Fair Game: Grade A

A

Fair Game (2010)

Sean Penn, Naomi Watts. Director Doug Liman.

I give this movie high marks because I am a sucker for political thrillers, and this one is not bad, although somewhat disappointing. Penn is Joe Wilson, the ex-ambassador to African countries who investigated the White House claim that Saddam Hussein was buying uranium from Niger. Wilson found that not to be true, but George W. Bush went ahead and gave it as a justification for invading Iraq, in his State of the Union of 2001.

Outraged by the lie, Wilson wrote an op-ed in the NY Times explaining what he had NOT found in Niger. In retaliation, the White House “outed” his wife, undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame (Watts), in clear violation of the law. Her career was ruined, their lives were ruined, and the marriage went on the rocks. Should they fight back? How can you fight the White house?

The film clings closely to documentary form, careful to show actual television broadcasts featuring Bush, Cheney, Rice, and “Scooter” Libby, all hewing to party line and basically lying through their teeth. A sub-drama is that when Plame is fired, her operation of rescuing informants in Baghdad is abandoned, leaving all her personal promises to those people broken and their lives in peril. Just another hardball day at the CIA.

Watts gives a scintillating performance; best I’ve ever seen her, and the movie is worth watching for that alone. Plus, she looks a lot like Valerie Plame, which adds realism. Penn has a few moments, but the brilliant actor we know he is, cannot be seen. I gather he was interested in putting his name and reputation behind this polemical movie, but not much interested in acting. He’s good: He’s Sean Penn, after all, but he is mostly a placeholder here. This is a Watts vehicle and she fills it.

The directing and overall storytelling are slightly disappointing. The movie sticks to the historical facts, but unless you are well informed on American political infighting, it will not come across as a suspenseful tale. There is little personal peril, and little drama, as there was in All The President’s Men, for example, or in the fictional Absolute Power. The story is strictly focused on political machinations. The relationship between Wilson and Plame is mildly interesting, but mundane, and clearly secondary to the political story. For me, the political story was gut-wrenching, and it was very unpleasant to re-live the nightmare of that time. But I think for most people, the story will seem flat, not a “thriller” at all.

Women in Trouble: Grade C

C

Women in Trouble (2009)

Carla Gugino, Adrianne Palicki, other relative unknowns; Writer-director Sebastian Gutierrez.

Ten women in LA are chronicled for one day. Some of them know each other, some lives intersect spontaneously, but there is no organic narrative connection among most of them, only the movie itself. So this actually boils down to six or eight vignettes, ruthlessly intercut. All these women are obsessed with sex and speak of little else. Two are hookers, two pornographers, two adulterers, one masseuse, and so on. These women talk about cocks, pussies, oral sex, anal sex, and just about every imaginable body function and body fluid.

Nothing much of interest happens however. One woman learns she is pregnant. One learns her husband is cheating, two are stuck together in an elevator for a couple of hours, and so on. The women spend an incredible amount of time prancing around in their underwear, but there is no nudity in the film, and no sex. A few men appear in the film for brief supporting parts.

The dialog and the story are intended to be comedic, and mostly the movie is a comedy, except for the last 45 minutes when everything inexplicably goes emotional, teary, sentimental and maudlin. As a comedy, the movie is pitched to an adolescent taste, not necessarily a bad thing, but this is all girl-talk, lots of reminiscing and telling, no action, and with no character development. For an adult male it is pretty lame, with some exceptions. There was just enough witty writing to keep me engaged, such as, “No I’ve never been to Canada, but I like the food.” There are not enough really funny lines or situations, which is a shame because the writer clearly has the capacity for a better grade of humor.

A serious problem is that all the women look more or less the same: light hair with dark roots, big lips, symmetrical face, strong chin, slim bodies, big boobs; white skin and large, perfect, too-white teeth, all speaking unaccented English with the same level of diction. There are minor variations, but basically they are cookie-cutter Hollywood actors, and with only a few exceptions, were difficult to tell apart. The only interesting casting was a teenage girl, the daughter of one of the women. Despite all their sameness however, they are very good actors, a fact that raises this film above drudge.

