Opening
Beeswax (U.S., 2009) Mumblecore auteur Andrew Bujalski
continues his survey of the French New Wave he began with Funny Ha
Ha and 2005’s superb Mutual Appreciation. In the
writer/director/actor’s third feature, Eric Rohmer serves as Bujalski’s
guiding muse. Two sisters, responsible Jeannie (Tilly Hatcher) and free
spirit Lauren (Maggie Hatcher), clash over the running of the vintage
clothing store they’re partners in. As usual in Bujalski films —
and mumblecore projects in general — little of consequence
transpires. Life, however, is lived in all of its fly-on-the-wall,
warts-and-all boho-hipster glory. If the filmmaking wasn’t so
rigorously disciplined, the naturalness of the writing and performances
(the Hatchers are actual twins) might lead you to believe that you’re
watching real lives unfold. Bujalski again proves that he’s one of the
most interesting young directors on the independent film scene.
Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 9:35 p.m. Saturday, Nov.
28, and 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30. *** 1/2 (Milan
Paurich)
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day Reviewed at clevescene.com.
Captain Abu Raed (Jordan, 2007) A janitor who claims to be an
airplane pilot is the subject of this feature film, the first to be
produced in Jordan in over 50 years. Cleveland Institute of Art
Cinematheque. At 5:15 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28 and at 8:30 p.m. Sunday,
Nov. 29.
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop(U.S., 2008) Margarita Jimeno’s
unfocused documentary about gypsy-punk band Gogol Bordello has one
thing going for it. It truly captures the manic energy that frontman
Eugene Hutz and his band of merry pranksters bring to the stage. We see
Hutz in several different contexts: DJing a basement party, performing
on the street, opening for Manu Chao at large outdoor festivals. And
each time, the guy doesn’t disappoint, stage-diving and running around
like he’s possessed. Jimeno unearths rare footage from the early days,
when the band was still formulating its theatrical stage show in small
New York bars in the late ’90s. And she interviews several musicians
who have played in the band. But the film never develops a narrative,
only occasionally touching on Hutz’s background as a Ukrainian refugee.
He’s become such a notable movie star, you’d think at least a portion
of the film would touch on that career too. Cleveland Museum of Art
Lecture Hall. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2. *** 1/2 (Jeff Niesel)
Juliet of the Spirits (Italy/France, 1965) Federico Fellini’s
phantasmagoria, his first film in color, is said by some to be the
female version of his autobiographical classic 8 1/2. Fellini’s wife, pixie-like actress Giulietta Masina, plays the title
character, an affluent Italian housewife surrounded by a kaleidoscope
of gurus, friends, memories, admirer/suitors, orgies and temptations,
most of which are spirits raised by fears that her often-absent husband
is having an extramarital affair with a younger woman. She wavers on
hiring detectives to follow him while engulfed (like the indecisive,
creatively blocked filmmaker-hero of 8 1/2) by surreal memories
— in this case a Catholic-school girlhood, a scandalous father,
and temptations and liberation symbolized by the sexpot next door. Any
way you slice it, Juliet (or every other female in sight, real or
imagined) just isn’t very smart. So she’d be the last one to ask
what-the-PMS-hell the cryptic ending means. Oh well, it’s Federico’s
world; we’re just visiting. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At
3:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29, and 8:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30.
***(Charles Cassady Jr.)
Malls R Us (France/Canada, 2009) This documentary begins with
the premise that malls offer shopping “as a communal activity to fill
the void.” Not exactly a revelation. The film opens at the largest mall
in North America, a sprawling 170-acre place in Edmonton, Canada. There
are 840 stores to keep shoppers there as long as possible. Between
clips from Dawn of the Dead and featuring interviews with
infamous mall creators like Rubin Stahl and Sheldon Gordon, the movie
provides a good overview of mall culture. There’s even a segment with
sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury, who discusses the disorienting nature of
most malls. When it comes time to visit dying malls, the filmmakers
head to Cleveland to see now-shuttered Randall Park Mall. You gotta
admire the global perspective: The filmmakers go to India to see green
space turned into retail and to Paris to interview shoppers. But too
much of this film simply states the obvious. Cleveland Museum of Art
Lecture Hall. At 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27, and 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29.
** 1/2 (Niesel)
Ninja Assassin Reviewed at clevescene.com.
Old Dogs Veteran actors Robin Williams and John Travolta show
no shame in hamming it up incessantly in this insipid Walt Becker
(Wild Hogs) comedy about two pals whose friendship is tested
when Dan (Williams) is recruited to babysit two kids he didn’t realize
were his. The slapstick humor gets some easy laughs but usually doesn’t
involve anything more than a swift kick in the crotch. The flimsy plot:
Dan’s ex (Kelly Preston) has to serve a two-week prison term for
protesting an environmentally irresponsible company and enlists Dan to
take care of her 7-year-old twins, revealing that they’re actually his
and she never bothered to tell him. But Dan and Charlie (Travolta) are
trying to take their sports agency to the next level and are in the
middle of signing the “biggest deal ever” with a Japanese company. Oh
yeah, and Charlie has an old dog that hangs around the office, peeing
on everything because it’s so old. It’s no surprise that by the end of
the movie, we realize Dan and Charlie are like two old dogs, loyal to
the core, even though they sometimes bark at each other.
