assured over the years. It helps
that The Half-Blood Prince is one of the best Potter books, but
this is also one of the best films — assertive, thrilling and
funny. *** (Gallucci)
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Ray Romano, Denis Leary and
John Leguizamo all return here as the voices behind Manny, Diego and
Sid, a motley group of animals who’ve become a “herd.” Manny the
mammoth has settled into domestic bliss with Ellie (Queen Latifah),
who’s expecting a baby. Manny’s so excited, in fact, he’s built a
playground for the yet-unborn child. But all isn’t well with Diego and
Sid. Diego feels he’s losing his ferocity and thinks it might be time
for him to move on, and Sid’s feeling like he needs to find a mate and
start a family of his own. So when Sid stumbles upon a set of dinosaur
eggs, he goes against Manny’s wishes, waits for them to hatch and
adopts the babies. As can be predicted, mama dinosaur isn’t too happy
that some sloth has stolen her babies and eventually tracks them down
and whisks them (and Sid) back to her underground home. Manny, Ellie
and even Diego all realize they need to help Sid, even if it means
endangering their own lives. So they head underground to the land of
the dinosaurs where they encounter an adventure-loving weasel named
Buck (Simon Pegg), who offers to help them save their friend. There
aren’t any surprises here, and the whole dinosaur thing is rather
random. But Romano, Leary and Leguizamo have all given their respective
characters real personality and Latifah, who joined the franchise with
the second film, 2006’s Meltdown, is terrific as well. *** (Niesel)
I Love You, Beth Cooper Class valedictorian Denis Cooverman
(Paul Rust) is obsessed with head cheerleader Beth Cooper (Hayden
Panettiere). So when he gives his graduation speech, he confesses his
love for the buxom blonde, pissing off her burly boyfriend Kevin (Shawn
Roberts) in the process. Afterward, Beth tells Denis his speech was
“sweet” and even brings her equally bodacious gal pals to his
graduation party. Trouble arrives, however, when Kevin and his buddies
show up and trash the place, making Beth take poor Denis under her
protective wing. As Beth and Denis try to elude Kevin and his cronies,
the two predictably bond, even though Denis discovers Beth is a lot
wilder than he thought (she drives her compact car around like some
kind maniac). While Christopher Columbus’ (Home Alone, Mrs.
Doubtfire, Stepmom) film starts with a good enough premise (Denis’
speech makes for a particularly awkward opening), things quickly go
downhill as the film follows a familiar opposites-attract trajectory.
** (Niesel)
My Sister’s Keeper After six feature films in 13 years, it’s
safe to assume writer-director Nick Cassavetes will never be confused
with his late father, indie pioneer/auteur John Cassavetes. If
Cassavetes Senior’s films were (deliberately) rough around the edges
and seemingly improvised (even when they weren’t), Cassavetes Junior
occasionally errs on the side of slickness — Exxon Valdez
oil-spill slickness. Take My Sister’s Keeper, Cassavetes’
alternately moving and insidious adaptation of Jodi Picoult’s
best-selling novel. Cassavetes displayed his tearjerker chops with
2004’s The Notebook, and Keeper proves that he hasn’t
lost his touch at wringing emotions. But Notebook worked because
the lead performances by star-crossed lovers Ryan Gosling and Rachel
McAdams were so classy you could (almost) forgive the crass
manipulations of the icky Nicholas Sparks source material. Cassavetes’
latest borders on Hallmark porn (“Let’s all feel good about feeling
bad”). Or maybe it’s just that the directorial hand is so heavy this
time. The story of an 11-year-old girl (Little Miss Sunshine cutie Abigail Breslin) who sues her parents for “medical emancipation,”
My Sister’s Keeper has such a loaded, Lifetime Movie premise
that it can’t help but get under your skin. The most troubling aspect
of the film is the faint whiff of exploitation that lurks around the
edges. ** (Paurich)
Public Enemies Johnny Depp doesn’t really look much like John
Dillinger, the notorious 1930s bank robber. Dillinger was weasely, with
a permanent half-scowl/half-smirk that suggested he was way better than
anyone else in the room. Plus, he didn’t have Depp’s heavenly high
cheekbones. Still, in Public Enemies, Depp plays Dillinger as
such a charming and chivalrous guy that it may forever alter future