You Don’t Know Jack: Grade B

B

You Don’t Know Jack (2010)

Al Pacino, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Danny Huston, Brenda Vaccaro; Director Barry Levinson.

Pacino plays Dr. Jack Kevorkian, aka Dr. Death, in this worthy HBO biopic. Kevorkian’s last years are shown, when he’s in his ‘70’s and decides to make a national issue out of doctor-assisted-suicide, to help those with terminal illness end their suffering and their lives with dignity.

This is definitely a pro-death with dignity message. Kevorkian is shown as quirky and egocentric, but compassionate and dedicated to his patients in the cause of the right to die point of view. The other side of the argument (which seems to be that “God would not approve”) is not presented except to show angry protesters shouting and carrying picket signs. I’m sure there is a reasoned argument to be made for the other side (although I don’t know what it is), and this would have been a better movie if it had not been so one-sided, because it is ultimately an “issue” movie. The biographical material about Kevorkian is sketchy and there’s no telling how accurate it is.

Pacino gives a terrific performance. It is nice to see him act again instead of just barking and hamming and mugging around. He’s still got it. Sarandon is, as always, compelling. She just is a convincing person. And it is nice to see Vaccaro on the big screen again. Cinematography has a few moments of artistry, but this is a TV show after all so the directing and photography are in your face and whap on the side of the head obvious. But the strong acting raises it above mediocrity.

It would be a good picture to show in a high school class to stimulate discussion. It’s a shame this is still a controversial issue. Kevorkian was released from prison in 2007 and we still have only two states that legally admit that “Dying is not a crime.”

Crazy Heart: Grade D

D
Crazy Heart (2009)
Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhall, Colin Ferrill, with Robert Duvall. Co-writer & Director Scott Cooper.

Bridges won his first Oscar for his role of Bad Blake, a washed up, alcoholic country singer. It’s a decent performance, especially for him, although he is not in the same league as winners like Sean Penn, Dustin Hoffman, Marlon Brando. Probably the award was mainly to acknowledge his long career of competent acting.

Blake is 57 years old, broke, and happy to get a gig in a bowling alley in some southern town. A newspaper reporter (Gyllenhall, who won best supporting) interviews him and eventually they develop an unlikely and unconvincing romantic relationship. We know how this story goes, from dozens just like it. In the end, Blake must decide what he values in life so he turns a new leaf.

I confess I am not a fan of country music. I find it simplistic, repetitive and maudlin. The songs in this movie were inoffensive and unremarkable, as were Bridges’ performances. He is not much of a singer and the songs were chosen to suit his narrow range so he could bark them out as much as sing them. The story was trite and the acting only competent, even by Maggie, who gave 110% to a weak character. I’ve never been fond of Bridges. I don’t appreciate his broad gestures and blustery overacting. But if you are a fan of his, this is typical Bridges. Cinematography included a lot of stereotypical concert shots with highlighted hair from behind, fast pans through colored spotlights, etc. You know the drill. Some of the backup bands were good.

What is extremely annoying about this DVD was that fast forward was locked out, so it was impossible to skip past the boring parts, presumably because the filmmakers insist that there are no boring parts, but trust me, there are. A long shot of a car driving down a highway is boring. I know they teach you in film school to establish the scene and show time passing, and document change in locations, etc., but I’ll tell you what: it is boring. Same for people walking down hallways and people performing body functions. It’s all just deadwood. But I was forced to endure it, and that added to my overall impression that this movie is just plain boring.

Good Hair: Grade A

A
Good Hair (2009)
Chris Rock. Director Jeff Stilson.

In this documentary, Rock explores the world of hair styling for African-American women. He interviews numerous prominent figures, from Kerry Washington to Maya Angelou (and even Al Sharpton), about why they use hair relaxer (sodium hydroxide, a nasty and toxic chemical) to straighten their hair, when they first started doing it, and how they feel about it.

There is also a section showing a huge chemical factory in Atlanta that produces such hair products and runs a beauty school for women to work with African-American hair. There is a brief trip to Chennai (Madras), India to investigate where human hair comes from for “weaves,” the hairpieces many women wear. There were a couple of interviews of black men who discussed what it was like to be with a woman whose hair you were never allowed to touch. The film ends with an annual, national black hair stylists convention, competition and trade fair, which is actually mostly theatrical spectacle and wholesale product promotion, and not much about hair styling, but it allows the film to end on a high note of color, music, and dancing.