** (Niesel)
In Theaters
The Blind Side The Blind Side belongs to “white-man’s
burden” movies like Dangerous Minds or The Soloist, in
which benevolent whites heroically rescue underprivileged black people.
Accordingly, there are moments in this movie, based on the life of
Baltimore Ravens rookie tackle Michael Oher, that are cringingly
uncomfortable, like when Sandra Bullock — as Leigh Anne Tuohy, an
affluent Southern woman who has opened her home to Oher — sashays
into the kid’s rough Memphis neighborhood in tight skirt and heels to
give a drug dealer a talking-to, warning him that she’s packing heat.
If this were fiction, it’d be as phony as Astroturf. But like those
other movies, it’s a true story, told with enough sensitivity to almost
overcome the troubling sense of noblesse oblige. Bullock acts her heart
out as the feisty Leigh Anne. Her performance makes a character that
might have been repellent — privileged, pushy evangelical —
rather endearing. ***(Pamela Zoslov)
A Christmas Carol Using the same performance-capture
animation technique employed in 2004’s Polar Express and 2007’s
Beowulf, Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol is another family-friendly
holiday feature by the veteran director of Back to the Future and
Forrest Gump. Zemeckis doesn’t mess with Charles Dickens’ book much,
quoting directly from it in the opening sequence, which finds Ebenezer
Scrooge (Jim Carrey) busting out a “bah humbug” when his nephew Fred
(Colin Firth) arrives to wish him a “merry Christmas.” Scrooge is in
for a shock when an apparition of his old boss Jacob Marley (Gary
Oldman) arrives to warn him that he’s going to be visited by three
ghosts before the night is over. Though his recent attempts to show off
his dramatic acting skills have fallen short, Carrey is in good form
here. He occasionally indulges in exaggerated facial gestures and
slapsticky antics but that’s going to keep young viewers interested.
Well, that and the fabulous digital 3-D effects that make it look like
snowflakes are falling in front of you. ***(Niesel)
Precious Don’t let the Oprah and Tyler Perry imprimatur scare
you off. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire confounds
expectations (prejudices?) at every turn. A remarkably accomplished
sophomore outing by director Lee Daniels, Precious tells the
story of morbidly obese 16-year-old Harlem teenager Claireece
“Precious” Jones (knockout newcomer Gabourey Sidibe) forced to deal
with a second unwanted pregnancy after her first baby was born with
Down’s Syndrome. Compounding Claireece’s dire predicament is an abusive
mother (sitcom diva Mo’Nique in a fearless, take-no-prisoners
performance that seems destined to win the Best Supporting Actress
Oscar) battling formidable demons of her own. Despite the unrelenting
bleakness and gut-wrenching despair of its no-exit milieu and dead-end
characters, Precious is leavened with flights of magic realism
as captivating as they are emotionally cathartic.
****(Paurich)
The Twilight Saga: New Moon Ten minutes into this sequel to
2008’s Twilight, Bella (Kristen Stewart) celebrates her 18th
birthday at the home of boyfriend Edward (Robert Pattison) and his
vampire family, where she gets a paper cut that causes one of the
bloodsuckers to lose control. Worried that Bella won’t be so lucky next
time, Edward and company leave town. This sends Bella into a depression
that lifts somewhat thanks to dangerous behavior and spending more time
with her Native American friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner), who happens to
be a werewolf. A better film than its predecessor, New Moon is
an entertaining romantic fantasy with a stronger visual look and better
action scenes, while still keeping the focus on the central love
triangle. Stewart’s acting has gotten better, and while Pattison has a
smaller role this time, Lautner more than ably picks up the slack. The
problem with focusing so much on Bella’s dalliance with Jacob is that
when the story brings Edward and the vampires back, the conclusion
feels rushed. Also, with its assumptions that the audience knows what
came before, New Moon doesn’t stand on its own very well.
***(Ignizio)
2012 When Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) goes to India to
see a colleague’s research at a copper mine, he discovers that, thanks
to giant solar eruptions, Earth’s core is heating up, something that
will trigger tectonic plate movement and devastating earthquakes.
Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), a struggling sci-fi writer who can’t
quite cut it as a single dad, stumbles upon similar evidence on a
crappy campy trip with his kids in Yellowstone. There, he meets wackjob
conspiracy theorist Charlie (Woody Harrelson), who warns him that a
huge volcano is about to erupt. Jackson races back to California to get
his ex-wife and her boyfriend, and they barely make it out before the
state slips into the ocean. The special effects are amazing. Landmarks
like the Santa Monica Pier slip into the ocean, and luxury hotels in
Vegas disintegrate. And Cusack is great as the lovable loser who has to
dig deep to redeem himself during a time of crisis. But at 158 minutes,
the movie is too long (the protracted ending is particularly
torturous), and there are too many subplots (most involving strained
relationships between parents and siblings) that don’t really amount to
anything. ** 1/2
(Niesel)
This article appears in Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2009.