generations’ perception of Chicago’s gangland don. But Public
Enemies isn’t meant to be a historically faultless portrait of that
blood-riddled period. Director and co-writer Michael Mann fudged some
facts in The Insider and skirted reality altogether in Miami
Vice. This is entertainment. And for 140 minutes, Depp, Mann and
the best-dressed gangsters you’ve ever seen do a bang-up job
entertaining us. *** (Gallucci)
The Taking of Pelham 123 Walter’s (Denzel Washington) having
a typical day at his job — bullshitting with coworkers,
maneuvering subway trains throughout the city — when a group of
machine-gun-toting bad guys (led by a mustachioed John Travolta) takes
over one of the cars. They stop the train (the Pelham 1 2 3 of the
title) on the tracks, in the middle of a tunnel, and demand $10 million
in exchange for 19 hostages. Travolta’s Ryder gives authorities one
hour to deliver the ransom. If he doesn’t receive it, he’ll kill one
passenger for every minute it’s delayed. Unfortunately, family guy
Walter takes the hijackers’ call and becomes Ryder’s go-to man in this
remake of a 1974 film. Washington brings his usual stately cool to
Walter, slowly transforming him from a downgraded desk jockey to a
button-down-shirt-and-tie-wearing action hero. Meanwhile, Travolta
gives his most intense and showy performance in years as the
foulmouthed and tattooed Ryder. It all culminates in an
underground-to-street showdown, making it a helluva thrilling ride.
*** (Gallucci)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Nobody went to the first
Transformers for Shia LaBeouf. Nobody went for Megan Fox either
(well, maybe some of us did). Everybody who saw that summer blockbuster
two years ago went for the robots — the shape-shifting,
ass-kicking, totally awesome robots. In this overblown sequel, director
Michael Bay wisely keeps the camera on the Autobots and Decepticons for
most of the movie, shoving aside what little plot there is to make room
for big, explosive set pieces where tons of shit blows up. This time
around, the “story” has something to do with a reborn and
revenge-minded Megatron returning to Earth to kidnap LaBeouf’s Sam and
then take over the planet. But who really cares? It’s all about bigger
and badder battles that span Sam’s front yard to the Egyptian desert.
At two and a half hours, there’s plenty of time to get to know
Revenge of the Fallen’s bots, but Bay is more focused on
big bangs, cheap laughs and having his metal heroes call opponents
“punk-ass Decepticons.” LaBeouf and Fox are back (our first glimpse of
her is a slow-mo shot of her cut-offs-clad ass); so are Bumblebee,
Optimus Prime and a bunch of little Gremlin-like Transformers. Sam is
in college now, giving Bay the opportunity to cause some major property
damage on campus. He also introduces a horny coed who’s a literal
man-eater. It all spills over into one of the movie’s best scenes. But
too much of Revenge of the Fallen is loud, plodding and totally
obnoxious. ** 1/2 (Gallucci)
The Ugly Truth At this late date in movie history, it seems almost unnecessary to provide detailed narratives, since the tropes are so familiar. Case in point: this romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl as a lovelorn TV producer and Gerard Butler as the crass misogynist her station hires to boost ratings. The audience can recite the formula (hate at first sight turns to love), so the movie can largely ignore plot development and just revel in the charisma of its leads. Fortunately, it’s blessed with genuinely appealing players (unlike, say, The Proposal). Heigl is an Amazonian beauty with comedic flair, and Butler, a Scotsman known chiefly for historical drama, displays a twinkling Clooney/Crowe charm. He plays Mike, host of a ribald cable-access show debunking feminine notions of romance, who is recruited over the objections of Abby (Heigl) to salvage her sagging morning-news program. He also helps salvage her sagging love life in a sort of reverse Pygmalion: transforming her from strong woman into cleavage-baring Barbie doll. Director Robert Luketic’s track record is spotty (Legally Blonde, Monster-in-Law), but this one benefits from an amusing, if uneven, screenplay by Nicole Eastman and Karen McCullah Lutz that’s innocuously raunchy, a combination you might not have thought possible. *** (Pamela Zoslov)
This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2009.