I found the documentary completely fascinating, at times horrifying, and often funny. I felt a strong sense of racial divide, since white people are only vaguely aware of the black hair industry and what goes on. Of course it is obvious that movie stars and other entertainers straighten their hair and wear hairpieces. Anyone who was alive in the “afro ‘70s” remembers the original look. But for most of us, especially males, hair products and hair styling, are simply not topics worthy of much attention. Rock’s contribution is to focus attention on the magnitude of the black hair industry (billions of dollars annually), its exploitative nature (nearly all the black hair product companies are white-owned), the widespread extent of black hair straightening treatment, its high cost to individuals, its effect on children and on interpersonal relationships, and its health and safety risks.

These are all important topics that have remained outside the mainstream consciousness. Quite a few of the interviewees were visibly embarrassed to talk about hair treatments in the black culture, for reasons that are not entirely clear to me, but suggest some kind of racial tension.

Rock does not attempt to provide any answers. He does not ask, nor do interviewees say, why they feel it is necessary to straighten black hair, except “to be beautiful,” which of course begs the question, why is straight hair more “beautiful” than curly hair? I think we all know that answer to that question anyway. It is media (commercial) manipulation of the country’s norms and values and the failure of the education system to instill critical thinking skill. It’s the same manipulation that makes hemlines go up and down, cars to go in an out of fashion, and people believe that “fast food” is really food. That would be a different documentary, maybe one presented by Noam Chomsky. Rock found a compromise between the need to raise important issues of personal values and the need to entertain an audience with lightweight media fluff. In that regard, the documentary is a masterpiece.

Precious: Grade B

B
Precious (2009)
Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton; Director Lee Daniels.

Sidibe plays Precious, an obese, impoverished, illiterate black teenager pregnant with her second child by incest. And her situation gets worse from there, if you can believe that. Her mother (Mo’Nique) is the same person only grown up, who lives with Precious on welfare, watches daytime TV, smokes, and reminds Precious how stupid and worthless she is. The school expels Precious for pregnancy but a kind teacher directs her to an alternative school where she might earn a GED. Despite being illiterate, she is soon writing articulate entries in her personal journal and sometimes reading them aloud to the small class. Over time and tribulation, she develops a modicum of self-respect and self-efficacy.

The movie is very well directed, so these stereotypes seem somewhat realistic. While it is basically a maudlin tear-jerker of a story, the outstanding acting, directing, sets, and dialog, get you inside the minds of Precious and her mother, so you are able to glimpse their world through their eyes rather than just shake your head in sociological pity. The overarching theme, that literacy makes everything possible, is too well-worn a cliché to be believable, and seems like an afterthought. Nevertheless, the level of detail selected by the writer and director, and the high quality acting, raise this tale to above average.

Capitalism: A Love Story: Grade D

D
Capitalism: A Love Story
Michael Moore; Writer and director Michael Moore.

This latest offering from serial documentarian Moore considers the political and economic machinations that led to the financial collapse of 2008. He purports to be shocked and outraged that corporations are in business ONLY to make money, and that politicians are corrupt and hypocritical. Well, maybe those facts will be news to some people just recently arrived to America. Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was head of Goldman Sachs just before its government bailout? Who knew? Not Moore, apparently.

As for his explanation of capitalism, he is way out of his depth. He obviously has little education in economics. His “people before profits” message is shrill and totally one-sided. The film meanders from one diatribe to the next with without focus or purpose. On the plus side, Moore skillfully interweaves archival footage of business and political figures with contemporary interviews, often humorously, to highlight hypocrisy; and he excels as always in editing his interviews to make his subjects look stupid, malevolent or melodramatically heroic. So his considerable craft is evident. But as for content, there just isn’t any.

Up In the Air: Grade A

A
Up in the Air (2009)
George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick; Director Jason Rietman.

Clooney is an HR consultant hired by firms to fire people when they need to cut staff. He lives most of his life flying and traveling through airports. Along the way he meets Farmiga, also a frequent flyer, although it is unclear what she does. They strike up a relationship in an airport bar and continue a no-strings attached sexual friendship whenever their travel schedules intersect. It is an extremely slow starter. Clooney describes his life and values in a deadly voiceover and the dialog with Farmiga is so rushed and cute it is simply not believable. The first half hour is boring as mud. That relationship eventually turns extremely interesting however.

Kendrick’s character is a recent hire to the HR firm. She is assigned to travel with Clooney to learn the ropes. Her acting jumps off the screen and she certainly holds her own against Clooney and Farmiga. Her character is clunky, naïve and nerdy alternating with sensitive and sophisticated, but she overcomes the weak writing by sheer force of acting ability.

Sets, costumes, locations, cinematography, and even hair-dos are perfection in this movie. The airport hotels and the Milwaukee wedding are especially cringe-producing in their accuracy. The music is just awful, mostly a nasal folk singer whining over a thin guitar, and they gradually crescendo the sound track until it is deafening and you have to hit the mute button. That happens at least four times in the movie, so there must have been some kind of payola going on to justify it.

And speaking of payola, the movie was well-funded by product placements: American Airlines, Hertz, Hampton Inns, Hilton, to name a few. Nevertheless, a huge collection of production companies was announced in the beginning, so it would be interesting to learn how this picture came together.

The collection of wisely deleted scenes illustrates how the themes of modern alienation, difficult relationships, and economic hardship were carefully refined after shooting. Despite its flaws, I rate the movie highly because of strong acting, especially by Kendricks and Farmiga, but Clooney also acts, a departure from his usual mugging, and because of those poignant existential themes that make it provocative, a movie that makes you think about the human condition in modern America.

American History X: Grade A

A

American History X (1998)

Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Stacy Keach, Elliot Gould. Director Tony Kaye.

This gem of a movie had slipped by me so I was glad I picked it up from Netflix, which is strong on backlist. Norton, one of the finest actors working today, plays a Crypto-Nazi racist in Los Angeles. But unlike most racist baboons, his character is intelligent and can articulate extremely well the fear, helplessness, and xenophobia that underlie racism. Actually there are a couple of speeches where his mouth is so full of words that we lose the sense of character. That is the writer’s fault, not his.

Intelligent and intuitive though he is, he is nevertheless a violent scumbag, and ends up serving three years in prison for killing two black guys (pretty light sentence, actually). While in the joint (where he is informed that “he is the nigger here”), his high-school aged brother (Furlong), who worships him, drifts ever deeper into the local Nazi movement, led by Keach.

After prison, Norton has a more mature, tolerant attitude. We see his transformation in beautiful black and white flashback scenes that tell a wonderful substory. He is dismayed by his young brother’s extreme attitudes and is rejected by his old crowd, which has become even more violent and crazy than before.

Directing and the script too, are extremely clunky in the first half hour, so much so that I thought the film would be unwatchable, but it is worth sticking with it because it all smoothes out. They must have had a second crew create the beginning as a separate project, because its quality is really out of line with the rest.

The film’s message is overtly preachy (“racism is bad”), and the story is only just barely believable because it does not address the facts that these skinhead types are very uneducated and living way outside of society’s economic and social structures. It takes more than “a change in attitude” to correct those problems. Still, Norton’s character's development is plausible, and his acting alone is worth the price of admission.

The Hangover: Grade B

B
The Hangover (2009)
Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Rachel Harris; Director Todd Phillips.

Four guys go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, rent a swank suite and drink too much. In the morning, the suite is in ruins, there is a Bengal tiger in the bathroom, a chicken in the living room, a baby in the closet, and only three of them left. The bridegroom is missing. None of the survivors can remember what happened the night before, but they have a few clues, such as, one of the guys is wearing a hospital wristband, and another is missing a front tooth. They set about trying to solve the mystery and finding their missing friend. As they make inquiries, even more bizarre clues and incidents turn up. In the end, everything is all right, more or less.

It is a sophomoric tale with silly gags, plenty of vomiting and car crashes, but the writing is very funny, the acting excellent, and the directing perfect. So stupid or not, it is a LOL comedy that rises far above the level of its genre. Acting in several supporting roles was quite outstanding, especially by Ken Jeong and Rachel Harris as the shrew girlfriend. Heather Graham didn’t do anything special. Popular music was mostly foreign to me, but interesting and appropriate.

The only serious error is the ending, in which the re-united foursome find a camera with pictures of the adventure, and they agree to look at the pictures once only. It should have ended there. But the filmmakers could not resist actually showing the photos while the credits rolled and the pictures are totally out of keeping with the spirit of the movie, showing gratuitous nudity and explicit sex. That had to be some jerk producer’s decision because the director had struck just the right notes up to that point. For a nonsense romp, this is way better than expected.

Grand Torino: Grade A

A
Grand Torino (2008)
Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her; Director Clint Eastwood.

Eastwood is Walt, a crusty old Korean War veteran who lives alone in a run down section of Detroit that has been taken over by immigrant families including the extended southeast Asian Hmong family next door. He talks to himself and his dog so we can understand that he is still fighting the war, angry, alone, bitter, and an unrepentant racist. By chance, he saves the young neighbor boy from a group of Hmong gangbangers, so he becomes a neighborhood hero. He tries to reject that role, but gradually and grudgingly takes a liking to the young boy and his sister. The youngsters all speak English while the parents and old people do not, which gives ground for a good deal of humor. Walt voices some outrageous racist comments, which the Hmong youth accept with equanimity since he is obviously just an old fart who doesn’t know any better. That part is not exactly realistic, but it does show the audience the racism that is just under the surface in real life so it serves a social function. Walt teaches the young man some skills, and he gets a job, but the gang just won’t leave him or Walt alone. Walt realizes that the younger generation has no chance at all of making a decent life while the gang is around. His dramatic resolution to the problem invokes a complex of Dirty Harry and Catholic symbology in a predictable but effective ending.

The movie is a deft combination of serious drama, sociology, humor, history, tender feelings and “message.” For example, Walt gives the “Clint Eastwood Look” of intimidation several times and waves large guns while staring down bad guys, but never fires a weapon in anger. The only people who do are handcuffed and sent to prison. Yet the spirit of Dirty Harry is not lost. “You ever notice how there are some guys you just shouldn’t fuck with? Well I am that guy.” There are many layers and allusions to appreciate in this movie. I’d have to say it is as good, or better than Forbidden. Clint is nearly 80 now and we probably won’t see him on screen much more. If so, he goes out on a high note.

Revolutionary Road: Grade B

B
Revolutionary Road (2009)
Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio. Director Sam Mendes.

Winslet was nominated for best actress in this film and won best actress for her much less compelling (although naked) performance in The Reader. This is by far her better work. DiCaprio also delivers outstanding acting and the two of them raise this mediocre screenplay far above average. Imagine Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf meets The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. DiCaprio is some kind of cubicle worker in 1955 New York city (did they have cubicles then?) and Winslet is the suburban housewife in Connecticut. Despite being young newlyweds at the bottom of the food chain, their house is a magnificent, two-story, 5,000 sq. ft Colonial outfitted for a prince, but never mind that, because real estate agent Kathy Bates calls it a “charming little cottage,” so there you go! We never do understand what DiCaprio does for a living but he hates the job, has martinis for lunch we see the affair with the secretary coming from a mile away. We don’t know what Winslet does all day either. She acts in a dreary community theater, but her two young children don’t eat, read, go to school, play ball or even talk to her, so that must leave her a lot of free time. Yet she feels suffocated in a pre-Betty Friedan sort of way and yearns for she-knows-not-what, but it would definitely be in Paris. Instead of that, DiCaprio takes the big promotion at work, so they fight. Dishes are thrown, chairs are smashed, epithets are hurled. Events ensue. The ending is not happy.

The screenplay is mundane and predictable. The 1950’s are caricatured as strict, suffocating conformity, and some of that was true, but I remember those times and there was plenty of diversity. After the war (WWII), people were extremely eager to have stability, conformity, predictability, respectability and above all, steady income. It was not oppression, it was opportunity. For DiCaprio and Winslet to be existentially tormented, they would have to come from a very non-typical background, but we know nothing about their history, social class, education, parents, military service, nothing at all. We don’t know why they feel trapped by circumstance. They are mere stereotypes.

Recreation of the 1950’s is pretty good, although with anachronisms, and over-use of the same Buick. This could have been a killer movie if it had been set in modern times, because then the writers could not have relied on 1950’s stereotypes and would have had to come up with some real character motivation and dig into some genuine existential issues. Still, it is worth watching for the good acting.

Rachel Getting Married: Grade A

A
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Anne Hathaway, Debra Winger, Rosemarie DeWitt, Anisa George; Director Jonathan Demme.

Hathaway is Kym, the black sheep of the family who gets out of rehab to attend her sister Rachel’s wedding at the magnificently wealthy family home in Connecticut. Kym is intensely self-centered, immature, angry, and disruptive to all. Family members try to be nice to her but really would rather she disappeared and she knows that and lashes back to demand acceptance. All the scenes you expect of a dysfunctional family are played out as we pace through the fitting of the costumes, the wedding rehearsal, the big wedding, the cutting of the cake, the reception, and on and on. There is no plot, although some supposedly shocking family history is inevitably dredged up.

We are not buried under the banality of family muck because Hathaway’s acting is spellbinding. It is a performance equal or better than the one that got Penelope Cruz the Oscar this year. Hathaway is an amazing actor who dominates every scene she is in. Debra Winger also grabs your attention and won’t let go. Those two actors alone make the movie. But in addition, the sets are marvelous around that gorgeous, sprawling house maintained in tip-top condition, as only old money can afford. Then there is Demme’s excellent direction. Most of the camera work is hand-held so you feel you are watching a documentary, or even that you are a participant. That makes the family scenes familiar and compelling, especially when emotions are demonstrated rather than spoken about. Excellent writing gives the principal characters three dimensions and a good deal of wit. Some of the dialog is a little too witty, as if everyone were channeling Oscar Wilde, and most of the wedding scenes went on too long (the movie runs almost 2.5 hours). But overall it is a very satisfying family drama.

Sleepwalking: Grade B

B
Sleepwalking (2008)
Charlize Theron, Nick Stahl, Annasophia Robb, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Hopper. Director Bill Maher (not the comic).

Rarely will you see such fine acting, by every player in the film. Theron (also produced) is a master. Hopper electrifies the screen, as he always does. Stahl, who is in nearly every scene, is totally convincing, as is the amazing young Robb. This is acting at its finest.

However the story is utterly bleak. A deeply troubled single mom (Theron) is suddenly made homeless when her loser boyfriend is busted for drugs. She crashes at her brother’s (Stahl) decrepit apartment. The confused daughter (Robb) is “creeped out” by her uncle. It is a very awkward situation, then the mom disappears, leaving a note that she will be back in “about a month.” The daughter is devastated. Out of emotional necessity, she forms a tentative relationship with her uncle. He loses his job and the apartment so they drive a beat up car to his abusive father’s (Hopper) derelict cattle farm. And so on. There is no plot. It is just a story about characters at the very bottom of the societal food chain, how they cope with life. There is some development in Stahl’s character toward the end, but overall, the story has no point.

The scenery, costumes and sets are unrelentingly desolate. It is the dead of winter in Denver, on the depressing side of the tracks. Everything is cold, gritty, grubby; the characters dull and unknowing. They are all poor, uneducated and unskilled, so they have no choice but to blunder through their lives. This makes the pace of the film slow, and if you stick with it, the effect is a merciless emotional downer. Yet the acting is so good, directing so nuanced, dialog so honest, production values so perfect, that you realize you have just seen a fine piece of American cinema.

Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger: Grade B

B
Kill the Messenger (2008)
Chris Rock. Director Marty Callner.

This was an HBO show compiled from Rock’s standup performances in New York, London, and Johannesburg. The same act was performed at all three venues so you see him suddenly in different apparel and with different length hair as the the three performances are intercut. There is no appreciable difference among the performances except sound quality, and that’s too bad. Perhaps the idea was to emphasize that Rock is an international star, but that’s important to him, not the viewer. It would have been far more interesting to hear and see how he tailored his act for the different audiences, as he surely did.

The jokes are characteristic Rock, outrageous in style, racial, and profane. He is a funny man and a very good standup. But a lot of the material was tired. Men say this, women say that; blacks do this, whites, do that; fat people are this way, skinny people are that way; the rich believe this, the poor believe that. It was well-worn stuff, although delivered expertly, and apparently well-received.

There were only few truly off-the-wall creative pieces that caught my attention. There was a terrific scene that involved Rock being stabbed in the neck with a pen by Regis Philbin. That was from left field. Another had GW Bush walking by with a “pocketful of fucks” but he wouldn’t give one when asked. But such moments of real creativity were rare. A lot more jokes involved blowjobs than transcendent silliness or keen observation.

Rock has clearly studied George Carlin and even Eddie Murphy. He probably studies all the greats. But the Carlin and Murphy gestures stood out as imitations and were not well-integrated. You get the feeling that Rock is trying to re-find his groove, and he almost has. He’s not as good as he was in his youth, but that could be said of us all. Still, he is a first class talent and the show is worth watching.

Eagle Eye: Grade D

D
Eagle Eye (2008)
Shia La Beouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Billy Bob Thornton. Director D.J. Caruso.

The strong cast attracted me to this techno-thriller, but that’s about all it offers, a strong cast. The writing is abysmal. It is supposed to be a commentary on the dangers of government spying on citizens through the Patriot Act, and that would be a fine theme for a movie, but this story is so far beyond reason that it cannot be taken seriously. A giant computer in the pentagon spies on, and even manipulates US citizens by having universal access to every telephone, security camera, cipher lock, subway train, GPS, traffic signal, advertising sign, ATM, television and toaster in America. You would have to be pretty naïve to go with that, so maybe the movie is for a much younger audience.

Like HAL 2000, the computer goes rogue and must be disabled in exactly the same way, albeit without Kubrick’s cinematic wit. In the meantime, ordinary citizens LaBoeuf and Monaghan are pursued as terrorists by the FBI (Thornton) and a wide assortment of government heavies in black SUVs. A mysterious cell phone caller gives these innocents precise instructions on how to escape capture multiple times, although they remain mystified and terrified. They are the only two people in America who don’t know that a cell phone is a GPS beacon so they are unable to escape the tyranny of “the voice,” as they stupidly keep answering the phone every time it rings. Music is of the loud, annoying “heart-pounding” type and the plentiful explosions approach the threshold of pain, but if you turn the volume down you can’t hear the dialog so you just have to be quick on the mute button. The acting is good, considering, and the faces are attractive, and the car chases have some novel elements. A few good pictures are framed well. The movie should make it to cable soon.

Burn After Reading: Grade C

C
Burn After Reading (2008)
George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins. Writers and Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen.

The first scene is Malkovich getting fired from the CIA. His sputtering, outraged reaction is comic genius. But that strong opening is about as funny as this comedy gets. Clooney fools around with Malkovich’s wife (Swinton), but ends up in bed with McDormand, who works at a gym with Jenkins and Pitt. All the actors do a first-class job, as you would expect from such talent, but the characters are flat and the jokes clichés. Pitt, who is 45 years old, plays a physical fitness trainer in his early 20’s and that didn’t work for me, although he gave it his energetic all. Swinton’s severe, humorless character is supposed to be parodic, but is only severe and humorless. She copies her husband’s CIA memoir to a CD as evidence in her anticipated divorce (why the memoir and not financial records is not explained). The CD falls into the hands of McDormand and Pitt, who attempt blackmail unsuccessfully. In other words, plot is virtually non-existent, so we must rely on goofy comedy to carry us along, but the jokes are lame, with a few sparkling exceptions. Good acting and a lot of pretty faces carry the movie. If there is a theme, it is a meta-theme, that despite youth-worshipping Hollywood, aging actors still have the liveliness to fill the screen with fun.

An American Carol: Grade D

D
An American Carol (2008)
Kevin P. Farley, Kelsey Grammer, Leslie Nielsen, with appearances by Bill O’Reilly, Dennis Hopper, John Voight. Co-writer and director David Zuckoff.

I rented this movie because I thought it would be a Leslie Nielsen Airplane-esque spoof of left wing politics, especially the Michael Moore variety. Instead, it is a one-theme political diatribe of the form, “Michael Moore hates America!” The assumption is that any criticism of any part of American government makes one a traitor working for the country’s enemies. But the main problem is that the movie is not funny. Maybe funny is not something that the right does.

There are two or three scenes of inspired silliness, such as the opening, when the terrorist leader calls for one of his men, “Mohammed! Come here!” and 15 guys appear from behind rocks and rush to him. They play that joke out for two or three more minutes. That is the real Leslie Nielsen silliness I love. Another inspired segment has Dennis Hopper as a judge blasting his shotgun at ACLU zombies who have invaded his courtroom. Hopper was terrific in that role. Kelsey Grammer was outstanding as General George Patton, a ghost who escorts Farley as Michael Malone across time and space, per “It’s a Wonderful Life,” to see what would have happened if war were banned as left-wing liberals insist. We see that Malone would now be a slaveowner because the Civil War was not fought and “Victoria’s Secret” had become “Victoria’s Burka.” Is that funny? I see only heavy handed didactics.

Liberal politics certainly is ripe for a satire, but this isn’t it.

My Blueberry Nights: Grade A

A
My Blueberry Nights (2007)
Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz; Co-Writer and Director Kar Wai Wong.

A jilted young woman (Jones) travels around the U.S. to get over her loss and get in touch with herself, but before she goes, she happens in at Jude Law’s café where he serves her blueberry pie and they talk about love and life. In her subsequent year-long road trip, she sends him a stream of postcards. Along the way, she meets Strathairn as a drunken cop in a bar where she works nights, and encounters his estranged wife, Weisz. She meets high-stakes poker player Portman in Nevada and rides to Vegas with her. Finally Jones returns to New York and Law’s cafe, realizing that love is closer than you think.

The movie is as sweet as blueberry pie; utterly charming, leaving you feeling good. The acting is spectacular throughout, even by Jones, who also narrates and sings on the sound track. Strathairn is as good or better than he was in the 2006 Sensation of Sight. Weisz seethes with a Tennesee Williams intensity, much more passionate than her usual controlled, intellectual roles. Portman plays a character older than I would have expected and jumps from the screen with exuberance. This many big names in a movie is usually the kiss of death, but everybody puts out 100%, a tribute to Wong’s directing as much as the actors’ talents.

Cinematography is so good you could print any frame and hang it in an art gallery. There are some amazing shots, such seeing the character through a long lens, through the lettering on a shop window. Colors are fantastic. The long speech by Weisz at a nighttime bus stop seems to be done all in one take and is nothing short of courageous. There is a small amount of CGI, used artistically and perfectly. Even the editing is creative. The sound track is wonderful, with Jones singing softly, but also with original work by Ry Cooder. This is moviemaking at its best. The only criticism is that the storyline is weak to non-existent and the pace is slow. I was never bored, but this film cannot go up against a superhero flick. It’s all about the characters and their relationships, not some contrived plot.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Grade B

B
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Jason Segel, Kristin Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, with Jonah Hill. Director Nicholas Stoller.

A Hollywood musician (Segel) is dumped by his TV star girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Bell) and decides to go to Hawaii to forget his grief. There he meets hotel clerk Kunis, but alas, his ex is also at the same hotel with her new boyfriend, a British pop star (Brand). Comedy ensues as Segel tries to get over Sarah and establish a relationship with Kunis, while being jealous of Bell and Brand.

The greatest flaw in this movie is its three hour length, which is inexcusable and unnecessary. Whole characters could have been eliminated without loss, such as Segel’s brother, and the sexually dysfunctional Mormon couple, just to name a few. There is no real story, just endless situations setting up sexual and relationship gags, so there would seem to be no constraint on what could be edited. The second problem is that the characters are all two-dimensional stereotypes and it is hard to care about any of them.

However the acting is just terrific, from all characters except Segel, who is fairly wooden, (not including his penis, which is shown several times). The other three principals are entrancing and kept me glued to the screen. Brand does a terrific over the top, self-obsessed character with inherently funny diction and good physical acting. Kunis is also mesmerizing, despite a lip job that makes her look like Michelle Pfeiffer. The dialog is quite witty and keeps you strung along even though the characters themselves are unimaginative. These virtues overcome the film’s length, languid pace and boring story.